Early Students Bravely Faced Pandemic of 1918

By Ann Dunaway Criswell ’55 During this unsettling time of COVID-19, I am reminded of a conversation decades ago with my mother, Annie Towles Dunaway 1919. The 1918 influenza pandemic did not spare students or faculty at Fredericksburg State Normal and Industrial School for Women, as Mary Washington was called at the time. Classes were canceled, and students remained in their dorms. Those who were not sick helped those who were ill. There was one death, that of Professor of History Virginia Goolrick, one of my mother’s favorite faculty members. Professor Goolrick lived in an apartment in Virginia Hall, my mother’s dorm. The normal school, founded in 1908 and opened in the academic year of 1911-12, was still new when Annie Towles journeyed by steamboat from Merry Point in Lancaster County to begin her college life. She was in the vanguard of young women attending college with sights on careers as teachers at a time when public education was being expanded. My mother … [Read more...]

From the Alumni Board President

Greetings fellow Mary Washington Alumni, Isn’t spring the best season to stroll through the UMW campus? As many of us celebrate receiving vaccines and interacting with friends and family members we haven’t seen in months due to COVID-19, I am eager to visit our campus with all the spring blooms and renovations in progress. As much as I’ve enjoyed the UMW-sponsored virtual programs and gatherings this past year, nothing compares to a stroll down Campus Walk to remind me of the good times while a student, the excellent education I received, and the relationships that still mean so much to me. By the time you read this, the university will have held commencement exercises May 6 through 9 for the classes of 2020 and 2021, and we welcome these recent graduates to our alumni association of more than 42,000 members. Despite the challenges in our communities and in higher education, UMW continues to provide an outstanding liberal arts and sciences education to students on campus … [Read more...]