Introduction
Our aim in teaching is to develop persons who will use and enjoy the knowledge we can give them, both in their personal lives and in the service of other people.—Preface to Essays in Teaching, 1955, by Harold Taylor, President of Sarah Lawrence College (1945-1959)
The following exhibit illustrates how a handful of Sarah Lawrence alumni, graduating between the 1930s and 1960s, gained knowledge and later used it both in their personal lives and in service to other people.
This exhibit stems from the desire of the College’s archivists to share with a wider audience a small portion of the thousands of extraordinary Sarah Lawrence alumni. Each alumnus has a “matriculation” photograph taken when they first arrived on campus as a new student. These photographs are fascinating for a number of reasons, but mostly because their faces reflect who they were and what they experienced prior to coming to Sarah Lawrence. The matriculation photo is accompanied by some brief information about each person as well as a photograph from later in their time at the College. It is fascinating to see how their expressions changed and read about their time at Sarah Lawrence and what they later accomplished in their lives, some of which were tragically cut short. It was difficult to pare down these full lives, but in order to share more stories, only select information is provided for each individual.
About This Exhibit
The matriculation photographs and later portraits display in slideshow format on the next exhibit slide (slide 3). The photographs are in alphabetical order by the individual's last name. There are two photographs for each student; the first is the matriculation photograph taken when they first arrived on campus as a new student, the second is a photograph taken later in their time at the College.
Photo credits: Patricia Brooks by Westchester Photo Service; Alice Judd by Alfred Eisenstadt; Sonja Haynes, Jean Goldschmidt, and Jeri Villano by Gary Gladstone; all others by unknown photographers.
Exhibit courtesy of the Sarah Lawrence College Archives.
Raber Ramey, 1946
Hometown: Cleveland, OH
Living: 1928-2007
Education at Sarah Lawrence: Literature, Dance, Physiology, Psychology, American History, Russian Novelists, Medieval Fiction
Activities: Chairman of the Campus Drives Committee (a student group interested in investigating national organizations that the College as a whole might contribute to), National Student Association member
Dons: Katherine Mansell, Beulah Parme, Bessie Schönberg
Dates at Sarah Lawrence: 1946-1950
Class: 1950
Diploma or Degree: BA
Raber Ramey, 1950
Occupation: Educator
Other Activities: Raber Ramey worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Barbados with malnourished children and trained employees of child care centers and homes. She lived in Ghana with her husband and four young boys in the early 1960s. She also worked as a Research Assistant at University of California at Berkeley Child Study Center, as an Instructor at Contra Costa College (Early Childhood Education); and as an Assistant Professor at Cuyahoga Community College. She received her Master’s degree in education from Wheelock College.
Jeanne Allen, 1949
Hometown: New York, NY
Living: 1931-2006
Education at Sarah Lawrence: Biology, European History, Cultural Anthropology, Physical Science, Mathematics, German
Activities: Choir, Head of the Civil Right Committee
Dons: Helen McMaster, Ruth Sandstrom
Dates at Sarah Lawrence: 1949-1953
Class: 1953
Diploma or Degree: BA
Jeanne Allen, 1953
Occupation: Doctor; Teacher of Internal Medicine and Hematology; Hospital Administrator
Other Activities: Jeanne Allen received her MD from the New York University Bellevue School of Medicine and a Master’s degree in Public Health from Columbia University School of Public Health. Allen was an expert on Sickle Cell Anemia. She worked to develop federal guidelines for testing newborns for the disease. Allen was the first woman to hold the position of President of the Medical Board of Harlem Hospital. She was honored with the Sarah Lawrence College Alumnae/i Citation for Achievement in 2005. Allen also helped to establish the Martie Branche Fund ’53, a fund established in 2004 by friends and family of Martie Branche ’53 which provides funds for students with financial need, with preference given to African American women.
Patricia Brooks, 1939
Hometown: Oklahoma City, OK
Living: 1921-2003
Education at Sarah Lawrence: Medieval and Renaissance Culture and History, Literature, Journalism, Europe between Wars
Activities: Reporter and Society Editor for The Campus
Dons: Charles Trinkaus
Dates at Sarah Lawrence: 1939-1941
Class: 1943
Diploma or Degree: Diploma
Patricia Brooks, circa 1941
Occupation: Educator; volunteer
Other Activities: Patricia Brooks started a small planetarium in the Kansas State Fairgrounds poultry house in the 1960s. The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center now holds one of the world’s largest collections of Soviet and United States space artifacts. Brooks is a recipient of the Governor of Kansas’ Award of Merit. She also served in leadership positions on the Kansas Science and Arts Foundation, Inc., the Hutchinson Hospital Corporation and the St. Francis Home for Boys.
Seymour "Sandy" DeRefler, 1946
Hometown: Mount Vernon, NY
Living: 1926-1973
Education at Sarah Lawrence: Music Composition, Piano, Violin, String Ensemble, Literature, American History, Philosophy, European Social and Political Development
Activities: Member of the Sarah Lawrence College veteran’s basketball team; listening to Art Tatum records with music faculty Norman Dello Joio.
Dons: Norman Dello Joio
Dates at Sarah Lawrence: 1946-1949
Class: 1949
Diploma or Degree: BA
Seymour DeRefler, 1949
Occupation: Violinist; public school music teacher
Other Activities: Sandy DeRefler attended Syracuse University before World War II. During the war DeRefler was a radar operator in the Army. After his discharge in 1946 he enrolled at Sarah Lawrence College. He also studied at the Julliard School of Music. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College he received a Degree in Music Education from Teacher’s College and performed professionally with the Greenwich Quartet while teaching music at public schools in the New York area.
Cornelia Fort, 1937
Hometown: Nashville, TN
Living: 1919-1943
Education at Sarah Lawrence: English and American Literature, General Literature, Introduction to Psychology, Freshman Arts, Thomas Mann, Creative Writing, European Politics, Modern European History
Activities: Staff of the Yearbook; Music Club; Chief Editorial Writer for The Campus
Dons: Maxwell Geismar
Dates at Sarah Lawrence: 1937-1939
Class: 1939
Diploma or Degree: Diploma
Cornelia Fort, 1939
Occupation: Pilot; flying instructor
Other Activities: Cornelia Fort received her commercial flying license and instructor’s rating in 1941 becoming the first female flying instructor in Tennessee. Fort instructed government students at Fort Collins, Colorado, and Honolulu. While giving a flying lesson in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, a Japanese plane almost crashed into the one she was flying. She was the second woman to join the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Service (WAFS) and one of the first women to fly military aircraft. She died in March 1943 when a plane crashed into the BT-13 she was ferrying from California to Texas. Fort became the first WAFS to die in service, and possibly the first female pilot to die on duty for the U.S. military. She had over 1,100 hours of flying experience at the time of her death.
Michaela “Michi” Frank, 1941
Hometown: Munich, Germany
Living: 1924-2004
Education at Sarah Lawrence: Economics, American Life and Thought, Introduction to Psychology, Composition, Voice, Dance, European Literature between Two Wars, Italian, Spanish Literature, German Literature, Spanish
Activities: Chorus, Voice Club, Spanish Club, Student Council, President of Robinson House, Head of Student Waitresses
Dons: Horace Gregory, William Schuman
Dates at Sarah Lawrence: 1941-1945
Class: D ’43, BA ‘45
Diploma or Degree: Diploma and Degree
Michaela "Michi" Frank, 1945
Occupation: Journalist; Counselor
Other Activities: Her mother, Alice von Herdan, was a Viennese stage actress and her father, Karl Frank, was an anti-Hitler revolutionary. Her step-father was a prominent German playwright and screenwriter. At the outbreak of World War II she came to the United States with the help of Ingrid Warburg of the Italian banking family. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College she became a journalist for The Washington Post and married a Pentagon Intelligence Officer. After raising three children she returned to school at the age of 58 and became a counselor for clinically dependent women.
Jean Goldschmidt, 1963
Hometown: New York, NY
Living: 1945-1971
Education at Sarah Lawrence: Writing, Anthropology, Biology, Modern Literature, History of Art, English Literature, Shakespeare, Civilization in the Middle Ages, spent the summer in New Mexico studying folktales with the Museum of New Mexico.
Activities: While an undergraduate she won a prize in the Reader’s Digest College Story Prize Contest for her short story “The Testament of Uncle George.” Co-edited The Establishment a spoof journal. Worked for The Village Voice as an editorial assistant.
Dons: Irving Goldman, William Park
Dates at Sarah Lawrence: 1963-1967
Class: 1967
Diploma or Degree: BA
Jean Goldschmidt, 1967
Occupation: Writer; Political Activist
Other Activities: Jean Goldschmidt married Sally Kempton’s ‘64 brother, James after he completed one year of graduate study at SLC. After graduation, Goldschmidt worked briefly with the NYC Dept. of Social Services and continued to write. She and her husband, also a writer, were active in the Greenwich Village anti-war movement and marched on Washington. Her work in social services as well as her commitment to the anti-war movement influenced her writing. During her short career, Goldschmidt published several articles, poems, and stories in The Village Voice and The Atlantic Monthly. In 1971 on a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, both Goldschmidt and Kempton died in a car accident. Goldschmidt was working on a novel at the time of her death. In 1998, her father published the collected writings of his daughter under the title My View is Incomplete
Gizella Gross, 1947
Hometown: Tarnopol, Poland
Living: 1928-2011
Education at Sarah Lawrence: Writing, Theatre, Psychology, Literature, Physical Science, Early Childhood Education, Philosophy
Activities: Foreign Relief Committee, Student Work Committee, Curriculum Committee, German Club
Dons: Bessie Schönberg
Dates at Sarah Lawrence: 1947-1951
Class: 1951
Diploma or Degree: BA
Gizella Gross, 1951
Occupation: Teacher; Lecturer
Other Activities: Gizella Gross was a Polish-born Holocaust survivor who escaped the Luck ghetto by posing as a Christian. She joined the partisans until being captured and deported to Majdanek concentration camp. There she labored in a stone quarry and as a translator with an S.S. Division. She survived a death march to be liberated in May 1945. Gross came to the U.S. in 1946. After SLC she did graduate work at Bank Street College. She went on to teach and direct the East Meadow Cooperative Nursery School, and to be a Group Teacher at Queens College Early Childhood Center, and Director of Temple Beth Or in Raleigh, N.C. She was a charter member and commissioner of the N. C. Council on the Holocaust. Gross lectured extensively about WWII, the Holocaust, and social issues at middle and high schools, colleges, and to teachers and churches all over North Carolina.
Sonja Haynes, 1955
Hometown: Cleveland, OH
Living: 1938-1991
Education at Sarah Lawrence: Exploratory Social Science, Spanish, Introduction to Literature, Piano, International Relations, Statistics, Mathematics, Ideologies in Conflict, Short Story Writing, Ideas of Evolution, Interpreters of Europe
Activities: Sophomore Class Representative, N.A.A.C.P., Public Affairs Forum
Dons: Emma Llewellyn, Justa Lopez-Rey
Dates at Sarah Lawrence: 1955-1959
Class: 1959
Diploma or Degree: BA
Sonja Haynes, 1959
Occupation: Teacher; Case Worker; Community Services Coordinator
Other Activities: Sonja Haynes received a master’s in Social Work (Atlanta University), a master’s in Social and Ethical Philosophy (University of Illinois at Chicago), and a Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Education (Northwestern University). She was Director of the Inner City Studies Institute in Chicago and taught at Northeastern Illinois University where she was Assistant and Acting Director of the Center for Inner City Studies in Chicago before being hired as faculty in African and Afro-American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Haynes was also the Founder and Director of the Southeastern Black Press Institute. Recognized as the 1981 NAACP Woman of the Year, Haynes served as advisor to the Black Student Movement and the Black Greek organization at UNC Chapel Hill. The Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History was posthumously named in her honor. The Center raises awareness of and appreciation for African-American culture by the campus community.
Alice “Awee” Judd
Hometown: Honolulu, HI
Living: 1918-2006
Education at Sarah Lawrence: Sculpture, Anthropology, Contemporary Novel, French, Thomas Mann
Activities: Secretary of the Student Council, President of Gilbert House
Dons: Helen McMaster
Dates at Sarah Lawrence: 1938-1940
Class: 1940
Diploma or Degree: Diploma
Alice "Awee" Judd, 1940
Occupation: Stone sculptor
Other Activities: Alice Judd studied at Columbia University after getting her diploma at Sarah Lawrence College. She volunteered for the American Red Cross Motor Corps during World War II. Judd became a successful stone sculpture and exhibited her work in Hawaii and San Francisco. She was a descendant of the first missionaries to land in Hawaii in 1820.
Mortimer “Skippy” Katz, 1946
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Living: 1925-2003
Education at Sarah Lawrence: Critical Writing, The Soviet Union, Piano, Cultural Anthropology, Social Economics, American Literature between Two Wars
Activities: Features Editor, Associate Editor and Drama Critic for The Campus, Hits and Misses, Scholarship Fair Committee
Dons: Maurice Irvine, Otto Klineberg, Horace Gregory
Dates at Sarah Lawrence: 1946-1949
Class: 1949
Diploma or Degree: BA
Mortimer "Skippy" Katz, 1949
Occupation: Family Therapist; Psychotherapist
Other Activities: Before enrolling at Sarah Lawrence, Mort Katz spent 30 months in the United States Army as an aircraft mechanic. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence, he worked as a copy boy for the Chicago Sun-Times and then as a copywriter-account executive at an advertising agency. He then received his Master’s degree in social work from Columbia University. He practiced as a social psychotherapist specializing in marriage counseling and family therapy. He also published multiple books including Living Together
Melissa Lewis Richter, 1938
Hometown: Mount Vernon, NY
Living: 1920-1974
Education at Sarah Lawrence: World Politics, Music Composition, Dramatics, Contemporary Literature, Novel in French and Russian, Foundations of Physical Science
Activities: Chorus, Revue Committee, Reporter for The Campus
Dons: Eugene Lerner, Maxwell Geismar, Anita Marburg, Charlotte Houtermans
Dates at Sarah Lawrence: 1938-1941, 1946-1948
Class: D 1940, BA 1947
Diploma or Degree: Diploma, BA
Melissa Lewis Richter, circa 1946
Occupation: Educator; Administrator; Physiologist
Other Activities: After three years at Sarah Lawrence (1938-41) and receiving her diploma (1940), Melissa Richter left to work as a riveter and welder in a California machine plant. She became certified in aluminum welding (1943) and then joined the Women’s Army Corps achieving the rank of sergeant. After the war, she returned to Sarah Lawrence to receive her B.A. (1947). Richter remained at Sarah Lawrence for one year of postgraduate work in chemistry and biology. She joined the Sarah Lawrence faculty after receiving a M.S. in Physiology from Duke Univ. and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the Univ. of Connecticut. At Sarah Lawrence she taught biology, was the first director of the Human Genetics Graduate Program, Dean of Graduate Studies, and Director of the Center for Continuing Education.
Edward Lurie, 1946
Hometown: Jamaica, Long Island, NY
Living: 1927-2008
Occupation: Taught American history and the history of science
Education at Sarah Lawrence: History, Philosophy, The Soviet Union, Modern Civilizations, Literature, Psychology, World Politics, American Literature
Activities: Reporter for The Campus, member of International Relations Club
Dons: Nathan Leites, Bert James Loewenberg
Dates at Sarah Lawrence: 1946-1949
Class: 1949
Diploma or Degree: BA
Edward Lurie, 1949
Occupation: Taught American history and the history of science
Other Activities: Edward Lurie received a master’s degree and Ph.D. in History from Northwestern University where he held the William Randolph Hearst Fellowship in American History. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Rockefeller Fellowship, and grants from the National Science Foundation and American Philosophical Society, among others. He also held research fellowships at Harvard University and Yale University. Lurie authored the biography of scientist Louis Agassiz. He taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Delaware, where he worked for 25 years.
Joan Vadeboncoeur, 1950
Hometown: Syracuse, NY
Living: 1932-2011
Education at Sarah Lawrence: Music, Exploratory Literature, Theatre, Soviet Union, Acing, Anthropology, French, Directring
Activities: The Campus, Radio Station
Dons: Katherine Mansell, John Blankenchip
Dates at Sarah Lawrence: 1950-1954
Class: 1954
Diploma or Degree: Degree
Joan Vadeboncoeur, 1954
Occupation: Journalist
Other Activities: Joan Vadeboncouer was a long time newspaper entertainment critic and arts editor in Syracuse, NY. She started writing on the “morgues, hospitals and obituaries” beat. She famously worked six or seven days a week throughout her career and authored six columns a week. Vadeboncoeur was the daughter of E.R. Vadebonoceur, a World War II journalist and media executive. Throughout her career she conducted press interviews with the likes of Laurence Olivier, Cary Grant, Jack Lemmon, Tom Hanks, Sally Field, and Shirley MacLaine. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Syracuse Press Club.
Jeremi “Jeri” Villano, 1964
Hometown: Grand Island, NY
Living: 1946-2010
Education at Sarah Lawrence: Italian, Basic Biology, Russia and World Communism, Microbiology, Calculus, Chemistry, Italian Literature, Visual Arts, Physics, Cultural Backgrounds of Personality
Activities: Student assistant in organic chemistry, student government
Dons: Harold Wiener, Rolf Altschul
Dates at Sarah Lawrence: 1964-1968
Class: 1968
Diploma or Degree: Degree
Jeremi "Jeri" Villano, 1968
Occupation: Physician
Other Activities: Jeri Villano completed her graduate education at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and her residency at SUNY Downstate and Kings County Hospital. She practiced medicine in Yellowstone National Park and travelled to various remote towns throughout Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming before setting up a practice in Wyoming where she was the only physician for the entire county.
George (Yannantuono) Young, 1946
Hometown: Mount Vernon, NY
Living: 1925-2004
Education at Sarah Lawrence: French, American History, Writing, Theatre Arts, Social Biology, Reading and Discussion, Psychology, Creative and Critical Literature, Shakespeare, Cultural Anthropology
Activities: Theatre, Radio, worked at The Caf in Robinson House
Dons: Horace Gregory
Dates at Sarah Lawrence: 1946-1950, 1950-1952
Class: B.A. 1950, M.F.A. 1952
Diploma or Degree: B.A., M.F.A.
George (Yannantuono) Young, 1950
Occupation: Teacher; Actor; Peace Corps Worker
Other Activities: George Young entered Sarah Lawrence with advance credits received through the Army Education Program Certification at Biarritz American University in France. During WWII he served two and a half years in the Army Infantry and Combat Engineers, most of which were in the European Theater. Young wrote, “In that time I saw enough combat to dislike war, but in the event of an emergency I would enlist immediately.” At SLC, Young was very involved in theatre. After graduating he appeared on numerous television shows and was Assistant Director of Dramatics for the Boys’ Club of New York. He later worked with The Experiment in International Living and travelled extensively. Young also worked at the School for International Training and was Peace Corps Director in Goais, Brazil. He was also a folk dance teacher and hobbyist.