Letters

Another Reason to Cheer

Once again I exclaimed to myself, “I didn’t know she went to Vassar!” This time I was referring to“Madame Impresario: Susan Wadsworth ’58,” about whom an article appeared in the Summer 2000 alumnae/i magazine. I’ve been contributing faithfully to Young Concert Artists for many years. I just about manage to get to one concert a year at the 92nd St. Y, but it’s always worthwhile. With the Vassar connection, I’m even more inclined to keep supporting YCA.

Judith Fiedler Topilow ‘63
Wayside, New Jersey

Another Boo

I would very much like to follow up on my Vassar “sister’s” letter to the editor regarding her astute and somewhat negative remarks about the new Vassar Quarterly (Summer 2000). She is, in my opinion, not an “old fogey” at all! In fact, it has been a quarter of a century (1977) since I left Vassar, and even at the ripe old age of 45, I have withstood cataracts, legal blindness, and two complex eye surgeries this past year. I guess that makes me somewhat of an “old fogey.” I doubt that many, if any, of my classmates or same-age peers would agree with what I am about to write. The “new” Vassar layout and color format is to the old, beloved, tried-and-true Vassar Quarterly what paint-by-number is to fine art! Do give us older and younger alums, with or without poor eyesight, a “break”; have pity. 

Priscilla VanBuskirk ’77
Augusta, Maine

Another Alumnae House Treasure

Lost! Nowhere to be found in the Vassar Alumnae/i Directory: Ethel Burns Breed ’07, my mentor while I zipped my way through three years of college to graduate in 1945. Found! Of all places, in the basement of Alumnae House, that intriguing place with beautiful memoirs of the past. “Finding” my mentor [among the biographical files maintained by AAVC on all Vassar alumnae/i] was a source of happiness for me this summer. Mrs. Breed did, indeed, graduate from Vassar College. Her major was ethics, a subject not very common these days. 

Thank you, Alumnae House, for a rewarding nostalgic trip back in time. 

Elizabeth Klevesahl McCracken ’45
St. Cerrito, California 

She, Too, Is a Vassar Vet

I read your article on Vassar “Vets” (Fall 2000) with amusement and a bit of nostalgia. I returned home, also, as a navy veteran (WAVES) and was surprised to learn that men were studying at Vassar. I was pleased, however, that Vassar extended this opportunity to the community. It was always my dream to go to college and now I had that opportunity with the GI Bill® of Rights. It was necessary for me to first get a job, which I did with General Electric in New York City. It was there I met my husband, who was finishing his education. Upon graduating, my husband got a position with IBM in my hometown of Poughkeepsie. Now I had another opportunity to complete my education at Vassar. I transferred college credits already earned and entered Vassar January 1951 and graduated June 1954. By the time I entered Vassar, all the veterans had gone. It was heartwarming to read that Vassar conferred its degree to 11 male veterans who were former graduates. Thank you for taking the time to write such a human interest story.

Anna Hemlow-Janis ’54
Louisville, Colorado