Gratitude and Altruism
Vintage volumes of Pedagogue, the yearbook of the New York State College for Teachers, tell their stories.
Classmates hail Peekskill native Mildred Button, B.S.’19, a member of the Newman, chemistry, and French clubs, as “a scientist in the bud!” Phi Delta sorority sister Florence Smith, B.A.’33, M.A.’34, exemplifies “calmness, eagerness, and quiet” and wishes “to be of service.” The pensive Frances Moeller, B.A.’28, a member of Beta Zeta and the French Club, “...sat all alone and thought so hard that she creaked inside.”
Of Frances Cornell, B.S.’31, who served on the junior guide committee, chaired the senior hop taxi committee, and belonged to Gamma Kappa Phi, her peers note, “Her saucy pertness and little domestic ways remind us of a wren.” Cornell’s older sister, Mary Cornell, B.A. ’25, had left her mark six years earlier as one who “likes winter mornings and examinations” and who “can philosophize without getting the abstract mixed up with the truth,” leading her classmates to conclude, “She will go after a Phi Beta Kappa key.”
And the Class of 1927’s Rex sisters—Dorothy (“Rexie”), B.S., and Helen, B.A.—are opposites: “Rexie’s delight is to master tongue-twisters,” recall their fellow graduates, while Helen is “hilarious a maiden as we ever did see, romping about with skirts at the knee.”
Despite the differences in their personalities and interests, these remarkable women all had one thing in common: Each made—or inspired—a substantial gift to support and strengthen University at Albany programs. In memory of the scientific Mildred Button Willits, Charles Willits, her husband, made a $50,000 scholarship bequest. Dorothy Rex West, lingual gymnast and onetime teacher, memorialized her fun-loving sister, Helen Rex Hart, with a bequest of more than $50,000 to support scholarships and history reference books.
Contemplative Frances Moeller, who taught for five years, then worked for the State Department in Washington, D.C., established a memorial scholarship in her own name with a bequest of $50,000.
With her $15,000 bequest providing support for undergraduates in financial need, the service-minded Florence Smith French culminated a lifelong affiliation with the University: She and her husband, former State College Professor William French, B.A.’29, also co-authored College of the Empire State (1944), Albany’s centennial history.
Laura Woernley Buck, B.S.’38, who retired from teaching high school mathematics to become a self-employed accountant, gave $40,000 to endow a scholarship fund.
Frances Cornell Lemke and her husband, Charles, have contributed more than $40,000 through the University’s Pooled Income Fund and charitable gift annuities.
Evidently motivated by the example of her sister and brother-in-law, Mary Cornell Wing, a former teacher of high school English and French, remembered Albany in her will with a bequest; it will be designated for the Campaign for the Libraries.
What inspired this generosity on the part of people who, during their undergraduate years at Albany, had so little? Charles Lemke feels that the answer is simple: a combination of gratitude and altruism.
“Frances greatly appreciated the opportunity to have an education,” recalled Lemke during a recent telephone interview from his home in Wilmington, Delaware. Albany also prepared Frances well for her chosen career. “In her senior year of college, the principal of the new central school in Schoharie came to Albany and visited some of the practice classes, including Frances’s. She and several others were hired to teach,” her husband related.
Frances, who turned 90 in November, taught high school history for three years, then returned to her hometown, Niagara Falls, to help care for her ailing mother. She also did substitute teaching. After marrying, the couple lived in Niagara Falls and raised two children, James and Mary. Frances gave up her career to be a stay-at-home mom. When Lemke’s employer, DuPont, Inc., transferred him, the family relocated to Delaware.
Despite the move, Albany remained close to Frances Cornell Lemke’s heart. “She was very keen on education, and she wanted to provide financial assistance to women undergraduates at the University at Albany,” said Lemke. The couple became Albany supporters a number of years ago. Their gifts, through the Pooled Income Fund and the Charitable Gift Annuity Program, will endow scholarships for women students in financial need.
* Editor's note: Frances Lemke passed away in December 1999.