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In Memoriam: Lillian Cabell Gay

September 3, 2016 by Ben Lamb Leave a Comment

Lillian Cabell, 1932 Torch

Lillian Cabell’s senior portrait from the 1932 Torch

Katie Taylor contacted me in September 2015 to ask if I might be able to gather a few items from her Aunt Lillian Cabell Gay’s time at Collegiate in advance of “Lil’s” 100th birthday. “Sure” I said. It was a simple request. An hour tops.

Well, not exactly. I emerged a month later, deeply fascinated by the life of this incredible woman from the Class of 1932 and with enough material to fill a good sized binder. By all accounts it was well received.

I received word from Katie at the end of May that Lillian Cabell Gay passed away on May 6, 2016.

How do you eulogize someone you’ve never met? By taking measure of the things they left behind, of the people they loved and those who loved them. In that spirit I’ve shared below some of the material found while researching Lillian’s life and the obituary for Mrs. Gay that was shared with me. Taken all together, I think you get a sense of Lillian Cabell Gay, Aunt Lillian, “Lil,” of her adventurous life,  and of a life well lived.

Lillian Cabell Gay at 90

Lillian Cabell Gay at 90. Photo courtesy of Katie Taylor.

Lillian Cabell Gay, of Lakewood, Pennsylvania, died on May 6, 2016 in Waymart, Pennsylvania where she had been a resident of Wayne Woodlands Manor for the last ten months.

Lillian was born on October 16, 1915 in Richmond, Virginia. She enjoyed what she once described as a “magical” childhood in Richmond’s Ginter Park neighborhood where she was embraced by her extended family, friends, and her church family at the Ginter Park Presbyterian Church. She graduated from the Collegiate School and received a BA degree in Biblical Literature from Sweet Briar College in 1936. While attending college, she spent summers at Camp Barnard in Vermont’s Green Mountains where she led wilderness canoe trips and served as a waterfront instructor.

Following her graduation from college, Lillian taught at The Cathedral School in Havana, Cuba, and also tutored privately.

In 1940, she married James Rowland Gay, also of Richmond, with whom she shared seventy-five years of loving marriage. Lillian supported Jim’s medical career as a neurosurgeon in every way; during the early years of his practice, she was his office administrator.

A medical colleague of Jim’s was barred from leaving his homeland of Cuba during the early years of the Castro regime, but he sent his children unaccompanied to the United States. Lillian and Jim opened their home and hearts to these children and others in similar situations and raised them as their own.

During the course of Jim’s medical practice, he and Lillian lived in White Plains, NY; Columbus, OH; Bethlehem, PA; Albuquerque, NM; and Memphis, TN. They took delight in welcoming family and friends into their home wherever they were located. They joined local Presbyterian Churches in which Lillian often served as deacon or elder. They also traveled extensively, embracing the culture of whatever country they were visiting and meeting residents, many of whom became life-long friends.

After Jim’s retirement in 1982, he and Lillian moved to Lakewood, Pennsylvania where they enjoyed the beauty of their home’s natural surroundings on Little Spruce Lake. They pursued their love of fishing, most often as members of the Juniper Club in Florida. Lillian belonged to the Honesdale Rotary Club where she was a Paul Harris Fellow. She attended the First Presbyterian Church in Honesdale and the Lake Como United Methodist Church in Lake Como.

Lillian will long be remembered for the twinkle in her eye, her infectious laughter, her engaging stories, and above all, for her love of family, friends, and God.

She was preceded in death by her husband James, her parents Royal and Lillian Lorraine Cabell, and her brothers Charles, William, and Royal Cabell.

She is survived by her Cuban children Rolando Bonachea, Sergio Diaz-Briquets, Arhran Perez, and Ana and George Picaza; her sister-in-law, Ruth Gay Frederick; and her nieces and nephews Elizabeth Weinstein, Christina Bennett, Charles Cabell, Katie Taylor, Bill Cabell, Sharon Hadley, Carolyn Homer, Anne Warnott, Gay Opdyke, Berkeley Adams, and James Adams.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 1932, Collegiate Alumnae Association, Collegiate School for Girls, Lillian Cabell Gay, Monument Avenue, slider, Town School

Traditions: May Day at Collegiate

April 1, 2016 by Ben Lamb Leave a Comment

1937 Torch - May Day - Court - C. 1936 - 1937

May 1st means May Day.

Enjoy this collection of images and ephemera spanning the 54 year history of May Day festivities at Collegiate School.

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Collegiate School for Girls, May Day, Monument Avenue, Mooreland Road, slider, Town School, Traditions

Halt! It’s the 1928 Torch!

March 23, 2016 by Ben Lamb Leave a Comment

For your viewing pleasure: the two-part title page of the 1928 Torch.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 1928, Collegiate School for Girls, Monument Avenue, slider, Torch, Town School

The Town School: Theater in the Thirties

March 3, 2015 by Ben Lamb Leave a Comment

Last weekend’s staging of the 8th grade Centennial Play continued the long tradition of theater at Collegiate.  From the very beginning the dramatic arts have been an important part of the academic and cultural life of the school.  In those early years individual clubs and classes staged plays, dramatic readings, and other performances as part of a diverse schedule of often student-selected educational programming that also included guest speakers and music recitals.

Student plays and performances continued to be an important part of school life as The Collegiate School for Girls entered the 1930s. In addition to performing established plays, students staged their own adaptations of literary works, and original works written by students and faculty.  As In all cases, dramatic arts served as an extension of the classroom.

The following gallery features photographs and ephemera related to Collegiate theater in the 1930s from the Julia Williams Study and Archives Center.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Collegiate School for Girls, Dramatic Arts, Emily F. Brown, Monument Avenue, Senior Play, slider, Theater, Town School

Cake & Stories: Helen Tanner

January 16, 2015 by Allen Chamberlain Leave a Comment

The Collegiate School for Girls opened its doors to seventy-five students in September 1915. In a white-glove, traditional town like Richmond Virginia, the idea of educating young women for college when they couldn’t even vote was remarkable. But the school succeeded. For almost fifty years Collegiate stood in two stately three-story brick buildings at 1617 and 1619 Monument Avenue. In the early sixties the Collegiate School for Girls, following Collegiate Country Day and families to the suburbs, moved to a new campus west of the city and admitted the first class of boys.

When a school celebrates its 100th birthday, it’s time for cake and stories, stories celebrating beloved teachers.

And Helen Tanner is a beloved teacher.

In the summer of 2007 I was lucky enough to spend several happy hours with Helen, interviewing her and reminiscing about her years at Collegiate as a student and as a teacher. I took these recordings to a week-long course at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke, Making It Sing: An Audio Documentary Institute. Although I was the producer, Helen is really the one who made the stories sing. She is a splendid storyteller, and I invite you to enjoy her lively memories and photographs from the Torch.

 

http://www.juliawilliamsarchives.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/allen_cds_project.mp3

 

Helen, in Primary 1, Setting Sail on Her Collegiate Journey

Helen, in Primary 1, Setting Sail on Her Collegiate Journey

Helen and Friends Dressed for Halloween, Torch 1940

Helen and Friends Dressed for Halloween, Torch 1940

Cover of the Torch 1938
Torch 1938
At Easter Time by Helen Tanner

Torch 1940
Dedication, Torch 1940
Miss Hattie Scott, Torch 1940

Torch 1957
Catherine Stauffer Flippen, Headmistress, Torch 1957
Torch 1957

 

 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 1938, 1940, 1957, Catherine Flippen, Collegiate School for Girls, Hattie Scott, Helen Tanner, slider, Torch, Town School

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