Rosemary Park
President, 1947-1962

Remembrances

Rosemary Park

The first day I  arrived at CC as a freshman (Sept. 1956) I heard Rosemary Park address the freshman class.  That experience has been with me since that time.

You must understand that my parents came from very poor families.  They worked very hard to have the money to send their three children to any college in the country.  My father was extremely proud that he had been successful enough to offer this gift to his three children.  He told us many times that we did not have to apply for scholarships or financial aid. 

Rosemary Park told us that all of us were at CC on scholarship. I did not understand what she meant when I knew that my father had paid my bill for the first semester.  We had not asked for any support.  However, she explained that the tuition, room and board bill never pays all the expenses of education for each student.  She elaborated that we owe gratitude to the founders and supporters of CC who had given so much money to provide the buildings, etc. that we were about to use.

That message has had a huge impact on my life.  As I became able to share my resources, I have remembered her words and realized that everything that I have enjoyed and benefited from in my life in education, the arts, the environment, etc. have happened because of the generosity of many others who have shared their resources.  It has motivated me to give generously and to share her message with others.

In addition, Rosemary Park was a marvelous role model for me. I truly have had her on a pedestal throughout my life. I am happy that she lived a long life. - Carolyn Holleran '60

She knew everything that was going on at all levels of the college...During her presidency the college was truly a family and a community... She was a model of academic integrity and fairness. - June Macklin, Rosemary Park Professor Emeritus of Anthropology

She was a woman of intellect and integrity, the brightest and bravest person I’ve known. - Linda Lear '62

Poet William Meredith, a Connecticut College professor who earned the Pulitzer Prize in 1988, was master of ceremonies at a farewell dinner sponsored by the College faculty for Rosemary Park in May 1962. An excerpt from his comments:

The occasion of our meeting could easily be a sad one. “Ah, when to the heart of man/was it ever less than a treason/to go with the drift of things,/to yield with a grace to reason,/ and to bow and accept the end/of a love or a season?” Robert Frost asked in a poem written about the time Rosemary Park was born. But it is not, in fact, a sad event. And the reason for this is the nature of the friend herself we are saying farewell to. The jauntiness with which she has prevailed over obstacles on our campus for 26 years prevails over the apparent sadness of this leave-taking. One who has taken on new problems as though they were lucky commissions, one who finds interest in think of this — what everyone at this table has done at our college — such a lady does not provoke melancholy by any deliberate act, any more than we could withhold our consent from her intention.

Cheerfulness is neither an avant-garde nor an old-fashioned virtue. It is the outward sign of a whole list of virtues that we associate with the completeness of complete people: self-reliance, compassion, pride, reticence, energy. As Connecticut College and Rosemary Park separate to go their ways — cheerfully, running their own gallant voluntary risks — a few of us will try to say what we think is on all our hearts and minds — the debt, the affection, the gratuitous well–wishing to a lady Fate has already lost his heart to... .

Cheerfulness is an address to the world which presupposes there is useful work to do. If I have detected any prejudice inMissPark, it is to favor people who work. Cheerfulness does not involve shallow optimism, but it refutes the shallow pessimism that is often mistaken for seriousness. Seriousness is perfectly compatible with good cheer. Good cheer is simply to the mind what health is to the body.- Poet William Meredith

Through reading the online edition of The Day, I was already aware that Miss Park had died, and it brought back great memories. I was fortunate to have her for German, and, as I remember, it was in a course in the summer of 1944.  The war years were a special challenge. I chose to complete my degree by taking three straight years, including both summers. Miss Park was an extraordinary teacher and woman, and I was delighted to learn after I left Conn that she had been named as president - a fine choice. I note with interest that at least three of the professors I had lived into their nineties:  Julia Bowers, Hyla Snyder, and Miss Park. There must be something hardy about strong women with outstanding intellects. - Barbara Thompson Lougee, Class of 1946 (received degree with Class of 1945)

I remember attending a tea at her home the last year she was President. Her hospitality was meaningful to us. She was a leader in her field. We saw development in our years at Conn College because of her dedication to the expansion of and deepening of women's education. When I lived in Los Angeles, I was pleased to learn that she had come to UCLA to join the faculty and also that she had married a professor there. May her memory be eternal and may her legacy give renewed vigor to the continuing enhancement of programs, facilities, and the philosophy of education at Connecticut College. - Theodora Dracopoulos Argue, Class of 1963

I enjoyed reading about Rosemary Park's life and career on the CC Web site. She was truly an impressive and inspirational lady! As a freshman in 1955, I was awed by her presence - both literally and metaphorically. I remember her saying during a freshman tea that "…the intelligent person is NEVER bored." She went on to discuss the possibilities of thinking globally, analytically and — in essence — outside the box, although she phrased it differently. We were dazzled by her ideas in that age of conformity, manners and propriety! I have quoted her many times to classes of freshman students, many of whom seem to live in fear of boredom. Most seem to dismiss my comments (are they bored??), but there are always a few who seem challenged by the thought. Perhaps they will remember Rosemary Park's words in years to come and stretch their minds to make new associations and connections…and never be bored. - Barbara Wickstrom Chandler, Class of 1959

My most important memory of Rosemary Park is the first day in 1957 as a freshman, gathered for our first meeting, when she spoke to our class for the first time. She told us of the weather in New London on Long Island Sound, and how often we would have rain and fog and grey days. She said that we must never let the weather affect our mood or get us down while we were at Conn College. I've never forgotten that and have applied it to many areas in my life from that day forward. (Not just physical weather, but emotional weather). I just a week ago told a dear friend about that speech as we had had an unusual spell of bad weather in Michigan and she was feeling down. I was amazed to receive the information of her death within days after talking about her. One never knows how important the 'small' things can be. I appreciate the opportunity to share this memory. - Jeanne Hargreaves Graham, Class of 1961

When I was at Connecticut in 1954 or so, President Park said to us, "Act as if it matters." Sometimes in bleak times like this, I think of those words and face forward. - Cathy Rose, Class of 1957