Post by elonfirefighter on Jul 29, 2010 10:31:15 GMT -5
My condolences to the entire Davidson family
1st female graduate at Davidson College dies in Alaska
Missy Woodward, 59, earned degree in 1973, became a pediatrician.
By David Perlmutt
dperlmutt@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Thursday, Jul. 29, 2010
Read more: www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/07/29/1588098/1st-female-grad-at-davidson-college.html#ixzz0v5NKlJfS
Her classmates cheered that June day in 1973 when Missy Woodward walked across the stage to receive a Davidson College degree. They understood history had been written.
Singing the alma mater, they spontaneously changed the lyrics, substituting "loyal sons undaunted," with "loyal sons and daughters."
That's because Woodward was the first woman to graduate from the formerly all-male college. She'd graduated cum laude with an art degree, the only woman in a senior class of 217 men. Her story made headlines around the country.
On Sunday, Marianna "Missy" Boaz Woodward, a popular pediatrician in Fairbanks, Alaska, died suddenly of a heart attack while working out in a gym. At 59, she was preparing for an upcoming walking trip in Spain.
"She took enormous pride to hold her own in this very challenging and male-dominated environment," said Gardner Roller Ligo, a classmate and current Davidson merit program director. "She knew she was being scrutinized at every turn.
"She showed them that being a woman didn't mean you couldn't do the hard stuff and do it well."
During the early 1970s, Davidson, like many single-gender schools, began discussing coeducation. Then President Sam Spencer negotiated an exchange program with all-female schools in the Carolinas, Virginia and Georgia. But those women students had to return to their schools to graduate.
In spring 1970, Missy Boaz, raised on an apple farm outside Charlottesville, Va., was a freshman at all-female Agnes Scott College and had a blind date with Davidson art student Kes Woodward. They were engaged after the second date, and Missy began taking classes at Davidson.
The two married in May 1971. Missy applied to Davidson and was admitted as a junior - under a new provision that allowed women to enroll as degree candidates if they were married to Davidson students or related to faculty members.
"She was the kind of person they would normally welcome at Davidson if she just was not a woman," Kes Woodward said Wednesday. "She was a great test case."
Four years after the couple graduated, they moved to Alaska, where Kes became curator of museums in Juneau, and then Fairbanks.
Missy worked as a potter for years. Then, in the early 1980s, "she announced she was going to be a professional," her husband said.
She thought about law school, but lawyer friends advised her against it.
So, despite not taking a science course since ninth grade, she started three years of undergraduate math and science courses to apply for medical school.
She went on to get her M.D. at the University of Washington and later returned to Alaska to become medical director at a pediatrics clinic.
All day Wednesday, condolences from the Davidson community rolled in by e-mails to the Woodward home, Kes Woodward said.
"She was an historical first and her passing has struck a chord," said Davidson registrar Hansford Epes, who knew the Woodwards when they were students. "A pioneer has passed on. That's a marker, a sad marker in time."
Read more: www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/07/29/1588098/1st-female-grad-at-davidson-college.html#ixzz0v5Mi04um
1st female graduate at Davidson College dies in Alaska
Missy Woodward, 59, earned degree in 1973, became a pediatrician.
By David Perlmutt
dperlmutt@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Thursday, Jul. 29, 2010
Read more: www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/07/29/1588098/1st-female-grad-at-davidson-college.html#ixzz0v5NKlJfS
Her classmates cheered that June day in 1973 when Missy Woodward walked across the stage to receive a Davidson College degree. They understood history had been written.
Singing the alma mater, they spontaneously changed the lyrics, substituting "loyal sons undaunted," with "loyal sons and daughters."
That's because Woodward was the first woman to graduate from the formerly all-male college. She'd graduated cum laude with an art degree, the only woman in a senior class of 217 men. Her story made headlines around the country.
On Sunday, Marianna "Missy" Boaz Woodward, a popular pediatrician in Fairbanks, Alaska, died suddenly of a heart attack while working out in a gym. At 59, she was preparing for an upcoming walking trip in Spain.
"She took enormous pride to hold her own in this very challenging and male-dominated environment," said Gardner Roller Ligo, a classmate and current Davidson merit program director. "She knew she was being scrutinized at every turn.
"She showed them that being a woman didn't mean you couldn't do the hard stuff and do it well."
During the early 1970s, Davidson, like many single-gender schools, began discussing coeducation. Then President Sam Spencer negotiated an exchange program with all-female schools in the Carolinas, Virginia and Georgia. But those women students had to return to their schools to graduate.
In spring 1970, Missy Boaz, raised on an apple farm outside Charlottesville, Va., was a freshman at all-female Agnes Scott College and had a blind date with Davidson art student Kes Woodward. They were engaged after the second date, and Missy began taking classes at Davidson.
The two married in May 1971. Missy applied to Davidson and was admitted as a junior - under a new provision that allowed women to enroll as degree candidates if they were married to Davidson students or related to faculty members.
"She was the kind of person they would normally welcome at Davidson if she just was not a woman," Kes Woodward said Wednesday. "She was a great test case."
Four years after the couple graduated, they moved to Alaska, where Kes became curator of museums in Juneau, and then Fairbanks.
Missy worked as a potter for years. Then, in the early 1980s, "she announced she was going to be a professional," her husband said.
She thought about law school, but lawyer friends advised her against it.
So, despite not taking a science course since ninth grade, she started three years of undergraduate math and science courses to apply for medical school.
She went on to get her M.D. at the University of Washington and later returned to Alaska to become medical director at a pediatrics clinic.
All day Wednesday, condolences from the Davidson community rolled in by e-mails to the Woodward home, Kes Woodward said.
"She was an historical first and her passing has struck a chord," said Davidson registrar Hansford Epes, who knew the Woodwards when they were students. "A pioneer has passed on. That's a marker, a sad marker in time."
Read more: www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/07/29/1588098/1st-female-grad-at-davidson-college.html#ixzz0v5Mi04um