by Jim Stewart<\/p>\n
Virginia Thomas\u2019 appointment in 1931 as dean of Greenville Woman\u2019s College proved to be an inspired choice.<\/p>\n
She took the job during difficult times. The Depression had left GWC in a precarious financial position \u2014 to the point that, to save the school and its assets (and to help their own budgetary woes), the Furman trustees voted in 1933 to coordinate with GWC and consolidate the schools\u2019 administrations and faculty while maintaining separate campuses in downtown Greenville.<\/p>\n
Thomas (left photo), who had joined the GWC English faculty in 1921, was known for her tact and gentility, which came in handy as the schools struggled to adapt to their new relationship. Once the merits of the merger became evident, especially in terms of finances and enrollment, its success eased the concerns of those who weren\u2019t initially sold on consolidation \u2014 including Furman president Bennette E. Geer.<\/p>\n
While her people skills helped the schools bridge their cross-town gap, Thomas never lost sight of GWC as an entity itself. In Academy and College: The History of the Woman\u2019s College of Furman University<\/em>, Judith Bainbridge, professor emerita of English, describes how Thomas \u201cplaced an indelible stamp on the manners, morale and aspirations of the women\u201d during her tenure, especially in fostering a sense of identity and culture.<\/p>\n Thomas was a staunch supporter of such activities as GWC\u2019s May Day festival, complete with games and a queen. May Day eventually moved from GWC to the men\u2019s campus (and later, for a time, to the current campus). She introduced the \u201cHanging of the Greens,\u201d annual Christmas celebrations that featured elaborate pageants and a campus adorned with garlands of laurel, cedar and holly. She brought a \u201crustic mountain cabin\u201d to GWC and turned it into a snack bar and meeting place known as \u201cThe Shack.\u201d Today it sits beside the lake as part of Furman\u2019s Greenbelt residential community \u2014 and is the only GWC building that survives.<\/p>\n Thomas could not have known that GWC and Furman would eventually unite on one campus outside Greenville. And she would probably have been dismayed to learn that virtually all traces of GWC \u2014 from its celebrations and publications to its alma mater, ring, and school colors of blue and gold \u2014 would ultimately fade away at the new, coeducational Furman.<\/p>\n All except one.<\/p>\n Senior Order, established by Thomas in 1937 as a select leadership organization for women, stands today, three quarters of a century later, as a time-honored link between past and present. With close to 1,000 members (dead and alive), Senior Order reveres and recognizes such qualities as humility, character, scholarship, service and responsibility. Election to the group is among the highest honors a Furman woman can receive.<\/p>\n Thomas envisioned Senior Order as an advocacy group for women\u2019s points of view at Furman. She chose the first members from the Class of \u201938, selecting women with \u201coutstanding abilities\u201d who \u201crendered meritorious service either in the college or community\u201d (1938 Bonhomie<\/em>).<\/p>\n The dean would not, however, have much time to help the group grow and mature. She became seriously ill in 1941 and resigned in 1943.<\/p>\n But it was Furman\u2019s \u2014 and Senior Order\u2019s \u2014 good fortune that her prot\u00e9g\u00e9, Marguerite Chiles \u201940, was on hand.<\/p>\n Thomas hired Chiles (right photo), a member of the third Senior Order class, as her secretary in 1940. After a time Chiles went to graduate school, then returned in 1945 as director of student personnel for women and advisor to Senior Order.<\/p>\n For the next 35 years, as she climbed the ranks to become vice president for student affairs \u2014 the first woman vice president in Furman history \u2014 Chiles planned events, coordinated campus activities, and oversaw programs designed to help students embrace the full benefits of college life.<\/p>\n Chiles, a student favorite, was especially admired by the women of Senior Order, with whom she shared many adventures. She modeled the group\u2019s ideals through her wisdom, compassion and love for the university, and she fostered a true sense of camaraderie among the women.<\/p>\n After she retired in 1980 she remained close to Furman and to Senior Order, returning often for the group\u2019s annual Homecoming brunch. In return the women of Senior Order made sure that Chiles was not forgotten by leading efforts to establish the Marguerite Chiles Scholarship, and to name a residence hall in her honor. The board of trustees did so in 1997.<\/p>\n TRADITIONS, OLD AND NEW<\/strong><\/p>\n Senior Order\u2019s prominence at Furman has varied through the years. At first it functioned almost like a sorority. Members met weekly, assisted with orientation and admission programs, decorated the campus for the holidays and raised money for charitable causes. More recently the group has become primarily an honorary organization, with a loosely defined structure.<\/p>\n At GWC Senior Order would meet in a room where the china collection of Gordon Poteat, president of Furman from 1903-18, was displayed. One piece, a bowl decorated with a dragon, spawned a Senior Order legend that, to ensure the safety of the student body, a woman must be sacrificed to the dragon each year. The members soon designated themselves as \u201cDaughters of the Dragon\u201d because of their sacrificial commitment to the school \u2014 which is how the group\u2019s symbol features the Greek Delta letters \u201cDD.\u201d<\/p>\n New members are elected each spring by the graduating cohort. In the early years eight women were chosen; today the average is 15.<\/p>\n Members admit that the election process is not an easy task, and on occasion it results in complaints or bruised feelings. In 1964, for example, The Paladin, <\/em>upset that some women had, from its perspective, been unfairly excluded, published an editorial naming additional members to a \u201cSenior Disorder\u201d list.<\/p>\n For years new members were \u201ctapped\u201d into the organization during a solemn, all-women convocation that was followed by a weekend retreat in the mountains. Nowadays things are less formal, and it\u2019s not unusual for the neophytes to be welcomed to the club by being \u201chijacked\u201d in the middle of the night, usually with the help of complicit roommates.<\/p>\n Helen Athanasiadis \u201982, who traveled from Greece in the fall to attend her 30th reunion, spoke at the Homecoming brunch about her initiation experience: \u201cI was a commuter, and when they came to my house to get me, my mother was afraid I was being kidnapped. They had to explain to her that I was really being honored.\u201d<\/p>\n Ah, the brunch \u2014 probably Senior Order\u2019s most meaningful tradition. It frequently takes on the qualities of a religious experience (see related story).<\/p>\n Some Senior Order groups remain close and stage annual gatherings. Others come together occasionally. Last summer all but one member from the Class of \u201969 met for a reunion on Hilton Head Island, S.C. \u201cWe still thought like Furman women,\u201d said Mary Ann Klutz Hanna. \u201cWe all had done things and all of us had grown, but we still had a special connection with each other, and with Furman.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the 16 members from the Class of 2013, their selection launched a new era for Senior Order: its second 75 years.<\/p>\n They are now part of an elite Furman organization. No matter what follows, they will always have this group, and this place, in common.<\/p>\n This spring they will choose the new class and, after enjoying the lighter rites of initiation, will host a banquet for their successors and their families. The new members will hear testimonials to their worthiness, receive their symbolic, black and yellow scarf, and add their signatures to the roll of honor.<\/p>\n Perhaps Virginia Thomas, who died in 1962, or Marguerite Chiles, who died in 2007, envisioned this kind of enduring legacy, one that has continued under the leadership of Carol Daniels \u201982 and now Casey Crisp \u201909.<\/p>\n In any case, they would likely be pleased to know that, in a time when tradition is often dismissed and ceremony mocked, Senior Order continues to celebrate such virtues as discipline, service and character, and to serve as a standard of excellence for Furman women.<\/p>\n This story owes a major debt to Julianna Battenfield (Senior Order Class of \u201911), who as an undergraduate did extensive research about the group. Her work is available on the James B. Duke Library\u2019s Special Collections and Archives website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Jim Stewart Virginia Thomas\u2019 appointment in 1931 as dean of Greenville Woman\u2019s College proved to be an inspired choice. She took the job during difficult times. 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