School Story:
[From 50th Reunion Yearbook...]
Bates College, Katharine Gibbs, West Virginia Wesleyan College, B.A., Religion and Psychology; Yale University Divinity School, M.A.R., Religion
Employers, Durham Co. Social Services, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Husband Van, children Nathaniel and Molly
What am I? Artist, Singer, Writer, Ever hopeful dreamer
Although I was never a star student at Northfield, I was most unprepared to realize that my academic preparation for college was far more advanced than my new classmates at Bates College. It was the end of the ‘fifties, the time of Peace and Prosperity, but the existential angst that I had wallowed in as a preppy loomed large. So I dropped out of college determined to make it in the working world in Boston. I loved the new freedom, independence and city life that were now mine. A dreadful car wreck in which I was almost killed made me come to terms with the fact that it was past time to get serious. It was now the ‘sixties, and these became my years! I returned to academia, got my B.A. in short order and on to Yale Divinity School for a Master’s in Religion to pursue a career of inner city social work with a religious intention. It was a remarkable time to be in New Haven and at Yale. Shattered by numerous recent assassinations of beloved leaders we faced the crises of riots in New Haven and the real angst of 4-D divinity students turning in their draft cards in protest of the Vietnam War. I found my place in this world and became a child of the sixties.
My experiences at Yale were fortunate indeed: I met my future husband, Van Quinn, a fellow student as well as a consummate musician. I pursued a career of social work in New Haven with foster children. After four years in New Haven we moved to North Carolina where Van completed a Ph.D. in Religious Studies at Duke, taught at Saint Mary’s college in Raleigh, and I continued working in Social Welfare. I also began a career as painter which I have continued off and on through the years. Eventually we moved to Chapel Hill where Van pursued his second career of organist-choirmaster at the Chapel of the Cross, a large Episcopal parish in Chapel Hill, where he has now been for 37 years. I recently retired, eager to return to past pursuits of painting and writing, but I occasionally unretire.
Returning to the almost empty campus this fall was a sharp reminder of the indelibility of three years at Northfield on me. From endless philosophical discussions with roommates, faculty and, dare I say, “Holy Bob,” who was always available to discuss life’s big issues, Choir, Mr. Raymond, Mr. Freeman, and to Miss Homet, who was inevitably right, though smoke-filled trains of vacation-bound girls ignored her warnings of the perils of smoke. I remember with special fondness Mrs. Playful, our assistant Dummy supervisor in Marquand. I always loved her name, and it described her well!
Now here I am still enjoying being a wife, mother, singer, artist, and writer with the inherent struggles that each of those titles imply. I loved the 1960s, always buoyed by the fervent belief that we could create a better world for all people. I look with sorrow on the world as it is now and hope another generation can do better. I’ll still try to do my part for as long as I can. I love being in my sixties in good health and as much of sound mind as I have ever been. Being so very much in the middle of art, music, and good friends, my existential search for the meaning of life has mellowed. I think I am there!
