Alumni Happenings
Mary’s dream comes true
Mary Turner
When Mary Wiggins Turner
came to Chowan College in the
early 1900’s it took her all day to
travel to Murfreesboro— by boat.
Chowan was a four-year Baptist
coUege for women when Mary
Wiggins entered college in 1908.
She attended Chowan through two
college presidents’ terms, and
remembers learning from both
presidents, including a philosophy
to live by from President John Scar
borough which has helped her
through many years: “Never falter,
never stop. Go forward and pray to
God, and he will carry us through.”
And that is the philosophy Mary
Wiggins Turner has carried throu^
99 years, because today she is the
oldest known living alumna of the
college.
Sitting in the front parlor of her
farmhouse, Sunnyside Manor, near
Gatesville, N.C., Mary Turner
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recalls fondly her days at Chowan,
when it was a four year Baptist
college for women. For many years,
it has been her dream for Chowan to
return to a four-year college.
“I was bom in Mintonsville, and
raised on a farm near the Chowan
river,” she explains. “When it was
time to return to coUege, 1 would
get up at 4:00 a.m. and go to
Holly’s Wharf to catch a boat to
Edenton. The boat, carrying all
Chowan students, would stop at
Tunis to take on more students from
two different trains, one from the
south and one from up north.”
“Then we would travel on up the
Meherrin River, and wouldn’t arrive
at the docks of Murfreesboro until
about 11:00 o’clock that night. A
carriage from the college would
come down and meet us and take us
to Chowan,” she remembers.
Daryl Allen
Bob Goff
Ryan Poe
Lonnie Mister
Four coaches join staff
Daryl Allen begins his first
season as offensive line football
team coach. After graduating from
Perquinunans High School, Allen
played center and linebacker at
Chowan before finishing his college
education at Guilford College in
1959. For the last 19 years, Allen
has coached at Ahoslde and consoli
dated Hertford County High School,
winning 4 Eastern Championships
while fmishing state nmner-up
twice.
Bob Goff begins his first season
at Chowan as the linebacker coach.
Goff, a native of Spring Valley,
New York. Goff is a graduate of
Bradley University with a B.S.
degree and has done graduate study
work at Springfield College and the
University of Maine.
Ryan Poe begins his first season
at Chowan College as the defensive
line coach. A 1990 graduate of Troy
State University with the B.A. in
joumalism, Poe was an offensive
center and a 4-year letterman.
Lonnie Mister also joins the
coaching staff as the wide-receiver
coach. Mister graduated from
Chowan in 1985 and is a graduate
of North Alabama College.
Mrs. Mary traveled by
boat to Chowan (above).
She was a member of the
painting club (left).
She entered Chowan in 1908 and
studied painting, music, elocution,
and voice, among other subjects.
Two large paintings she com
pleted in the ait classes at Chowan
are displayed in the parlor at
Sunnyside Manor.
Life at Chowan was a little
different when it was a four-year
college for women. There were oil
lights, and no running water in the
years 1908 through 1912. When the
giris needed water, they took
pitchers down to the kitchen to get
hot water for baths and washing.
Lights were out each nights at 10:00
p.m. and the girls were up by 7:00
a.m., dressed and ready to go to
breakfast. Classes began promptly
at 8:00 a.m. Living quarters,
classes, dinning room, parlor, and
library were all centralized in the
McDowell Columns Building.
‘To study after 10:00 at night, we
would take a light and go into the
closet, ” she recalls.
After graduation, Mrs. Mary
taught school for a number of years,
and married Mr. 0. C. Turner in
1919.
But, life has not always been
happiness for the Tumer Family, as
they lost two children, a daughter at
age 3, from ptomaine poisoning,
and a son, who died in a plane crash
in 1943 while in the service.
Each time, she lived the philoso
phy she learned so well, to “never
falter, never stop, God will carry us
through.”
She taught Sunday school for
27 years, and served on the Chowan
Board of Trustees from 1951-55.
Only the crippling power of arthritis
has slowed Mrs. Mary down. She
was the first woman in Gates county
to have a driver’s license and leam
to drive on a Model T Ford. Today,
she still gets around, but with
difficulty and she walks with a
cane. Surrounded by the quietness
of the fami, she lives alone and
likes it that way.
Mrs. Mary insists on seeing her
guests to the door when they leave,
and as she does, she stops and looks
toward the future for a moment.
“I do hope to live long enough to
see my dear Chowan College return
to be four-year once again.”
It is ironic that the 1912 Chowan
graduating class ‘officers’ listed
Mary Wiggins as the “Prophet”.
Homecoming set for October 13
Friday, October 12
7:30 p.m. Class of 1965 Silver Reunion Ban
quet, President's Dining Room
Saturday, October 13
8:00 a.m. Chowanian Society Meeting,
President’s Dining Room
10:30 a.m.Annual Meeting of the Alunmi
Association, Thomas Cafeteria
11:00 a.m. Class Reunion Celebrations,
Thomas Cafeteria
Enjoy the company of friends, class
mates, and professors for your class
rmnion. This year's class hosts &
hostesses are listed below.
Gasses of ’S5 & ’56
Drs. Appenzeller & UdvanK>kl
Classes of '60 & ’61
Mrs. Crouch and Mr. Wallace
Classes of '65 & '66
Mrs. Batchdor & Mr. Ruffin
Gasses of '70 & '71
Mr. Dewar & Mrs. Jones
Gasses of ’75 & '76
Mr. Gatewood & Mrs. Whitaker
Classes of '80 & ’81
Mrs. Dewar & Mr. Nicholson
Gasses of *85 & '86
Mrs. Eason & Mr. Eubank
12:00 noon Alumni Picnic,
Daniel Hall Lawn
Partake of a sumptuous feast before
going to the game. Special guests will
be on hand for you to meet
Cost: $5.00 per adult
2:00 p.m. Homecoming Football Game
Chowan vs. Potomac State,
Garrison Stadium
Tickets: $4.00 per adult;
$2.00 per child
4:00 p.m. Post Game President's
Reception, Ella Cobb Camp
President's Home
7:00 p.m. Hall of Fame Banquet,
Thomas Cafeteria
Celebrate the triumphs of fomier
Chowan athletes as four are inducted
in the Hall of Fame. This year Daryl
Allen ’57, Roben Alligood ’54,
Gerald Mathews '67, and Bobby
Gray '61 will join the ranks of former
inductees.
S:00 p.m. Alumni All Campus Dance
Lakeside Student Center
Chowan Today _ Fall, 1990 — PAGE 7