Greensboro, NC
January 21, 2000
P|P GUILFORDI AN
"...testimonies
[were made] to
Place's astounding
intelligence,
academic
achievements,
warmth and
genuine concern
for others, and the
love she bore to
such disparate
things as her cats,
Scrabble, opera,
and movies."
-Peter Morscheck
Betty Place passes away
By Peter Morscheck
STArr WRITER
There was a different kind
of silence at New Garden
Friends Meeting last Wednes
day. Scores of faculty, friends,
family, and students—current
Wr fIBHI IB HIHI WB
By Daniel Fleishman
STAIT WRITER
At the close of the 1999 fall
semester, General Colin Powell
addressed a brimming 1,000-seat
Dana Auditorium. He was also
honored by Guilford College as a
distinguished visiting professor of
the arts, humanities and public
affairs.
Both outside Hege library
and Dana auditorium, some 50
protesters voiced their displea
sure at the college's decision to
bring a "war hero" to a Quaker
school with pacifist ideals.
1 *fc I ' ; ••
K fij Hf
and former—gathered in cel
ebration and remembrance of
Dr. Mary Elizabeth Place, Direc
tor of the Guilford College li
brary. She passed away on De
cember 28th .
Director of Campus Minis
tries Max Carter led the group,
as he has had to do so often re-
Powell told the media in a
pre-speech press conference, "I
went into the military to protect
the right to practice your Quaker
beliefs just as I practice my beliefs
as an Episcopalian who abhors
war," but added, "I recognize that
war may be necessary to protect
our freedoms and beliefs."
Colin Powell was a profes
sional soldier for 35 years until his
retirement in 1993. In 1989 he was
named chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff. His autobiography,
My American Journey, was a best
seller. For those reasons, and his
struggle through a difficult child
hood in the South Bronx of New
York City to get to such a signifi-
cently, in a memorial service in
the manner of Friends. Follow
ing messages by her father,
Jefferson, her husband,
Alexander, and her brother,
Wayne, myriad testimonies fol
lowed—testimonies to Place's
astounding intelligence, aca
demic achievements, warmth
and genuine concern for others,
and the love she bore to such
disparate things as her cats,
Scrabble, opera, and movies.
Through it all, however,
one theme rang true: Place
touched the lives of whomever
she met. And so it was a differ
ent kind of silence between the
messages, anecdotes from pro
fessors Adrienne Israel and
Jack Zerbe, a poem read by stu
dent worker Nathan White, or
memories of past student work
ers who counted Place as their
mentor. In this silence, barely
five seconds could pass without
someone sniffling to hold back
tears.
The Guilfordian
c/o Student Activities
5800 W. Friendly Ave.
Greensboro, NC 27410
Born on May 3, 1939, Place
graduated from Duke Univer
sity before gaining her M.A. in
Germanic Literature from
Vanderbilt in 1969. For the next
six years she taught German at
Wake Forest. She then com
pleted her Ph.D. in German
Language and Literature at
Vanderbilt before beginning to
work with the Charlotte-
Mecklenburg Library Outreach
Program and Environmental
Protection Agency Special Li
brary Program.
She completed her Masters
of Library Science at UNC-CH
in 1982 and joined the Guilford
Library in 1983 as Coordinator
of Information/References Ser
vices and Bibliographic Instruc
tion. She distinguished herself
even that first year, as Dr. Herb
Poole noted in his annual report
in 1984: "Due to her efforts, we
have come a great distance in
Please see Place, page 3