THE TRIP FROM TANGIER ISLAND IN THE CHESAPEAKE BAY TO HARRISONBURG WAS LONG AND INVOLVED THAT JUNE OF 1948. As a 10-year-old, I longed to spend the summer with my new friends on the island, but my mother insisted that I accompany her and my 8-year-old brother, David, as she took up her studies toward a bachelor's degree at Madison.

Mama had completed two years at Longwood (then Farmville State Teachers College) in 1924-26. Financial problems for her tobacco farmer father prevented her return. However, two years of college were enough to teach in Virginia schools, which she did until she married my father. In 1948, as a fifth-grade teacher in the Tangier school, she needed to complete her degree. She considered returning to Farmville in the summers, but after hearing about Madison College's summer program, she decided to make the trip to Harrisonburg.

We took the mail boat from Tangier to Crisfield, Md., took a taxi to Princess Ann, then took a bus to Cape Charles and across the mouth of the Chesapeake by ferry to Kiptopeke, and then rode another bus to Richmond. There were a few days with family in Richmond, then a train to Staunton, where the Madison College bus waited for us. It was late in the evening when we settled into Sprinkle House with our trunk. Mama left us just long enough to register. Sprinkle House was large, dark and lonely for an exhausted pair of siblings. Tears were very near until Mama returned. The next morning we found our way to breakfast in Harrison Hall. Of course, we were late, but another woman was late also and kindly Miss Raine (the dietitian) forgave us all. The other latecomer turned out to be Mama's cousin, and between breakfast and family we felt at home.

Thus began a wonderful summer. My brother and I enrolled in Main Street School, where we walked each morning with the other children of Madison's large summer contingent of teacher-student-parents. An abundance of student teachers made each morning's classes seem fun. Friends Ann and Brenda, among others, walked with me back to campus for lunch in Harrison Hall. After eating, we visited the large children's collections at the library or sneaked in to explore Messick House, with its many unoccupied dark rooms. There were plenty of activities. The regular students were kind and organized ball games and trips for us. There was a small outdoor pool on the back campus, and the Fourth of July featured a huge watermelon-topped picnic behind Wilson Hall. The most fun of all was the arrival of Richard Chase with his grandfather tales. We gathered around him and listened intently as he spun story after story. He also hosted square dances, where we learned the Virginia Reel. By the end of the summer, I was not ready to leave.

Mama returned to Madison each summer, sometimes without my brother and me, in pursuit of her degree. She liked her classes, enjoyed the professors and was pleased that her children were happy. Her hard work earned her election to Kappa Delta Pi.

By the summer of 1954, the last course Mama needed was a history course, which she took by correspondence from another university and transferred the credits to Madison. She graduated from Madison at the end of the summer session in 1954, and the whole family attended commencement. As Mama graduated, I had already begun my three years and three summers at Madison. It was my pleasure to usher at her graduation ceremony. The white rose corsage I bought for her then signified my pride in her intelligence, fortitude and perseverance. A brick on the patio of the Leeolou Alumni Center honors her memory. 

The summer sessions that Madison provided for Nannie Wilson Moore Newton ('54) and Virginia's other teachers who needed to upgrade their qualifications were invaluable to the state. For me, they were happy times. When the time came for me to choose a college, Madison was first in my heart.

•  Sarah Wilson Newton Palmer ('57)

50 YEARS AGO

Nannie Wilson Moore Newton graduated from Madison College in 1954, but she wasn't the typical student. Like many teachers of her day, she traveled to Madisonduring the summer months to finish her degree, sometimes with her own children in tow. Above is a remembrance of those summers traveling from Tangier Island, Va., to Harrisonburg and a tribute to Nannie written by her daughter, Sarah Wilson Newton Palmer ('57).