Thanks for the Memories
Obviously the most recent issue of the alumni magazine struck a positive response in me because of the personal memories it evoked of my campus days: homecoming, favorite professors, then on to the Blanche Lazzell exhibit and the burgeoning Wharf District, which I recently visited. Thanks so much for this “guided tour” down memory lane!
Then I realized more powerfully than ever before the very significant contributions of WVU to my life development and achievements!
I was a 1949 graduate, raised a family in Fairmont, West Virginia, then back to WVU for an MS in 1972. Then on to a career as a university professor myself in Kentucky and Delaware. Now, since my retirement as head of the interior design program at the University of Delaware, I’ve found another way to channel all my interests and experience into an exciting, fulfilling life as director of the Rymer-Stakgold Museum.
And it all started at the College of Human Resources at WVU, and originally at the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Home Economics in the 1940s, under many outstanding professors such as Beth Palmer Muffly, then Profs. Betty Lou Ramsey, and William Haggarty!
Thank you, as editor, for reawakening in me the appreciation I owe to our outstanding West Virginia University.
Jeanne S. Rymer, ’49 BS, ’72 MS
Wilmington, DE
Art Collection Concern
I very much enjoyed the WVU Alumni Magazine Spring 2005 article on Blanche Lazzell’s artwork. The article makes me appreciate even more having one of her original works in our home.
Mr. Robert Bridges, Curator of the Mesaros Galleries of the Creative Arts Center, has done a nice article on this exhibit.
I think the alumni need to recognize the hard work of Dr. John Cuthbert, as the director of the Special Collections of the West Virginia University Libraries, as the reason our University has these fine works.
This should be acknowledged and I remain concerned the Creative Arts Center has taken over this very special collection of West Virginia Art.
I appreciate the efforts of the CAC in obtaining art from around the world. However, the interest and focus on West Virginia Art has been fostered and supported extensively for many years by the Special Collections of the WVU Libraries. It is unfortunate the article did not choose to recognize them for the efforts over these many years.
R. Samuel Oliver Jr., ’79 BA, ’83 MD
Charleston, WV
Mr. Oliver,
The Creative Arts Center actually has not taken over the Lazzell collection of art. The West Virginia Art Collection remains intact and a valuable University-owned asset available to students, faculty, scholars, and the people of West Virginia. As noted in the article, author Robert Bridges is curator for both the Mesaros Galleries and the West Virginia University Art Collection. After the culmination of the exhibit, the art works were returned to their original owners, whether it was the WVU Art Collection, or other generous persons who donated their artwork for a short time to the exhibit.
As for the recognition of Dr. John Cuthbert, he certainly does deserve our appreciation for the hard work and much that he has accomplished during his career at WVU. Due to the guidance of former curators, John Clarkson, Urban Couch, and John Cuthbert, the Blanche Lazzell collection and the collection in general is certainly one that West Virginians can be proud of. However, there just isn’t enough room in our mere 48 pages of magazine to send accolades to everyone who deserves it. We’ll try to do more next time.
—The Editors