Grace Mary Scully was a Professor of Physical Education for Women from 1946 to 1957. She was born in 1915 in El Reno, Oklahoma. She studied at Eastern Oregon College, University of Washington, and University of Oregon, graduating from the latter in 1942 with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and Biological Science. She earned her Master of Science in 1946 from University of Oregon, in health and physical education. For her thesis, she studied flexibility. While attending University of Oregon, she was a graduate assistant and briefly an instructor. She also had experience teaching elementary and secondary school, supervising health and physical education at University High School in Eugene, Oregon, and had been a director of a summer playground program and camp counselor. OSC hired her at $2400 for a ten month term. She became an assistant professor in 1950. She took sabbatical leave from 1954-55, on half salary, to get her doctorate from Columbia University Teachers’ College. After this, she requested an an additional leave of absence to complete her dissertation. Her work was funded by the Ford Foundation and “some Carnegie money.” The organization supervising her work was the Greater New York Council for Foreign Students. She felt that, though her subject might at first glance seem unrelated to her work at OSC, she was learning more about people foreign and domestic, which she considered “basic to the excellent teaching of anything.” In June 1956, she received her PhD. in Guidance and Student Personnel Administration, with additional study in counseling. Her doctoral thesis was titled “A Study of Students from Abroad Who Do Not Wish to Return Home.” Unlike her study subjects, Scully was anxious to return to her “beloved Oregon.” She wrote two separate, very similar letters announcing her graduation to President Strand, who teased her for already developing “professorial absent-mindedness.” Apparently she had forgotten to sign the first by hand, and so she wrote another, but could not retrieve the first from the postal service. In 1957, she accepted a position as Associate Professor at Northern Illinois State College at De Kalb, where she taught dance education, in addition to counseling, and guiding a number of graduate students. She made it clear she had “made every effort to stay in this state.” President Strand apologized she had “come to the decision she did,” and chalked it up to a “personality conflict.” Professor Scully responded that the issue was not due to personality conflict and was instead because others were “firstest with the mostest”--a famous Southern phrase which essentially means that one group got there first, with greater numbers, and dominated the scene thereafter. Dr Seen attributed her decision to leave to the fact that Professor Scully wished to teach dance, but OSC already had a dance education professor. After Illinois, she became Associate Professor and Assistant Director of Student Personnel Services at Paterson State College. She was president of Phi Beta Sigma, and a member of Sigma Alpha Chi and Kappa Delta Pi.
Lois Ann Sather (nee Young) was Assistant Food Technologist. She was born in 1923 in Wilsonville, Oregon. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Home Economics from OSC in 1945. She joined OSC in 1945 as a research assistant with the Food Technology Department, with a salary of $1800 per year. She left in 1948, and returned to the same position in 1952. After two years, she became Assistant Food Technologist with the rank of assistant professor in 1954, where she was in charge of the Flavorium, Food and Dairy Tech Department. She was also in charge of several significant flavor studies, studying the formulation of commercial food products and researched which factors influence consumer preferences for beef. Her lab developed new recipes for using dried apples, dried green beans, and dried cherries. Her work was considered expedient by the university, who felt that the “tremendous increase in the number of insecticides and fungicides,” made it necessary for the “Food Technology Department… to make numerous tests on the effect of these materials on flavor of crops treated with [pesticides].” Sather was a member of the National IFT committee on Flavor Evaluation Procedures, and published numerous publications, with titles such as “Flavor Studies of Ice Cream vs. Ice Milk by Student Flavor Panels,” and “Building Convenience into Green Beans.” She was a member of the Institute of Food Technologists and the American Home Economics Association, as well as Kappa Delta Sorority Alumnae Association, the Eastern Star, and Corvallis Parent-Teachers Association. She was married to Glenn V Sather in 1946, who owned and managed a Corvallis laundry and dry cleaning business. By 1958 they had three children: Craig (10), Ronald (8), and Larry (7).
Lucia Haley was an assistant librarian at Oregon State from 1921 to 1952. Haley was born in 1887, in Fryeburg, Maine. She received her Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) degree in 1911 from the University of Washington, and a Bachelor of Liberal Studies (B.L.S.) from Pratt Institute. Before coming to work at Oregon State, Haley was a cataloger for the Seattle Public Library, and for the Oregon State Library, and as a librarian for the University of Montana. She was also an active member in the Pacific Northwest Library Association. Haley took sabbatical leave in 1929 in order to travel to other libraries across the United States and Europe to learn how to improve Oregon State’s library. She also used this time to improve her French and German so she could translate periodical literature. In 1937, Haley attended a summer session at the University of California to learn Russian. Haley had noticed a growing trend in materials coming into the library from the Soviet Union that were in Russian, where they had previously been written in English, German, or French. Haley understood the importance of being able to translate these documents, especially Soviet research in soils, horticulture, and farm crops, for Oregon State, so she took it upon herself to learn Russian. She retired in 1952, after 31 years of service. OSC awarded her with emeritus status upon her retirement for her contributions to the college. She passed away in 1975.
Florence S. Bakkum was an Acting Instructor in Mathematics at Oregon State from 1942 to 1951 and then from 1954 until her death in 1983. She received her bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College in 1916 and her master’s degree from Cornell in 1924. She was born in Fairville, Iowa, in 1893. Before working at OSC, she was a homemaker. She was still married when she began working for OSC. She was well traveled, having gone to many European countries. She received $700 per term to teach mathematics. She initially was brought on on a term-by-term basis, as the university may have been losing faculty who left for war service. By the end of her first winter term at OSC, they approved for her to work spring term as well. By 1943, she was listed as a mathematics instructor in the military program. By 1945, she was given a raise to $800 for fall term. It seems as though she had retired in 1951 but was brought out of retirement to help the expanding science department. By 1955, she was making $4,020 for 10 months. In 1956, that was raised to $4,220 for 10 months. In 1957, it was raised to $5,300 for 10 months. By the time she died, she had been promoted to Assistant Professor.
Mary Iola Bash was the Assistant Dean of Women from 1946 to 1953. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1914 from the University of Washington. She was born in 1891, in Port Townsend, Washington. As a child, she traveled between China and New York often, due to her father’s work in railroads. He built the first railroads in China. Before coming to OSC, she was a high school teacher and worked for the YMCA. She was also a manager of student housing at the University of Washington. Her friend Grace W. Carman was listed as her beneficiary. Carman was notified by the Good Samaritan Hospital that the College Administration Council made a gift of $15 to the Mary Bash memorial following Bash’s death. Her annual salary was initially $3000. A parent of a female student who visited with Bash in 1948 said this of her: “She has vision and foresight concerning girls problems, with a directness for action, plus a sincere, interested intent, with a most friendly manner, with guidance definitely the keynote.” When she became the acting dean of women in 1948, her salary rose to $4,400 a year. She was affiliated with the National Association of Deans of Women. She died in 1953.
Lois Criswell was a catalog assistant at the Oregon State College library from 1943 to 1953. Her annual pay was $2,160. She had previously worked as a librarian and cataloger at the University of California, the University of Idaho, and the Oregon College of Education. She worked at the Oregon College of Education for nearly twenty years before coming to OSC due to budget cuts to her salary. She was single with no children when she came to work at OSC. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington in 1921, and received some graduate education from the University of Illinois Library School. She was a member of the American Library Association and the Pacific Northwest Library Association. She was set to retire by the end of 1953, but fell ill and passed away in October, 1952. She was born in 1887, in Ottumwa, Iowa.
Melva Boon Kennen was born in 1924, in Mohler, Oregon. She was employed at OSC from 1947-49, first as Assistant Teacher in the College Nursery, and later as a part-time instructor in the Department of Household Administration. Previously, she worked at the Fruit and Flower Day Nursery in Portland, Oregon, but moved to Corvallis with her fiance, who was to begin attending Oregon State. In 1948, she rose to head teacher at the Orchard Street School Nursery, and received a salary as a part-time instructor of $2,250. She married her husband December 30th, 1946.
Rebecca K. Johnston was a county extension agent for Oregon State College from 1949 to 1952 and from 1956 to 1958. Johnston was born in 1925, in Marshall County, Kentucky. She received her Bachelor of Science in Vocational Home Economics from Western Kentucky State Teachers College in 1946. She was a member of the National Education Association and the National Vocation Association. Before coming to work at Oregon State, Johnston taught home economics at an Illinois high school. Johnston made the move to Oregon to be closer to her mother, a resident of Grant County. She was hired by Oregon State to work in Crook County at an annual salary of $3,480. She resigned in 1952, but came back to work in 1956, where she was assigned as an extension agent in Malheur County. She resigned in 1958 to accept a position as an extension agent in Alaska.
Emily Johnson was a part-time instructor for the Department of Art and Architecture at Oregon State College from 1946 to 1948. Johnson was born in 1923, in Pocatello, Idaho. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Painting and Design from the University of Washington in 1945. She was a member of the American Red Cross. Before coming to work at OSC, Johnson designed advertising layouts for the Pocatello Tribune. She was married to Clarence E. Johnson when she came to work at Oregon State. She was hired as an art instructor at Oregon State at an annual salary of $2,400. Johnson was responsible for teaching three art classes during her time at Oregon State. She resigned in 1948 when her husband obtained his master’s degree from Oregon State College.
Leone Sans Johnson was a program consultant for the Memorial Union at Oregon State College from 1948 to 1964. Johnson was born in 1902, in Stonington, Illinois. She received her Bachelor of Science in Home Economics from North Dakota State College in 1926, and her Master of Science in Personnel and Guidance from Oregon State College in 1948. Her master’s thesis was, “An Analysis of Religious Activities at Oregon State College”. Before becoming a program consultant for the Memorial Union, Johnson worked as an executive secretary for the YMCA at Oregon State College. She was married to Tracy W. Johnson with two children when she began her work in 1948. She was brought on to work in auxiliary activities at an annual salary of $3,000. Throughout her time there, she aimed to make the Memorial Union a fully functioning and active center for the students, alumni and faculty of Oregon State. She resigned due to health problems in 1964, after seventeen years of service.