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Heart and SoulBaylor University Women's Association of Houston Twentieth Anniversary Luncheon
By Emily George Tinsley
It seems like only yesterday. The Baylor University Women's Association of Houston was formed in 1987 by a steering committee of twenty-four members representing fifty years of Baylor graduates. We had seen a need for a long time and wanted to create a local Baylor organization that would provide appealing activities for highly qualified, diverse, and busy women, and to avoid any unnecessary meetings.
This happened to be shortly after the "social clubs" at Baylor began affiliating with national sororities, who had their own
 alumni groups. That was the door of opportunity to form a new Houston organization with an open and all-inclusive membership, a way to grow both our Baylor family and a meaningful relationship with our alma mater over a lifetime.
Today, as then, that is no small challenge when our members range from twenty-one to ninety-five years of age, we are scattered across an area of over five million people, we wear many different hats, seventy percent of us have full or part-time careers, we may be single or married, our husbands may or may not be Baylor alums, and we have lots of talent and lots of different ideas about almost anything! I mean, we are women after all!
Nevertheless, our Baylor ties brought us together, and the dream became a reality with over four hundred charter members. The keys to that success were that it was meeting a real need, and that everyone was included in the planning and the execution of it. In fact, being consistently open and inclusive is the reason I believe we are still here these twenty years later. Our membership is open to all women, and our activities have included all branches of Baylor University.
We are an independently organized, self-governed, non-profit organization. Our stated purposes are to preserve and extend bonds of friendship, to further education, and to continue interest in Baylor University.
It would have been impossible for us to launch this organization without the generous assistance and services we received from both the Baylor Alumni Association and from Baylor University Development. We are honored by your attendance here today and thank you for your continued and future support of our efforts.
Over the years, we've rediscovered old friends and formed many new friendships. We have adapted our programs to the changing interests of our members, and we have continued to fund our Baylor endowments. Above all, there has been an ongoing, enthusiastic volunteer spirit that has been the drive and inspiration to keep us going and growing.
As surely as women are the heart of the home, I believe that women are at the heart of the Baylor family. We have a lot of families represented here today. Let's see a show of hands:
- If you were the first member of your family to attend Baylor.
- If your family has at least two generations who have attended Baylor.
- If your family has at least three generations who have attended Baylor.
- If your family has at least four generations who have attended Baylor.
- If your family has five generations who have attended Baylor.
- If your family has six generations who have attended Baylor!
This organization's family tree isn't so bad either. We have with us today our own Martha Taylor Brooks, granddaughter of Baylor President Samuel Palmer Brooks, and our own Eleanor Whilden Tinsley, great-granddaughter of Baylor President Rufus Burleson.
In a quick snapshot back to our first year, we remember our beloved Dorothy Barfield Kronzer, our first membership vice president. Dorothy was a Baylor regent emerita and the first woman president of the Baylor Alumni Association. Among her many legacies is the legendary Barfield Drawing Room in the Student Union Building.
How many of you or your children or grandchildren have had a teacher who was a Baylor graduate? Fine teachers are one of Baylor's profound and far-reaching legacies. Perhaps that teacher was our own Jeanne Cordell. She was our first vice president for philanthropy, initiating our two endowment funds--one for scholarships for Houston students and one to include all students who benefit from the Baylor library.
Mary Chavanne-Martin was our program vice president, Evelyn Woodruff was our secretary, and Betty Sellers was our treasurer. Ann Iler chaired the first Forum that year and served as president the following year. What a great team, and they are all here today.
Today, our membership spans graduates from 1937 to 2007. Certainly those have been years filled with change. So how is a Baylor woman student different today from your Baylor days?
Well, for one thing they don't have an 8:30 curfew! And they can wear pants, jeans, even shorts, any time and anywhere they please! And all of them have credit cards, cell phones, and the Internet.
Today, almost 60 percent of Baylor's nearly 14,000 students are women.
Thanks to Title IX, we have over 200 women participating in highly competitive Big 12 sports. They also have the highest GPA and graduation rates among all our student athletes.
And you can be sure our world will change as we have more and more women physicians and lawyers. Similar to national trends, 60 percent of our pre-med students are women, and about 40 percent of our law students are women--and graduates include local, state, and federal judges.
Today's Baylor women are doctors, lawyers, and Indian chiefs, CEOs, musicians, educators, financial advisors, judges, nurses, missionaries, research scientists, accountants, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and computer wizards. They have distinguished themselves in their professional lives and in their community service, and thereby they have brought honor and distinction to Baylor University.
There are 144,000 living Baylor alumni. Almost 16,000 of them live right here in the greater Houston area. Six percent of our Houston Baylor women graduated fifty or more years ago, but a stunning 67 percent of our Houston women graduated in the last twenty years!
Mary Russell McCall summed it up well when she said, "The one continuity in my life has been Baylor. That 'good old Baylor line' is all over the world, and the mutual love for Baylor that we all have is the tie that binds."
Today I would ask you to take up the challenge President Abner McCall gave to me and to many others. He looked me squarely in the eye--and if you knew him, you know exactly the look I mean--and he said, "You must serve Baylor in such a way that every year you will want to hang your diploma just a little higher."
It is exciting to anticipate what the future can hold for Baylor, for this organization, and for its members.
I defy anyone to show me women with more heart, soul, and passion than Baylor women. In all of the seasons of our lives, we draw strength and courage from each other. I know you too are grateful for the continuation of the Houston Baylor Women's Association.
Thank you, Kimberly Dominy, for your outstanding leadership as president this year, thank you, Peggy Powell, for being president-elect, and thanks to the committee who made today happen.
God bless all of you, and I hope we are all back here to celebrate our fiftieth anniversary together!
If you would like to respond to this story, send an e-mail to Between the Lines Editor.
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