Excerpt from "Through Golden Years" by Leila Roberta Custard
Source: Through Golden Years p.154-159
Author: Leila Roberta Custard
Publisher: Lewis Historical Publishing
Date: 1947
On May 24, 1917, the Reverend Robert Johns Trevorrow was formally installed as the new president of Centenary.
Like most of his predecessors. Dr. Trevorrow was a graduate of Drew Theological Seminary. English by birth, he had first seen the light in the historic town of St. Ives, Cornwall. Moving with his family to California, he had prepared for college at Napa Academy and graduated from the University of the Pacific, receiving there his A. B. in 1808, his A. M. in IQOI and his D. D. in 1913- H had studied also in Union Theological Seminary. From the California Conference he had transferred to the New York Conference and had served pastorates there until in 1913 he had become President of Drew Seminary for Young Ladies. He possessed a rare combination of abilities—those of the preacher, the religious thinker and leader, the teacher, the educational philosopher, and—rarest of all in this company—the administrator.
Centenary presented a challenge to all his energies, but as he stated in his Inaugural Address on "A Christian Ideal of Education," he found his chief incentive to sacrifice and effort in the fact that C. C. 1. was a school for women. To him the education of a woman is not merely the training of an individual but the education of a whole family. He saw woman in America on the threshold of a glorious future. For her there must be the most thorough preparation, the highest scholarship, the cleanest ideals of morality and unselfish service. 'The ideal of all education," he said, is character building, approaching Christlikeness."
This creed, so similar to that of her first president, was destined to shape Centenary's program for a quarter of a century. The two presidents served Centenary each for twenty-six years, each with single-purposed, unswerving devotion, in sickness and in health. But how different the two administrations—the first, a calm, unhurried unfolding of the original design; the second, an anxious, tense labor of rescue and retrieving, of adaptation to a world torn by wars, in throes of transition.
President Trevorrow faced a complex, many-sided problem. "Every effort must be put forth," urged the President, to operate a thoroughly fine school at reasonable rates No one wants C. C. I. to deteriorate into a school for merely rich girls. It needs the vigor of the earnest, economical student." Here protruded the principal prong of a dilemma-like problem. Resources must be found for helping worthy students of limited means. To render the finest possible service at a minimum cost, and to provide ample scholarship opportunities, a school must have a proper endowment—the sum of $200,000 at least. But large gifts for endowment do not readily find their way to a school sinking under a burden of debt. Only by prompt payment of the interest and speedy liquidation of the entire obligation could Centenary prove herself worthy of being entrusted with endowment funds.
The new President immediately inaugurated a new method of managing school finances along with regular monthly meetings of the Executive Committee of the Trustees to examine the financial statements and transact business. This method soon included a yearly audit of the school's accounts and careful study of the analytical reports of the auditors.
Dr. Trevorrow always made careful comparative statistical studies of his problems. He did nothing or impulse or mere "hunch." His graphs are a very interesting part of the college archives. Comparison of charges for tuition and residence revealed, for example that the 1913 rate of $500 had been actually too low to cover the year's expenses. In 1919 there was no alternative but to raise the yearly charge to $725? and to $830 in 1921. Changes and adjustments were made from time to time as these studies and the general business conditions indicated.
Another object of constant scrutiny was the school farm. From the first, Dr. Trevorrow was suspicious of it as an income-producing factor but he gave it a chance to prove its value. He sought information from the State Department of Agriculture and secured an experience farmer. It soon became plainly the better part of wisdom to sell the acres that had constituted the original school farm, reserving to the school, however, perpetual right to the use of the entire "Farm Path." The whole amount realized was immediately applied on the indebtedness.
Above all, Centenary needed friends, "Anything that will cement old friendships and make new ones is important to our school," wrote the President in 1917.n early suggestion had come from Mr. Carl Price of the class of '98, who wrote: I wish you all possible success in the school that was my first love. I believe you will be wise enough to cultivate the Alumni . . . Probably they can help in many of the difficulties that you must face there.
The President speedily sought their friendship. All Alumni and friends of C. C. I. found among their New Year Greetings in 1018 a copy of Volume I, number I of The Bulletin of Centenary Collegiate Institute, which brought them "wishes for a happy New Year, good will prosperity, and the quiet mind" from the new President of their Alma Mater. Thus began a now familiar and inseparable part of the Centenary pattern. Meanwhile registration had gradually increased. In 1920, students were once again using Upper North Hall which had been closed off ever since the boys had left.
Sooner than expected the policy of retrenchment and economy and careful management justified itself. By the spring of 1921 it was possible to pay in full the $37,500 of accrued deficits on the operation of C. C. I. as a girls' school. Any rejoicing over this was sobered, however, by the fact that there still remained a mortgage of $35,000 the aggregate of accrued deficits, repairs and alterations necessitated by the change from coeducation.
About this time Centenary lost an outstanding personality, Miss Mary Isabella Breckenridge who had
come from Pennington as a teacher o! English in 1910 and from 1914 on had also been Head of North Hall and senior adviser. Her death on July 31, 1923great grief to the school. The Trustees' Resolutions of appreciation of her inspiration, fine scholarship, friendliness and loyalty closed with these words: "Her life among us added to the fine traditions of our school." Her former students and friends placed on the walls of the chapel a plaque in her memory. Her brother, Mr.Karl Breckenridge of Chicago, provided a yearly memorial of her in the form of the Breckenridge lectures on English or American literature, which were continued as long as he lived.
During these busy years the President had taken scarcely any vacation, for the World War, too, had made its demands on his time. In September, 19I8, the National War Council of the Y. M. C. A. requested that Dr. Trevorrow be released for Army Camp Service. The Trustees replied by authorizing him to give to that work his vacation and such additional time as could be granted without detriment to the interests of the school. And of course the activities of the school were in every possible way so directed as to aid the war effort.
Mrs. Trevorrow, too, from the beginning had de voted herself to Centenary. Always the gracious hostess of the school and its very efficient Dean, she it was who created and maintained the homelike atmosphere, the friendliness and the high tone of refinement that pervaded the place. She always had her hand on the unseen mechanism that was responsible for the general well being.
In the summer of 1022, the Trustees were wise enough to grant to Dr. and Mrs. Trevorrow an extra month of vacation. The two enjoyed together a much-needed change of scene by taking a trip to Europe.
With renewed zeal the President returned to his task, determined that C. C. 1. should celebrate her approaching fiftieth anniversary with her record clear of all indebtedness. The day of emancipation came on February 13, 1924,, when the mortgage was cancelled. In seven years Dr. Trevorrow had paid $81,011.93 on capital indebtedness and interest—a truly remarkable accomplishment.
The deep joy of the President rings through his report to the Trustees: 'Now we have that freedom which comes from a liberated spirit, the inspiration which comes from the consciousness of success. Not for more than thirteen years have we been able to draw the free air that we breathe today. Today we begin a new era of happiness and progress.
The time had come, he felt, to gather an adequate endowment, since "It is now perfectly safe to invest money for the future in the care of C. C. I." Centenary herself gave tangible thanks for her "liberated spirit" by reaching out to help worthy students. In past years from ten to twenty girls each year had been receiving scholarship aid, largely from funds granted by the Methodist Board of Education. Now the school was able to authorize some additional scholarships.
Centenary's fiftieth birthday was celebrated on June 7, 1924, the nearest possible date to the actual opening in 1874- So many of her sons and daughters came.
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