I Come from Strong Stock

When Daddy died, I received a cedar trunk with treasures from his life. His baby book. A newspaper article about his birth. Old photos. And a diploma. Not his, but a diploma from Mount Morris College, Ogle County, Illinois for Cressie L. Ostrander, my great grandmother.

I contemplated what kind of woman would have the fortitude to earn a college degree in 1902.

Although I was 16 when Grandma Brown died. (She married Charles Brown in 1908) I have very few first-hand memories of her. I remember attending their 50^th anniversary celebration and visiting their home in Brownsville, Texas. But I have heard stories that lead me to envision a dominant woman who was seldom referred to as a “sweet old lady.”

I was aware than she was an artist and that her oil paintings are a source of joy among family members. One of her deer paintings is hanging on the wall of her great-great-great granddaughter’s apartment in Gaithersburg, Maryland today.

But I never knew she had graduated from college and as a woman who is very proud of her own strong daughters and granddaughters, this was confirmation that we have a traceable fierce woman bloodline. All other diplomas on our walls indicate that the graduate completed the required course of study, but this one adds, in beautiful calligraphy, that she showed “evidence of scholastic attainment, industry and moral worth.”  I think diplomas were much more poetic in 1902.

I was so moved by my treasure that I went to the local hobby shop to have it framed. I had one of those “spare no expense” moments and when I received the beautiful heirloom that will be passed on to my descents later, I was pleased. I walked out to the parking lot and stood next to my car tempted to stop other shoppers to share the diploma and its story. Instead, I relived her graduation by reading the diploma out loud.

“Cressie L Ostrander…Commercial Department of Mount Morris College…graduate having completed…Shorthand Course of Study…”

I stopped and re-read the words “Shorthand Course of Study.”

First, I stuttered on the words when I realized this wasn’t a college degree but a secretarial training course. Then I laughed at myself for spending so much emotion, time and money in framing the diploma. Then I got teary-eyed again when I realized the career strings that tied us together.

The Mount Morris College diploma was signed by seven people including the president, the instructor, the head of English Grammar and the Pen and Drawing teacher. This was pretty advanced shorthand. As a senior in high school, I learned secretarial skills in addition to regular required classes for graduation. My shorthand course did not include pen and ink instruction.

I am proud of that diploma and what it meant for Cressie Ostrander as a woman of her time. And I feel a connection with her through our common skills.

Strong women run in my family.

Thanks for the legacy, Grandma Brown.