#leechapel

[explorewlu]

Plaques in Lee Chapel (cont’d): In the first two blog posts, I discussed a selection of the memorial plaques that hang in Lee Chapel. Over two dozen people are memorialized on these commemorative markers. Only two reference the contributions of women or African Americans. Only one woman is addressed by name: Bertha Stebbins of Natchez, Mississippi. In 1906, she married W&L graduate William McCutchan Morrison, class of 1887. For the next four years she served alongside her husband as a missionary in Luebo, a town within the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mr. Morrison and a fellow Virginian Presbyterian, William Henry Sheppard, brought the mistreatment of native peoples by King Leopold II of Belgium to the attention of the international community. Mr. Morrison also worked on a dictionary of the local language, Baluba; in honor of his contributions the Bakuba tribes nicknamed Mr. Morrison “Kuonyi Nshila (“don’t let the path get closed again”), while Mrs. Stebbins-Morrison was given a name that translated as “perfume of the alabaster box.” She learned Baluba and worked as a school teacher and an amateur nurse. They were buried in Luebo, but a gravestone memorializes them in the New Monmouth Presbyterian Cemetery, here in Rockbridge Co. (Credits: Rev. T.C. Vinson’s 1921 book, William McCutchan Morrison: Twenty Years in Central Africa,“ George Frank ‘19 Africana Studies capstone paper, Maggie Davis, Family Search gravestone photograph).

A second plaque in the chapel commemorates “the occupation of the University’s facilities from 6 December 1942 thru 31 January 1946” by the U.S. Army’s School for Personnel Services. For over three years, W&L rented its campus facilities to the Army’s School for Special Service Officers. This group of scholars included African American soldiers; each of the several hundred soldiers were selected based on their leadership skills. Tucker Hall (then the site of the Law School), the University dining hall (then in Evans), and dormitories (then Graham-Lees; W&L students were sent into the fraternity houses and the town of Lexington), along with four classrooms and the basement of the Student Union were rented to the Army. The soldiers used the gym in the afternoons and always had access to one of the three athletic fields. Female recruits as well as African American officers graduated from the Army’s program. The photo in the post shows a close-up of the 1945 graduation class, standing in front of the Colonnade. (Credits: Special Collections photographs, Ring Tum Phi 1942.11.19, research by Johana Castillo ‘21, Scott Dittman).

[brandonraykirk]

Grave of #RobertELee at #LeeChapel #WashingtonandLee University in #Lexington #VA #photos #history #Appalachia #civilwar #confederatepride #confederatestatesofamerica #confederatehistory #confederatememorial #confederatestatue #confederatepatriots #confederatearmy (at Lee Chapel)

[florasg]

3/18 Spring has arrived in Lexington.

[explorewlu]

An introduction: Exploring W&L’s Past.

In this post and the ones to come, I focus on historic people, places, events, and objects that have played a role in the origins and evolution of Washington and Lee University. As with today’s inaugural post, one of my goals is to contextualize the triumphs and tragedies associated with W&L within the broader timeline of American and world history. 

Given our current struggle to contain the COVID-19 virus, it seemed fitting to begin this blog with a local (Lexington) tribute to medical workers today and a memorial to a W&L Law Alumnus who lost his life in an earlier pandemic as communities battled an H1N1 virus that caused a global influenza pandemic. 

The montage above honors John Arthur Lingle who was born in 1890 in Paoli, Indiana. He graduated from De Pauw University in 1912, and received his law degree from W&L in 1915. He served in World War I until his death in October of 1918. During that year, many pneumonia cases were caused by the global influenza epidemic that took over 50 million lives between 1918-1919. He is buried in his home town, while a grateful University erected a memorial in his honor on campus. Photos: (1) The plaque memorializing John Arthur Lingle ‘15 and his colleague Clovis Moomaw ‘12 hangs at the back of Lee Chapel. (2) A page from the 1919 Calyx honoring the W&L alumni who died in the Great War. (3) Mr. Lingle’s gravestone in Paoli, Indiana. Photo by Judy Baker @ FindaGrave.com. (4) 2020 neighborhood tribute to Medical professionals.

[explorewlu]

Student Memorial Plaque: 

The last post featured a plaque in Lee Chapel that commemorated a W&L student who died during the 1918-19 influenza pandemic. Decades earlier, the first plaque that was hung in the building honored the sacrifice of another student, William Clarence Lynch, who drowned in the North (Maury) River while trying to rescue a fellow student after they ventured onto the frozen river to skate. Mr. Lynch was born in 1857 and drowned on Christmas Day in 1878 at age 21. He was the son of William B. and Jane D. Lynch of Leesburg. Mr. Lynch was buried in a family plot in the Union Cemetery (photo courtesy of Betty Frain @FindAGrave.com). His epitaph references his selfless act. Surprisingly, his death was also cited at the end of an 1889 article titled “A Youth’s Heroism” published in the “Sunday School Times” (vol. 31, p. 821). Another source of information about the plaque is “On the Walls and in the Foyer of Lee Chapel” (by Rupert N. Latture [class of 1915], W&L Alumni Magazine, 1979, pp.18-20).

Mr. Lynch’s drowning, as well as the deaths of several other students over the next several decades, was the catalyst for the swimming requirement, which is still necessary in order to graduate from Washington and Lee University.

This plaque was hung in the Chapel in June 1879, making this memorial one of the first, if not the first, to adorn the walls of the chapel. In 1879, the apse at the front of the Chapel had not been completed, so Valentine’s “Recumbent Lee” statue and the surrounding inscriptions were not part of the commemorative landscape. If you look closely at the context for this memorial, you will notice that it lies in the middle of the rear wall of the chapel, thereby centrally locating it within the space (highlighted in red in the photo).

[brandonraykirk]

#RobertELee Shrine #LeeChapel at #WashingtonandLee University in #Lexington #VA #photos #history #Appalachia #civilwar #confederatepride #confederatestatesofamerica #confederatehistory #confederatememorial #confederatestatue #confederatepatriots #confederatearmy (at Lee Chapel)

[brandonraykirk]

#LeeChapel at #WashingtonandLee University in #Lexington #VA #photos #history #Appalachia #civilwar #confederatepride #confederatestatesofamerica #confederatehistory #confederatememorial #confederatestatue #confederatepatriots #confederatearmy (at Lee Chapel)

[brandonraykirk]

#RobertELee funeral #LeeChapel at #WashingtonandLee University in #Lexington #VA #photos #history #Appalachia #civilwar #confederatepride #confederatestatesofamerica #confederatehistory #confederatememorial #confederatestatue #confederatepatriots #confederatearmy (at Lee Chapel)

[brandonraykirk]

#RobertELee shaving utensils #LeeChapel at #WashingtonandLee University in #Lexington #VA #photos #history #Appalachia #civilwar #confederatepride #confederatestatesofamerica #confederatehistory #confederatememorial #confederatestatue #confederatepatriots #confederatearmy (at Lee Chapel)

[brandonraykirk]

#RobertELee glasses, pen, inkwell #LeeChapel at #WashingtonandLee University in #Lexington #VA #photos #history #Appalachia #civilwar #confederatepride #confederatestatesofamerica #confederatehistory #confederatememorial #confederatestatue #confederatepatriots #confederatearmy (at Lee Chapel)

[brandonraykirk]

#RobertELee was originally buried in the spot marked just behind my right shoulder #LeeChapel at #WashingtonandLee University in #Lexington #VA #photos #history #Appalachia #civilwar #confederatepride #confederatestatesofamerica #confederatehistory #confederatememorial #confederatestatue #confederatepatriots #confederatearmy (at Lee Chapel)

[brandonraykirk]

#GeorgeWashington #LeeChapel #Lexington #VA #history #AmericanHistory (at Lee Chapel)

[brandonraykirk]

#RobertELee #LeeChapel at #WashingtonandLee University in #Lexington #VA #photos #history #Appalachia #civilwar #confederatepride #confederatestatesofamerica #confederatehistory #confederatememorial #confederatestatue #confederatepatriots #confederatearmy (at Lee Chapel)