Friends Center Series revisits the life of Mary Hobbs
Mary Bubar
Issue date: 4/17/09 Section: News
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Married to Lewis Lyndon Hobbs, the first president of the college from 1888 to 1915, she had no official position at Guilford. A reading of her private letters offered a glimpse into the personal life of this woman whose public life involved leadership roles in woman's suffrage, temperance, and pacifism.
On April 7, Assistant Director of Friends Center Deborah Shaw and Friends Historical Collection Librarian Gwen Erickson, presented "Up Close and Personal: The Intimate Side of Mary Mendenhall Hobbs' Leadership" in Boren Lounge.
"Let Mary Hobbs speak to us tonight through her letters to her daughter Gertrude and friend, Rachel Farlow," said Shaw, who continued by reading the encouraging and wisdom-filled letters Hobbs wrote to her 14-year-old daughter at Westtown boarding school in Pennsylvania.
"A woman this day and age is in poor plight without an education," said Hobbs in response to her homesick daughter. "It is important for girls to get a good education and know the world before they get married."
Hobbs' letters reveal how she personally valued education, not only for her own daughter, but also for other women at Guilford.
She helped raise $10,000 to start the Girls Aid Committee at Guilford. This group built several cottages that housed girls that may not have had the chance to go to college otherwise.
Rachel Farlow met Hobbs as a student attending Guilford's preparatory school while living in one of the cottages.
"Mary needed assistance on the homefront," said Gwen Erickson, as she explained that not only was Mary raising a young family, but she also held several leadership roles in her many progressive causes. "A beautiful friendship was started when Rachel Farlow came to the Hobbs home to help Mary with her five children."
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