ELEANOR DENISON
1902 - 1969
Eleanor Denison, Director Emeritus of Scholarships and
Financial Aid, died on March 1, 1969, after an illness
of only a few days. Since retiring from Vassar in 1967,
she had lived in Andover, Massachusetts, in order to
be near a much-loved cousin and her family. Here Eleanor
found herself a part-time job in a bookshop, which she
greatly enjoyed. With her usual vigor and sense of com-
munity obligation, she was soon active as a volunteer
in the local Red Cross Chapter, and in Christ Episcopal
Church. Her letters to her friends at Vassar showed
clearly that she had made a place for herself in the
Andover community, and was leading a busy and happy life.
Born and brought up in Brookline, Massachusetts, Eleanor
graduated from Vassar in 1924. Thereafter, she was engaged
always in school or college work - teaching history and
Latin at Bradford Academy; Assistant to the Director of
Admission, and then Acting Director of Admission at Vassar
from 1927-1932; secretary to the headmistress of the Girls
School at Milton Academy; and from 1937 to 1942, Head-
mistress of the Vail-Deane School in Elizabeth, New Jersey
For the next 19 years, she was Director of Admissions at
Wells College, and in 1961, she returned to Vassar as
Director of Scholarships and Financial Aid.
All that she did was marked by unselfish devotion of time
and energy and meticulous attention to detail, which she
herself attributed to having been a history major under
Miss Lucy Salmon. During her tenure as Director of Scholar-
ships, she was obliged to handle an increasing number of
financial aid cases, and Vassar's participation in several
new federal aid to education programs added new complexi-
ties to her work. She made a real contribution to the
College by educating students, parents and alumnae in the
philosophy and the procedures of a sound college financial
aid program. A facet of her job that particularly interested
her was the history of Vassar's many endowed scholarship
funds. She was always delighted when she was able to find
just the right student who fulfilled the conditions for
receiving aid from a particular scholarship fund.
ELEANOR DENISON (continued)
Eleanor's enthusiasm, and her enjoyment of people brought
her many friends of all ages. After her death her cousin
wrote to a friend here: "People that I don't know stop
me on the street to talk about her. I am overwhelmed by
the number of people who belonged to her circle of friend-
ship." A former member of the Wells College faculty recalls
being welcomed to Aurora by Eleanor bringing a bouquet of
flowers; and when his first child was born, it was Eleanor
who had the college chimes played in honor of the event.
These acts were typical of the warmth, generosity, and
thoughtfulness so characteristic of her, and they are part
of the legacy of happy memories she has left to those of
us who were her friends and associates.
Margaret M. Allardyce
Thomas J. McCormick
Vera B. Thomson, Director
Emeritus of Admission
Mary—Alice Hunter