Four generations of green griffins

Exactly 100 years ago, my great-grandmother, Jane Bowler Houston, also a green griffin, started here at Mount Holyoke. She was fresh out of high school, and I imagine she had just as many hopes, aspirations and dreams, combined with the excitement and nerves, as I have now. From the stories I’ve heard about Jane, she played hard and worked hard at MHC. Raised in the family of a Southern Baptist minister, she was forbidden to do many things, and once she got to college, she finally felt free. She and her friends found the speakeasies in the area and danced the Charleston. Of course, she also focused on her studies, majoring in Classics, and had a successful career in business after graduation.

My grandmother, Nina Martianoff Roy (Jane’s daughter), grew up in New York City during the Great Depression and World War II. She came to Mount Holyoke as a very independent and determined young woman. She knew since high school that she wanted to become a mathematician and attend graduate school, a path that was very uncommon for women in those days. Unlike her mother, Nina devoted most of her time to her studies. She was deeply influenced by her professors, whom she spoke of fondly all her life. Nina loved her years at Mount Holyoke, and, in addition to her academic pursuits, she found time to enjoy the beautiful surroundings. She loved taking long walks and bicycle rides around campus, especially enjoying the fall foliage and the changing seasons.Graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1953, Nina went on to publish eight papers in the field of Banach space theory after earning her Ph.D. in mathematics while she and her husband, also a mathematician, raised three children.

My mother, Simonne Roy, started her Mount Holyoke journey in the 1970s, a time of global political unrest, with widespread protests and activism. My mom, already a strong feminist, got her college education during those tumultuous years. She chose Mount Holyoke so that she could be surrounded by like-minded people with a desire to make the world a better place. To this day, my mom fondly recalls her college days: the professors she had and the classes she took. To this day, she maintains the friendships she made during those years. What stands out the most to me is her love of nature and our beautiful campus. She learned to canoe on Upper Lake and was active in the outing club, learning to cross-country ski with her peers. Simonne majored in political science, studied abroad in France and graduated magna cum laude in 1977. She took her first painting class in the last semester of her senior year at MHC after being admitted to law school. She continued to paint and study art while maintaining a law career for about thirty years, and she is now a full-time artist.

From the three green griffins that came before me in my family, I have come to appreciate the magic of intellectual and personal growth at Mount Holyoke. They dove into diverse fields of study while learning to take risks intellectually. They were not as traditional as some people in their time wanted them to be. To them, having female professors and role models was vital to their college success and helped them realize that nothing was impossible, regardless of what society said about women in those days. At Mount Holyoke, they learned to be open to change, and they fell in love with the idea of lifelong learning; each became her own person.

One of the many things I’ve learned from those who have walked this path before me is the importance of forming connections throughout the years spent at Mount Holyoke: with professors, books and countless online resources and, most importantly, with peers to forge friendships that will last a lifetime. These are all things I have to look forward to over the next four years of my college journey. These experiences are unique to being an undergraduate and are an especially cherished part of the Mount Holyoke adventure. Who knows where my journey at MHC will lead over the next four years. Only time will tell. I can only guess that it will be just as wonderful, just as unique an adventure as those experienced by my foremothers.