November 1930 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna M. Slease counts as her best news the entrance of her older niece and ward, Virginia Slease, at Goucher for her Junior year, having had her first two years at Ohio Wesleyan. Of herself she says: "A teacher at Langley, one of Pittsburgh's high schools, looking after my mother who is remarkably well for her eighty-five years, managing a home and two younger children, a niece and nephew, give me a busy and happy life.
I was sorry to miss our 1903 Reunion, but enjoyed reading about it."
May 1933 Alumnae Quarterly:
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To Anna Slease the class and the Pittsburgh Chapter, of which she is an active member, extend their sympathy in the death of her mother on April 16.
May 1937 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease, with Florence Davison Garrison '14, attended the World's Sunday School Convention at Oslo, Norway, last summer and she pronounces it the happiest summer she has ever had, as her own account of the trip will attest:
"The ocean voyage on the North German Lloyd liner, Colombus, gave me a thoroughly good rest after a year of present day strenuous life in a Pittsburgh high school...
July 1939 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna May Slease reports that now her family of three have grown up, she is enjoying delightful travel: the Scandinavian countries and a trip to England. She is anticipating a trip to the two Fairs, Yellowstone, and the Panama Canal. School is more demanding than ever: church work and home leave few idle moments. Her health is good, and she looks forward to next Reunion.
February 1943 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna May Slease is now teaching at Caney Junior College at Pippapass, Kentucky.
August 1944 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna May Slease is living in Baltimore with her niece, Virginia Slease Costine ex 1932. Anna says of her present occupation: "Just now I am on the jump taking care of Virginia's three year old boy, David. He really is a charming little fellow, but keeps me more active than I think I have ever been."
November 1945 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease has also given up teaching and is living in Baltimore, at 618 Wyndhurst Ave.
Winter 1949 Alumnae Quarterly:
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"My best 1903 contact in California was with Mary Abercrombie Verner wh ocame up from Carlsbad to see me. After forty-five years we were not sure we would recognize each other, so Mary wore the class colors, the college ring, and as she walked through the Los Angeles station with poise and dignity looking fo rme, I could not have failed to identify her. She carried her knitting bag and knitted as we talked. She and her husband have bought ground for gladiola which they raise for the Los Angeles market and are turning an old barn into a house for the antique furniture they brought down from Vancouver. In a first day cover of the Palomar Observatory Mary sent her regards to all of us...
I am most grateful for the beauties I have seen this summer. They include three weeks ina luxurious Encino place with citrus fruit trees, swimming pool, guest house, etc.; the 'Daylight' train with 40 miles of Pacific Ocean views, and home over the Canadian Rockies with day stops at Lake Louise and Banff. Here in Pittsburgh I have had three weeks with my nephew, his wife, and two charming children. They have bought a house in a new development called 'Rolling Hills' where the original oak trees stand and sunrises and sunsets are visible. I have helped a litte to level the quarter of an acre as I also helped in my niece's garden in California. I wish you could see my year-old grand-niece, Carolyn. She has learned to walk within the last month, and smiles all the time and chatters and will very soon be talking.
Yesterday I visited a former pastor, who lives in the house where Scott Trosh and Arinda Philp Trosh lived and where Arinda died. Mary Taylor Renolds wrote to me from Atlanta, Georgia, that she had enjoyed the summer with her family."
November 1949 Alumnae Quarterly:
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"First, will you thank sincerely each one who contributed to our 1903 Fund? Our plaque in a Faculty Office is to read: 'In Memory of Joseph Shefloe-1903.' Alice will now try her powers of persuasion on the 20 grads and non-grads who have not yet realized the need. If they would only return and see Dr. Kraushaar's great ability and understanding friendliness I am sure their contribution, would be large. I am so interested in his endeavor to assist gifted girls in foreign lands by scholarship, and wish our class would help with it. He himself is giving all money received for talks he gives.
My summer in Kane was as usual restful and cooler than most other Eastern places. My dear friend whom I have visited so often is not well and really needed my help this summer. I saw Mary Robinson and the three Armstrong girls but not enough of them. Minnie is president of the Kane Garden Club, which does so much to improve Kane's appearance. At Chautauqua I saw Miss Louise Knox '95, who looks as well as ever. There at Chautauqua I had a reward of my teaching by an invitation to use the cottage of a former student over Labor Day week-end, which Marian and her family were going to spend on their farm. It was restful-sleeping late, getting my own breakfast and lunch and going to the St. Elmo for dinner. I saw Marian's husband and some other young people water-skiing, from a launch. It looked delightful and dangerous. Marian with three children said she had too many responsibilities to try it.
I come back to a full time job in Baltimore because my niece is increasingly busy with her important work and 8-year old David with more activities but hope I may have strength to land it all. My one day a week at Spring Grove, Maryland's oldest mental institution, is received with so much appreciation by patients to whom I distribute books and tell stories that I shall maintain it.
Fall 1951 Alumnae Quarterly:
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"I see the three Armstrongs, Anne Cox and several other Goucherites frequently and have had such a pleasant summer while Baltimore has been sweltering.
At home I am busy with David and his mother, and our house; a day as Gray Lady at Spring Grove Mental Hospital, as teacher of a Woman's Sunday School class, etc."
Fall 1952 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease attended the President's Reception last June. "So many happy people in front of Mary Fisher Hall. Japanese lanterns gave light when needed, and a full moon came up over Froelicher Hall." Anna still teaches a Sunday School class, and serves with the Red Cross, and as a Gray Lady at Spring Grove State Hospital for mental patients. On one visit there she read to the patients, and afterward one girl said, "You are like Mrs. Roosevelt." Anna replied, "Not so important." "But you are, here!" she said.
Anna spent the summer at Kane, Pa. At a Garden Club tea there she met Margaret Armstrong Wright, and Minnie and Claire Armstrong. Since then, she too has generously contributed bits of news gleaned from letters sent to her. - Claire Ackerman Vliet.
Fall 1953 Alumnae Quarterly:
We hope to hear soon from Anna Slease, who has left Baltimore to make her home in Pittsburgh. Write to her at 428 Stratston Lane, Pttsburgh 6, Pa.
Summer 1954 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease is settled in her new apartment in the Fairfax in Pittsburgh. She says: "My methodist church is within walking distance, and the Library with its postal station, the Institute, the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Tech, which gives grand plays, and the College Club are all only a block or two away.
"Much to my surprise, the Pittsburgh Goucher Club has chosen me for president for two years. There are so many in and about Pittsburgh who would add strength to our club if we could get them interested. Those who do belong and come are dear friends, and have done a great deal to make me feel at home here once more.
I serve as Gray Lady at Passavant Hospital on Sunday afternoons, which is a time difficult for most women to give up to the hospital. The Lutheran Sisters, who manage the hospital are splendid women; the patients who leave say it is the best hospital they know about. Non-segregation is the rule. It is in what is almost a slum section, called the Upper Hill, once very fashionable, but now dirty and slummy in contrast with the beautifully clean hospital. I admit patients, direct visitors, keep temporary records, and do odd jobs. There is an old self-service elevator which gets the best of us sometimes, but we shall soon have a new one and a fine new children's ward with fairy-tale pictures on the walls, a lovely little chapel, etc."
Winter 1956 Alumnae Quarterly:
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I was ashamed of myself for not answering sooner a letter I had from Anna Slease, then when I did write she made me doubly penitent by answering promptly. "I cannot ignore your request for news, though my table shows me many cards to write. My days are as busy as they have ever been but in a little different way. Goucher affairs have taken considerable time. The best achievement of our club while I have been president was the visit last April of Dr. Kraushaar who spoke at the College Club about his faith in America - an admirable speech. We had lunch and dinner for him that day and almost a hundred alumnae at lunch on Saturday. Our loyal club members raised a five hundred dollar scholarship. In the fall we had a talk about Economy, a town founded by Seventh Day Adventists. We visited it later and saw the remarkable work of those pioneers, - buildings with never a crack in the brickwork, because it was all handwork; silks, vegetable dyed, showing no breaks after eighty years, and beautifully woven. Dorothy Hess, Catherine Reynolds, Margaret Wilson and I were the Goucherites on the trip. My apartment is in easy walking distance of Carnegie Hall and the College CLub. I was asked to join the Official Board of Lay Members of our church; as part of the program, I attend classes in Weekday Religious Training at the beautiful East Liberty Presbyterian Church where Mary Boss and Ida Bixler belong.
Spring 1957 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Besides reminding us of fund time, Anna Slease is (and you could never guess!) teaching fourteen Jewish boys on the junior high school level. She says, "I should probably not attempt to be our class representative again, because I have begun a new venture. Since teachers are scarce I was asked to teach 14 seventh and eigth grade boys, about twelve years of age, in an orthodox Jewish private school. Mornings they have religion and study Hebrew. I shall have them from 1:00-4:00, or 12:30 to 2:30. They seem polite and eager to learn, so after planning their studies like a country school, I believe I shall enjoy them. My various activities - some to be dropped for the present - come in the afternoon, so I hope I can do the teaching without too much strain. We have good textbooks, but no other equipment. I spend most of my time preparing lessons in English, arithmetic, history, geography and spelling, for my former teaching was in senior high school."
It is marvelous of Anna to undertake the fund work again and we do feel greatful to her and to Thyra too, for her good work in the past.
Fall 1957 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease sends me some information about members of our class, about whom I had little or no facts since their graduation. Any additions that any of you can make will be most welcome- especially about those who died some years ago. Anna writes: "I think I did help my Jewish boys a little. Most of them are poor, of foreign parentage, in this country only a few years. Only one of the boys, however, was born outside the U.S., and he was born in Russia. I liked the boys and plan to teach them again this semester. My dear friend in Kane, with whom I have spent many happy summers, is in a Kane hospital with three special nurses, after a fall, but the injuries from that are not as serious as the confusion of mind which is caused by hardening of the brain arteries. I went to Kane July 7, hoping to help her, but found she needed nurses who could give her far better comfort than I. Then I came to Chautauqua to stay a week, will return to see Clara a few days and on for a week to an Ashram,led by Stanley Jones. It will be my fourth, and a wonderful blessing it has been to me. There is a wonderful speaker here at Chautauqua, Dr. Edwin Booth, who has been lecturing on an honor rol of the compassionare: Jesus, St. Francis, William Booth, Ghandi, and Albert Schweitzer."
Winter 1958 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease, as you may see by the heading, is giving the fund work back to Thyra. "I am not sure,"says Anna,"about continuing my teaching next semester, but probably shall, since I enjoy my boys so much, though it does prevent other activities, such as the College Club and some church work. I wish you could see my apartment with the beautiful antique furniture willed to me by my dear friend Clara Ricketts, who died last summer. We had known each other for many years and visited each other many times."
Winter 1959 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease...is looking and feeling better than she did last June. Anna, too, is enjoying some worthwhile reading in two courses under Dr. Soper of Beloit College; they are "Great Books" and "Religious Books."
Summer 1959 Alumnae Quarterly:
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...Edith hoped to go to Pittsburgh to a surprise party for Anna Slease on May 16...Virginia Slease Kirchhof ex '32, and her husband planned the surprise, which was 'the best kept secret in Pittsburgh,' Virginia says. The College Club arranged it beautifully, the weather was perfect and the breath of spring was in the profusion of flowers that were sent to Anna. Virginia wrote, "60 of the 75 invited were able to come and Aunt Anna was delighted and almost overwhelmed for it was one of the nicest things that ever happened to her. She came down to Baltimore afterwards to visit me for a few days and we had a busy time putting her anniversary scrapbook together. The first page was lettered 'Count your birthdays by friends, not years. Anna M. Slease, May 16, 1959.' There followed the names of thsoe present and those invited, cards, notes, telegrams, and gifts all noted. What a book! We regret that we just couldn't remember the names of friends we should have included, without going the surprise away by asking Nana. I hope our sincere apologies will be accepted by those who were missed."
Spring 1959 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Yesterday, just in time to give me one more contribution to these very abbreviated notes, I had a telephone chat with Anna Slease, who was here for a brief visit, but going to Baltimore on Wednesday to see her niece, Virginia, whose young son is bringing honors to the family. Anna has given up her teaching, which she so thoroughly enjoyed for 3 semesters, but I could not see that she had curtailed any other of her praiseworthy activities.
Winter 1960 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease, Luella Eakins Merry, and Marion Dibert Suppes all send affectionate greetings.
Summer 1961 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Pleasant things to remember about the reunion days: A real talk with Anna Slease, who always leaves you with something to think about; meeting her attractive niece who is settling down in a new house; sitting at the table Saturday evening with Anna Heubeck '92, who will be 91 in July and as alert as anyone there; waking with the song of a mockingbird under my window Sunday morning; and enjoying the perfect weather. -Eda Briggs Frost
Fall 1962 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease will be leaving Pittsburgh in the spring to live with her niece and her husband in Towson. They have wanted to have her for a long time. Anna has made over 150 aprons for sale, which earned extra money for her Goucher contributions. She thinks that some of us may have a talent that we might use as she has.
Winter 1963 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease, though sad at leaving Pittsburgh, is looking forward to living with her niece in Towson. Now we shall be reasonably sure of having her with us in June.
Spring 1963 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Exciting news: the Goucher Club of Pittsburgh is to name a $10 000 scholarship for Anna Slease, who has meant so much to the club, and who will be leaving Pittsburgh this spring to live with her niece, Virginia Slease Kirchhof '32, in Towson.
Winter 1964 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease and her niece were getting last things done before Christmas, when she wrote. They were planning a really peaceful time after the flurry.
Fall 1964 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease tells us of the meeting of the Alumnae Council, September 17-19, where she was representing the oldest class in attendance. They coddled her appropriately, and I'm sure she loved it. She reports that our Alumnae Fund goal is now $165 000 so she took along aprons and luncheon sets to sell as a starter for her contribution. Twenty eight dollars was a commendable start. Anna was impressed with the program that had been prepared by the Alumnae Association officers.
Anna's great nephew David has left for a 21-month stretch in Mannheim, Germany. How our young people get about; they bring our neighbors nearer and nearer, so we'd better try to get along with them, and they with us.
Spring 1967 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease is learning the mysteries of ceramics now; she has also learned basket-weaving, adding these skills to many that her busy hands already knew. She makes an art of living.
Fall 1967 Alumnae Quarterly:
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The Goucher Club of Pittsburgh has given $10, 175 to the College in honor of Anna M. Slease.
Winter 1969 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease, with others from the Bower Hill home were guests on a bus trip to the foothills where they enjoyed a visit to the library endowed as a memorial to Richard King's mother by the Mellons. Anna was speculating on a 70th reunion for us. Optimist!
Summer 1969 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease was happy over the pleasant dinner that the Pittsburgh alumnae gave for Dr. Perry.
Winter 1971 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Our Anna Slease is not at all well, though she was allowed to come back to her own room from the hospital wing of the Bower Hill Home. I will write to her niece, Virginia Kirchoff, for later news. But she will not be able to carry on her work for the Fund, I fear, and that will grieve her.
September 1971 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease is very much restricted as to what she can do. No letter writing yet. It is a bit irksome not to be able to do something for Anna, who spent her time and energy so gladly for others.
Winter 1972 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Anna Slease is unable to write now, but I think I'll write a questionnaire for her, and ask her to "dot and dash" her answers. "Wot'll" we do without letters? Anna's busy hands will rest a bit, and just think of all the interesting things those hands have done!
Spring 1972 Alumnae Quarterly:
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Deaths
Anna M. Slease
