Women from four out of the last five generations of their family have attended Missouri State, in a time frame spanning 100 years. Relatives have started classes in 1913, 1933, 1983 and 2013.
Lois Cline Crews’ aunt, Susie Comins Harder, was a student in the 1910s at Fourth District Normal School (the first name of the University).
Lois, who passed away in November 2013, grew up in Ava. She followed her aunt to then-Southwest Missouri State Teachers College and attended for a year and a half.
“I loved it,” she said in an interview before she passed away. “I thought the school was the most beautiful place I had ever seen.”
In her time, Dr. Virginia Craig was a professor and the ladies in gym class wore bloomers. There were only three campus buildings and no residence halls.
Things were very different when her granddaughter Sandy Glenn Coy, ’90, attended then-Southwest Missouri State University.
Sandy, an accounting major, lived in Wells and was great friends with her roommate. She attended Lady Bears games and met her husband, anesthesiologist Dr. Daniel Coy, ’85, on campus.
Lois, who lived in Branson, would fetch Sandy for weekend visits. Sandy definitely looked up to Lois, who was one of the first welfare workers in Missouri and later ran a sewing and alteration business from her home until the time of her death.
“I think it’s amazing that my grandmother, in her day and age, and being from a tiny little town, decided she’d go to college.”
Now Sandy’s daughter, Erin, is a freshman. Erin, a business major who hopes to rescue and rehab horses for a living, feels comfortable on the campus where her parents met. She remembers Lois’ stories about the people for whom many of the buildings are named.
“I know one time (history professor James) Shannon called on her for a question — she was shy and wanted to hide under her desk!”
Sandy has three children and didn’t push any of them to attend MSU, but she’s glad Erin made the choice on her own. Erin thinks her younger sister might also be interested in becoming a Bear.
“It’s so wonderful that Erin can feel the family ties there,” Sandy said. “We’re confident MSU is there to help her succeed.”
Lois had said she was also glad to have another female Bear in the family. “I think it’s great — I am so proud of her.”
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