seasons

COMMENCEMENT
Alumna Earns Degree 72 Years
after Enrolling, Oral History
Project Captures Reminiscences by Jack Brymer
“My memories of Howard
are precious,” 90-year-old
Elois Ewart of North
Carolina said for Samford
University’s oral history
project and partial requirement
for her Associate
Degree, which she earned
on May 14 after first
enrolling in 1944.
A third-generation immigrant from
Scotland, Elois Brown Lemon’s father, “a
brick mason and marble layer,” settled in the
East Lake section of the growing city known
as Birmingham, which later earned the title
of Magic City. Her father died when she was
6 years old.
After graduating from Birmingham’s
Woodlawn High School in 1944, Ewart
secured a part-time job working with an ice
cream company. She also enrolled in nearby
Howard College (now Samford University).
Listening to Ewart’s oral recollection of
her years at Samford, one can understand
her desire to earn her degree. Having grown
up during the Great Depression, Ewart was
conditioned to what might be termed today
as hardship in attending college.
One was transportation. She relied on
Street Car 25 to get to her part-time job in
downtown Birmingham. On campus, she
relied on her “bright yellow Western Flyer”
bicycle for transportation.
Elois Ewart
Other students borrowed the bicycle,
which was parked under Sherman Oak, as
well. “I never had a problem with it being
returned on time,” she said.
Professor William M. Vines called her
his “printer girl,” as he had her print the
day’s lesson outline on the chalkboard before
each session.
Student life was most enjoyable and
profitable, according to Ewart. A member of
Beta Sigma Omicron Sorority, she was
chosen to represent the sorority at its
national convention in Chicago.
Unfortunately, college life ended
abruptly as Ewart had to drop out in 1946
to help support the family financially. She
was just a few credits short of completing
her degree. “I went from disappointment at
having to leave Howard College abruptly to
meeting, dating and marrying,” she recalled.
In 1948, she met and married Lloyd
Ewart of North Carolina. They moved there,
where she still resides.
The idea of completing her degree was a
gift from her daughter, Nancy Claud, Ewart
said. “She [Nancy] handed me a present. It
was a Samford University 3-ring binder and
a message inside saying that I was enrolled
again so that I could get an Associate of Arts
degree. What a surprise!” she exclaimed.
As a result of Claud’s effort, Ewart
enrolled this past Jan Term as a special-status
student in a two-credit “Oxbridge Tutorial”
course under the direction of Associate
Provost for Academics and Professor Chris
Metress. The course also required Ewart to
do an oral history of her time at Samford,
which she has completed, as a precursor to
the 175th anniversary of the university.
And, 72 years after she started the
process, she walked across the Wright
Center stage on May 14 to receive her
diploma from Samford President Andrew
Westmoreland to the thunderous applause
of her fellow graduates. ◗
8 • Seasons • Summer 2016