Top 10 for Homecoming 2010 - University of Montevallo

Dabbs delivers keynote address at Founders’ Day
Editor’s Note: Mary Louise Rice Dabbs ’56 of Montgomery delivered
the keynote address at the Founders’ Day convocation Oct. 8.
Below are her remarks:
“Dr. Roberson, stage guests, ladies and gentlemen and especially
the class of 2010:
How do I stand before a group of young adults who are soon to
become college graduates and who likely know a lot more than I do
— and tell them anything that will be meaningful in their lives? I’m
not sure. But Dr. Williams must have thought that I know something
that could challenge, guide, inspire or encourage you in some way.
And . . . that I could do it in 10 minutes!
I think he must have seen in me a graduate who loves Montevallo
— one who has kept returning for 53 years since my own graduation
in 1956. I don't know how you came to choose UM as your
university, but for me, Montevallo is a tradition in my family. I never
considered another college.
My mother graduated here in 1930 as one of the first graduates in
social work. We now have an endowed scholarship in her memory —
the Louise White Dawson Scholarship in Social Work. A sister graduated
in 1959, a daughter in 1986, a son in 1987. Another son attended,
and my husband even took a couple of graduate classes here
before we married. Then in 2001, my granddaughter was born on a
Founders’ Day, and now almost 8, she already loves Homecoming.
This school in the heart of Alabama is in my heart and has been for a
long time.
But as I began to serve Montevallo — rather than just enjoy it —
the college began to mean more to me. I was on the National Alumni
board of directors for 13 years, from 1983 until 1996, and was
honored to be president of the board from ’92–’94. And now today
I have the great honor of serving Montevallo again by being your
Founders’ Day convocation speaker.
The words you hear me speak today won’t be any that you haven’t
heard before, but maybe I can rearrange them in such a manner that
you’ll hear them in a new way. If I could, I would tell you at least one
thing that you would always remember — that would make a good
difference in your lives as you finish school. Ask me later what our
elementary school principal at Dallas Academy told my class (when
I was in the second
grade) that I still vividly
remember!
There is one thing
you can do that will
surely make a difference
in your lives and in the
lives of those around
you — and that is to
serve. I would encourage
each of you to strive
to develop a servant’s
heart. You may become
a teacher, a salesperson
or the CEO of a huge
organization, but service
to others is what gives
meaning to our lives.
As Rick Warren said
in The Purpose Driven
Life: “It’s not about
you.” If we can’t make
our part of the world a
better place, why are we
even here? What’s the
Acting President Terry G. Roberson presents
the President’s Award to Mary Louise
Rice Dabbs ’56 following her address at the
Founders’ Day convocation Oct. 8.
point? Unless we do think it’s all about us. And what we think is so
important. We need to learn to redirect hurtful and negative thoughts.
Our thinking affects our feelings and our feelings affect our actions.
Psychologists tell us this. The Bible tells us also. So we need to think
right in order to do right. I would urge you to think about ways you
can serve others now and as you graduate and go to a job, graduate
school, the military and/or marriage.
Some people seem to believe, “Oh, I’m only one person, so what
could I do?” Change that thought. You are one person, and one person
can do a lot — one person with a heart for service. UM has quite
a number of very distinguished alums who serve around our state —
the mayor of Montgomery, the Secretary of State, the chancellor of
Troy State and the founder and executive director of The American
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Montevallo Today u Winter 2010 9