Elizabeth Anne Gibbons, class of 1952
Elizabeth Anne Gibbons was born on March 19, 1931 in Brownwood, Texas, a fourth-generation rancher's daughter. After completing her senior year of high school in Colorado Springs, she earned her A.B. in Latin from Pembroke College and her Mater's degree in elementary education from Radcliffe. She married John D. Rauh in 1954 and lived in Cincinnati for thirty years, where she served on the Board of Trustees of the Playhouse-in-the-Park and was involved with the Contemporary Arts Center. After divorcing, Gibbons returned to Texas, became an active rancher, and married Jack Perryman.
Elizabeth Anne Gibbons begins Part 1 of her interview by noting that she is a fourth generation rancher’s daughter with a grandmother and two great aunts who held masters degrees. She explains the difficulty she had assimilating to Pembroke College after growing up in Texas and says that Dean Nancy Duke Lewis was her best friend all through college.
Also in Part 1, Gibbons remembers transferring to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas in her sophomore year and after four days begging Lewis to readmit her to Pembroke. She recalls inviting Lewis and her mother to dinner in the dormitories one Friday night and her friends’ reluctance to join them. She adds that one of her favorite aspects of Pembroke was Friday assemblies and her least favorite was the physical education requirements. She concludes Part 1 by summarizing various places she visited during school vacations.
In Part 2, Gibbons expounds on how she decided to attend Pembroke and says that her time there enhanced her sense of value. She remembers Brown University President Henry Wriston urging women students to move back home after graduation. Gibbons laments the Pembroke-Brown merger and concludes by discussing Reunion Weekend.