Vassar Quarterly - Fall 2017 - 3

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Alumnae and Alumni of Vassar College
Milbrey Rennie Taylor '68, President

The Amazing Grace

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Susan DeKrey
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Elizabeth Randolph
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I thoroughly enjoyed your article on Grace Hopper
['28] in the Spring/Summer 2017 issue of VQ. The
article brought back many fond memories of my
Vassar days. It also reminded me of something
I have always wondered about.
I graduated in 1960, having majored in philosophy and minored in math. Today, I am a computer
programmer and president of an IT company
I founded in 1979.
The world we set off in had no such thing as a
fax, a PC, or, of course, an Internet. We wrote our
initial programs in COBOL, and executed them
on a mainframe rented by the hour in a Manhattan company's downtime. In the early '60s, I had
learned programming in Paris, on the first mainframe that General Electric-at that time a competitor of IBM-had sold in France.
In all the math courses I took in my four years
at Vassar, I can recall no mention of computers-
despite Grace Hopper's efforts and the fact that
IBM, whose corporate offices were at that time
in Poughkeepsie, was practically a neighbor.
Even from times when we were learning number
systems like binary, octal, and hexadecimal-
the basis of machine language-I remember no
mention of computers. I've always thought that
was very strange.
-Ellen Tucker Philip '60
New York, NY

On the Cusp
"The Last Page" article by Selby Fleming McPhee
'65 [Spring/Summer 2017] stirred kindred
thoughts and recollections in me. Today, like
Selby's class, our '59 classmates and my family
from coast to coast marched for human rights,
and respect for all, including the environment.
Marching in Buffalo, I met up with my son's
VC roommate, Morgan Smith '89, and his wife,
Ellen. After the march, our '59 classmates shared

our experiences and determination going forward
on our very active listserv.
At Vassar in the late '50s, we changed student/
college government, abolished traditional club
charters to start afresh, and rallied against parietal
hours. In the '60s, we marched and made our values
known on women's rights, civil rights, human
rights, and war and peace. I joined in a march to
the U.S. consulate in Zambia to protest President
Nixon's bombing of Cambodia, baby tied on my
back and toddler hand-in-hand with my husband.
"War Warps Our Future" pronounced our sign.
Selby used the very appropriate term "on the
cusp," and I suggest reading On the Cusp by Daniel
Horowitz, Yale College '60. Horowitz tells of those
times, particularly from the perspective of a
Jewish student.
I know Vassar students and alums will be
thoughtful, well-informed, discerning, but not
silent, going forward. President Elizabeth H.
Bradley has set the scene well, and I thank Selby
Fleming McPhee for her article.
-Alison Church Hyde '59
East Aurora, NY

Sharing is Caring
I was so pleased to read the article "Digging the
Gig Economy" by Cari Shane ['87] in the Spring/
Summer 2017 issue of VQ.
Today marks the eighth week I've been in
business as an Airbnb host. Like Cari, I joined
the sharing economy and became cool again to
our son and daughter-in-law, who have Airbnb'ed
both as hosts and as guests.
After a flurry of our own friends departed
in early June, we opened two guest cabins on our
little nine-acre Montana property to visitors from
all over the United States, Canada, Australia,
and South Africa. Never did I imagine that skills
I picked up as a public relations manager and
therapist would translate to hosting two places
I'd labored over years ago when we first came
here for the summer.
It's so gratifying to see our guests' reactions
to this Montana life-in-miniature. They feed
carrots to our neighbor's horses that enroll in
summer camp every year in our pasture, or sit
in Adirondack chairs and read beach books, or,
very often, do nothing as they gaze at the Swan
Range and wait for sunset. I love seeing Montana
through their fresh eyes as my husband shares
facts about Glacier National Park, advice on how
to navigate the best trails, or where locals find
the biggest huckleberries.
VA S S A R Q U A R T E R lY

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vassar Quarterly - Fall 2017

Contents
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Vassar Quarterly - Fall 2017 - Contents
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