Vassar Today
A small crowd, including clowns and musicians wielding trumpets is led in a march by an exhuberant woman dressed in a tuxedo and top hat. Some carry a banner that reads “Vassar Celebrates 100 years of Alumnae House.”
Willa Vincitore ’92 leads a parade from campus to Alumnae House incelebration of the 100th Anniversary.

Karl Rabe

Alumnae House’s 100th

Celebrated in Style

Since it opened in 1924, Vassar’s Alumnae House has served as a guest house, a venue for celebrating life milestones, a pub, and more recently as a temporary quarantine zone during the COVID-19 pandemic. But more than anything else, as the home of the Alumnae/i Association of Vassar College (AAVC), the Alumnae House has served as a place for alums to reunite on trips back to the campus.

On April 4, nearly 200 alums joined dozens of others in the Vassar community to celebrate the Alumnae House’s 100th anniversary and to pay tribute to its original benefactors, sisters Blanche Ferry Hooker of the class of 1894 and Queene Ferry Coonley, class of 1896. Honored guests included Marian (Ferry) Williams ’57, great niece of the original donors, and her husband, Gray, and daughter Dar; and former trustee Sally Dayton Clement ’71, P’09 with her husband, Stephen. Clement and her sister Ellen “Ellie” Dayton Grace P’03, whose mother, Mary Lee Lowe Dayton ’46, had also been a trustee, helped the House celebrate its 100th birthday by funding renovations for all of its private guest rooms.

The Barefoot Monkeys spin lights in a performance outside of the Alumnae House.
A group of seven singers form a line and sing to the audience.
The Barefoot Monkeys got into the action with a light show on the lawn. Singers from Vassar’s a capella groups shared a tune with the audience.

Allyse Pulliam

The birthday bash featured a procession of trumpeters, drummers, athletic teams, and three clowns (Visiting Assistant Professor of Drama Hannah Gaff and two of her drama students), who marched up Raymond Avenue to the House, led by Willa Vincitore ’92, Assistant Vice President for Alumnae/i Engagement. After the arrival of the procession, Vassar President Elizabeth H. Bradley and AAVC members Monica Vachher ’77, James Estrada ’13, and Kimberly Nguyen ’19 arrived in style, emerging from an antique Hupmobile that was nearly as old as Alumnae House.

In her remarks to those gathered for the celebration, Bradley noted that the Ferry sisters’ original $300,000 gift had inspired many other alums to make donations for furnishings, artwork, and other amenities—spawning the building’s moniker, the House of a Thousand Treasures. “I love that this House—and this part of campus—brings disparate paths together in a hospitable and inclusive environment to connect us all for the next 100 years and beyond,” the President said.

Vachher, who serves as AAVC President, recalled her own fond memories of the Alumnae House Pub when she was a student. “I remember the hamburgers, the Vassar Devils—and they didn’t card you,” she quipped. 

Estrada, chair of the AAVC Alumnae House Committee, said he had been eagerly awaiting this celebration since planning for the event began nearly three years ago. He said he valued Alumnae House as “a place for alums to come to talk about their post-Vassar lives.” He noted that his vice chair on the committee, Alisa Swire ’84, had worked diligently to find “treasures” hidden in the House, including old Pub menus and shopping lists of furniture that was purchased when it first opened. 

Alumnae House Manager Martha Barry ’86 called the celebration a great success. “Alums of all ages came from near and far to pay homage to Alumnae House,” Barry said. “The displays, such as the original dedication scrolls, the 1920 garments, and historical pictures of the House, were of particular interest to our guests, while the procession from campus and the performances by several student groups delighted everyone.”—Larry Hertz

AAVC President Monica Vachher ’77, Alumnae House Committee Chair James Estrada ’13, poet Kimberly Nguyễn ’19, and President Elizabeth H. Bradley display the Alumnae House banner while a people crowd the stairway up to the Alumnae House.
AAVC President Monica Vachher ’77, Alumnae House Committee Chair James Estrada ’13, poet Kimberly Nguyễn ’19, and President Elizabeth H. Bradley proudly display the Alumnae House banner.

Karl Rabe

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