Honolulu County HI Archives News.....MRS. COX TO ATTEND 1889 CLASS REUNION April 10, 1949 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: J. Orr jessicanorr@gmail.com March 2, 2012, 8:05 pm UNKNOWN NEWSPAPER April 10, 1949 By Margaret Young. With a twinkle in her eyes, a light step, and the eager anticipation of a girl graduate setting out to meet the world, Mrs. Isaac M. Cox, 83, of 1949 Kakela Drive, is making preparations for a stratocruiser flight to Bryn Mawr, Pa. on April 28 to attend the 60th anniversary of her graduation. Members of her class, the first group to enter Bryn Mawr in 1885, have received special invitations from Dr. Katharine E. McBride, president, and the trustees. They will be honored at a dinner on May 28 and will be guests of the board at commencement exercises on May 31. This is not just a college reunion for Catharine Cox. She has the individual honor of being the first applicant ever registered for Bryn Mawr. Her father was a close friend of Dr. Joseph Taylor, Quaker founder and first president of the college for women, and he placed the name of Iowa-born Catharine Bean, then a resident of California, first on its rolls for admission. She did not learn this fact until after her graduation in 1889. She says Bryn Mawr, even with a majority of conservative Quakers on its governing board, was considered extremely progressive in its early days. In the past 60 years it has won a distinguished place in the world as a women’s college with a broad modern outlook built on fine educational ideals. Mrs. Cox is proud to tell of the accomplishments of her classmates of that first Bryn Mawr group of 26 girls who entered in 1885. She saw 15 members at their gala golden anniversary in 1939 and knows of at least eight who plan to be present this year. She speaks of her classmate, Emily Greene Balch, economist and author, who, with Jane Addams of Chicago, founded the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in Geneva, Switzerland. Miss Balch served as international secretary and later president. She shared with Dr. John R. Mott the Nobel Peace prize of 1946. Mrs. Cox tells of Alice Gould now in Spain, completing a study begun before World War II of the descendents of the crews of Christopher Columbus, and promoting educational programs among the Spanish villagers. She speaks of Alice Whittal Smith, former wife of Bertrand Russell, who has had an interesting life in the capitals of Europe, and of many other distinguished women. But, true to her Quaker upbringing, Catharine Bean Cox does not talk about her own accomplishments—much of which is a quiet, little-known and unwritten record of astounding work in her 50 years of residence in Hawaii which has had far reaching influence in lives and organizations with which she has been associated. She will tell you with maternal pride of her son, Joel Bean Cox, consulting engineer with Alexander & Baldwin; of her three grandsons, Doak, geologist with the HSPA; Richard, plantation engineer at Eleele, Kauai, where his father served for many years; and Charles, who is doing special research in oceanography at Scripps Institute in California; and of her six-great- granddaughters. Her husband, Isaac M. Cox, was a well-loved teacher in the schools of Hawaii for 27 years until his retirement in 1928. He died in Honolulu in 1936. Never would one find from her that she is one of the few women of Hawaii listed in Pan-Pacific Who’s Who. This volume gives only a partial list of organizations with which she is affiliated. Friends of this dynamic little lady have made it possible to assemble more of the story, but by no means a complete account of her deeds. She was first a teacher in public and private schools, including five years on the faculty of Punahou. Her students remember keen interpretation of literature, fascinating quotations, original pageants, drama, and verse. She worked with the late Miss Frances Lawrence for the establishment of kindergartens in Hawaii through the Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Association. She was a vital moving force in Kilohana Art League, forerunner of the Honolulu Art Society which has been closely affiliated with the Academy of Arts and sponsors special programs and exhibits. Many early programs stemmed from her original ideas. She has maintained her interest in the present organization. For seven years before the opening of the Honolulu Academy of Arts, April 8, 1927, she was closely associated with Mrs. C. M. Cooke, Sr., its founder, in planning for the collections of that world famed institution. She made a trip to Japan with Mrs. Cooke and a trip to Europe during that period. She shared with Mrs. Cooke the vision of what the Academy could mean to the blending of races in Hawaii in sharing knowledge of their cultures. Mrs. Cox was the first director of the Honolulu Academy of Arts and in that position set in motion many of its policies which have been proven through the years. She resigned after a year, but became a member of the board of trustees and served until 1934. She has been interested in the growth of the Library of Hawaii for many years and has served as a trustee since 1936, and secretary of the board since 1944. Mrs. Cox was the third president of the College Club, forerunner of the Honolulu branch of the American Association of University Women, and is still an active member. She has served on the board of directors of the YWCA and been particularly active in promoting the work of the International Institute. She has also taught many Y classes. An early member in each, she maintains her interest in the Institute of Pacific Relations and in the Pan-Pacific Union. Her faith and belief are in organizations which work for international peace and understanding. Honolulu’s unique Church of Crossroads, created 25 years ago to fill a need of the races finding new beliefs in a new land, has known her guidance and interest throughout its lifetime and it was she who wrote its anniversary pageant produced last fall. She was a delegate, with Dr. Vivia Appleton, representing Island women’s groups at the International Assembly of Women in New York in October of 1946 when 200 women of all races gathered from 54 countries of the world. Active membership in the Hawaiian Historical Society, the Honolulu Print Makers, and the Uluniu Swimming Club, and the national American Oriental Society and the American Federation of Arts are other of her interests. Because her Quaker parents spent a year in Hawaii doing mission work in the time of Queen Emma before Catharine Cox was born, she is a member of the “Cousins,” the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society. With her leadership, members of the Society of Friends have gathered for regular meetings in Honolulu since 1936. During World War II she was chairman for the international relief work of the American Friends’ Service Committee, Honolulu branch. With other Friends she organized a sewing group of older alien women who met to do Red Cross work throughout the war years and are still meeting once a week. Her confidence and influence was vital to maintaining their morale, even though she does not speak their language. She is now teaching these women to speak, read, and write English and to know American history so that they may qualify for the citizenship of which their sons and grandsons who served in the American army are so proud. Twice a week she also goes to the University of Hawaii where she is taking a course in modern philosophy-just to keep in touch with the thinking of today. Bryn Mawr has had many daughters to bring honor to their alma mater through the years. Hawaii salutes Bryn Mawr’s first daughter, Catharine Bean Cox, and is grateful for the privilege of bearing witness to her deeds as a Friend. 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