In 1931, the Rev. Dr. Charles Anderson became Tusculum College’s president and moved his family from the Philadelphia area to East Tennessee. Anderson’s youngest daughter, Helen, quickly came to love her new home.
Helen remains fond of Tusculum College and visits East Tennessee regularly to attend a Doak High School reunion every other year. The latest reunion was the weekend of July 17-18, and Helen and her husband, Dave Morey, who live in Ithaca, N.Y., visited the Tusculum campus while they were in town for the reunion.
While browsing in the Tusculum College Bookstore, Helen recalled that she was six when her father became president of Tusculum College and lived in the President’s House until she was 17. While some of her older sisters who were in high school were not as thrilled about the move away from friends, Helen said she loved her new environment. One sister has commented about her fondness for Tusculum, and she said her answer is that the older children did not spend as much time at Tusculum as she – it is where she grew up.
Helen made many friends on campus and recalls visits to the residence halls. On one such trip to Virginia Hall, she recalled going to a room to talk to a friend and while they were visiting, the Anderson’s family pet, a dog named Chuck, suddenly bounded from under one of the beds at the sound of her voice.
As the 1940s began, Helen said her father began looking to leave Tusculum although he enjoyed his time at the College as he was the type of personality who liked to keep moving and taking on new challenges. After leaving Tusculum in 1942, he went to Coe College in Iowa and then later to a position as a historian for the Presbyterian Church.
After graduating from Doak High School, Morey attended Wells College in New York. Wells College has a beautiful campus, similar to Tusculum’s, which is one reason she was drawn to the school, she said.
Note: Charles Anderson guided Tusculum College through the difficulties of the Great Depression. He was able to improve student enrollment, strengthen academic standards and significantly expanded the library during his tenure. Anderson is also featured on some of the films that have been discovered by the Museums of Tusculum College and are being saved to digital format. The films will be screened at the President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library on Friday, October 30, as part of Homecoming 2010 activities.