Chemistry and Compassion: Memoir of Dr. Amy Le Vesconte 1898–1985

By Pauline Brody

Amy Le Vesconte was born at the end of the nineteenth century but exemplified the modern teacher and woman scientist of the twenty-first century. She earned her PhD in chemistry in 1931 and devoted the next four decades to teaching chemistry to young college women at Mary Hardin-Baylor College in Belton, Texas and two other womens colleges. She imbued her teaching with humor, fun, and creativity that helped overcome the students fear of science.

Fun loving and adventuresome, she caught the travel bug when she took a road trip with three other women from Minnesota to Philadelphia in 1926 in a Model T Ford. After that, whenever possible, she traveled around the country and around the world, often keeping a diary. Her accounts of Taiwan (formerly Formosa) and Japan in the years prior to the outbreak of World War II are especially interesting.

Deeply grounded in her faith, she lived a life of service, giving generously of her attention and love to nurture young people wherever she saw the need. She was especially caring of international students. Although she never married, she enjoyed a large family of adoring former students around the world, who faithfully kept in touch with her over the years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524531423

Pauline Brody

Pauline Ning Brody first met Dr. Le Vesconte while a student at a women’s college in Lahore, Pakistan, where Dr. Le Vesconte was a visiting professor. She later obtained her BA in Chemistry from Mary Hardin-Baylor College under Dr. Le Vesconte. Pauline is a retired executive from the Colgate-Palmolive Company and lives with her husband in New Canaan, Connecticut.

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Copyright © 2016 by Pauline Brody.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016912627

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5245-3144-7

                Softcover        978-1-5245-3143-0

                eBook             978-1-5245-3142-3

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Rev. date: 10/20/2016

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CONTENTS

Timeline

Publications

Affiliations

Prologue

SECTION I Teaching Days

Chapter 1 Teaching in Pakistan 1956

Chapter 2 Why I Went to Teach in Pakistan

Chapter 3 How I Got to Pakistan

Chapter 4 Lahore

Chapter 5 Kinnaird College for Women 1956

Chapter 6 Traveling in Pakistan

Chapter 7 Back at Mary Hardin-Baylor College 1958

Chapter 8 Humor As a Teaching Tool

Chapter 9 Chemistry Lab Open House

Chapter 10 Teaching in Taiwan 1968

Chapter 11 Ready for My Rest 1970

SECTION II Memories

Chapter 12 My Grandparents Minnesota, 1898

Chapter 13 My Family Minnesota, 1898

Chapter 14 School Days 1904–1915

Chapter 15 College and First Teaching Jobs 1915–1922

Chapter 16 Graduate School 1922–1928

Chapter 17 Adventures in a Model T Ford 1926

Chapter 18 Writing a Textbook 1928–1932

Chapter 19 Dr. Nellie May Naylor

Chapter 20 First Trip to the Asia 1930

Chapter 21 Baylor College for Women 1930s and 1940s

Chapter 22 Texas Academy of Science Collegiate Academy

Chapter 23 Teenage Niece on Campus

Chapter 24 More Travels

Chapter 25 Women of Japan in the 1930s

Chapter 26 Flora MacDonald College 1952

Chapter 27 Returning to Mary Hardin-Baylor 1958

Chapter 28 Retirement 1968

SECTION III Students’ Recollections

Chapter 29 Students from the 1930s and 1940s

Chapter 30 Students from the 1950s and 1960s

Epilogue

Author’s Note

Resource Materials Used

Acknowledgments

This book

celebrates the legacy of

Dr. Amy Le Vesconte

who dedicated her life

to teaching young women

the fun of chemistry.

Proceeds from the sale of the book benefit

The Amy Le Vesconte Presidential Endowed Scholarship Fund

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

900 College Street

Belton, Texas 76513

Readers are welcome to donate to the fund

in memory of this pioneering

woman science professor.

A candle’s but a little thing … . .

It starts with just a piece of string … . .

Yet, dipped and dipped with patient hands … . .

It gathers wax upon the strand … . .

Until complete and snowy white … . .

It gives at last a lovely light.

Life seems so like that piece of string … . .

Each deed we do a simple thing … . .

Yet, day by day, if on life’s strand,

We work with patient heart and hand … . .

It gathers joy, makes dark day bright … . .

And gives at last a lovely light.

Anonymous

Matthew 5:14–16

"You are the light of the world. A city on the hill cannot be hidden.

Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Let your light shine before others in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify God!"

Timeline

Publications

Articles

Physical Tests of Flour Quality with the Chopin Extensimeter, Cereal Chemistry vol. 1, pp. 38–63, 1924

Abstracted scientific articles for Chemical Abstracts 1928–1930

"The Biological Estimation of Glucose

1- A study of factors influencing changes in H ion

2- The relationship between glucose concentration and the pH change in media,"

Iowa State Journal of Science vol. IV, pp. 331–342 and 451–457, 1930

Adapting Elementary Chemistry to Girls’ Interests, Journal of Chemical Education, vol. 9 pp. 1620–1624, 1932

A Plan for the Open House in Chemistry, Journal of Chemical Education, vol. 13, pp. 72–73, 1936

Textbooks

Introductory Chemistry with Household Applications, co-authored with Dr. Nellie M. Naylor, published by The Century Company, New York, London, 1933 and revised in 1937.

Laboratory Manuel to accompany the above textbook.

Affiliations

American Chemical Society

American Association for the Advancement of Science

American Association of University Women

Iota Sigma Pi, Women’s Honorary Chemical Fraternity

Order of the Eastern Star

Presbyterian Church

Sigma Xi Honorary Scientific Fraternity

Sigma Delta Epsilon, Women’s Honorary Scientific Fraternity

Texas Academy of Science Collegiate Academy

Prologue

Town Lake Park

Austin, Texas

May 1979

The family of ducks waddles across the lawn in a straight line. The proud mother duck, with her head held high, leads her brood of seven ducklings scurrying after her to the pond. She must teach them the skills to search for food, to avoid predators, and to survive in the world. It always amazes me that ducks in Austin behave just like the ones I saw in Japan, Taiwan, Europe, Mexico, and even in Pakistan. They look slightly different. Their colorings, sizes and shapes vary, but the mother ducks are just as protective of their young. They cluck, they prod, and they lick their young. Even though I love science and am curious to discover how things work, I am always awed by the sheer beauty and magnificence of this wonderful world that God has created.

As I watch this family, I realize that, even though I never married, I have my own brood of children scattered around the world—four decades of my chemistry students and other students whom I have loved and nurtured—as they developed into young adults. Well, some of them are grandmothers by now, and a few even great-grandmothers!

I am fortunate that my parents were forward thinking and encouraged me to get an education, something few women did in the early part of the twentieth century. They did not have the money to send me to college, but God, in his Providence, provided me the means each step of the way.

I was so glad that, years ago in 1928 when I received my PhD, I did not take that glamorous job I was offered, as a research chemist in Washington DC. My professor and good friend, Dr. Nellie Naylor, was right in advising me to take the teaching position at Baylor College for Women instead of the bench job for the federal government. She saw that I was drawn to teaching, helping people, and making friends. It was a decision that set the course for the rest of my life. What I loved best was to help girls understand and enjoy chemistry and to see how chemistry was a part of their daily lives. Yes, it is most satisfying to see the fruits of one’s labor blossom. I still visit many of my students, and most of them are good about keeping in touch with me. They have become dear friends, and I enjoy seeing them, hearing about their lives, and meeting their families. Hee, hee, some of their children even call me Grandmother Le Vesconte, or as one little tyke called me, Dr. Bacon. Yes, it has been a most rewarding career. I am grateful for the loving guidance of God at critical times of my life as I heeded his calls.

Eleven years ago, in 1968, I finally retired at age seventy after teaching college chemistry for forty years. Dear Mary Hardin-Baylor College, for decades, was home to me, and the girls I taught there through the years became my family. We went through hard times during the depression years when we, along with the rest of the country, struggled financially. In fact, the first year I taught there, the administration was so strapped for cash that I was not paid for a whole year. The college provided me housing, wholesome food every meal, and a chance to do what I loved—teaching chemistry to girls. But I have always lived frugally and saved what money I had for worthy causes. Many of the students could not afford the tuition, and I helped where I could with jobs and even a little cash on occasions. Then after World War II, it became easier. Later, we had an influx of international students, many from Asia. I did have a special fondness for Asian girls, being influenced by my sister’s missionary work in Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa. I did enjoy helping them adjust to life in the United States. In the fifties, I took a break and taught at a Presbyterian woman’s college in North Carolina for four years and for a year in Pakistan at a Christian women’s college, which was a very interesting experience.

After I retired from teaching chemistry, my sister Lillian convinced me that teaching English at a Presbyterian business school in Taiwan would be a good way for me to transition into full retirement. She and her husband had spent their entire adult lives since the 1920s as missionaries in Asia, ministering to the Chinese in Formosa (which was later known as Taiwan), in Indonesia, and in Papua New Guinea. The exception was four years during World War II when they were posted to British Guiana, now called Guyana. I have visited them many times and seen the good work they have done, bringing the Christian message to children, aborigines, and lepers. I have always admired them and wanted to do missionary work also. So teaching English at a Christian college was an ideal opportunity for me to contribute in an area of need as well as satisfying my yen for missionary work.

I came back nine years ago after teaching English for two years in Taiwan and finally retired at the age of seventy-two. I was fortunate to have found my beautiful one-bedroom apartment in the new Greenwood Terrace on the south edge of the University of Texas campus. It was on the seventh floor, and the picture windows showed me all of South Austin and the hills beyond. I could spend hours looking out, especially at sunrise and sunset. I had found ways to display many of the gifts and souvenirs from around the world, making my home look like a little museum. It had a gourmet kitchen, a luxury for me. I was not a great cook, but I did enjoy entertaining my friends. I’ve had a weight problem most of my life, and since I came back from Taiwan, I had been more careful about preparing low-calorie meals for myself. And best of all, it was near the university, so I could walk to many activities there.

In retirement, I had learned new hobbies and spent more time birding, a pastime I had enjoyed most of my life. I still enjoyed making and dressing dolls in costumes from different countries, something I started for my niece Marilyn when she was a little girl living in Formosa. I continued to volunteer, helping foreign students with English and freshmen students decode the mysteries of chemistry. There were many lectures and concerts to attend and friends to visit. The American Association of University Women always had worthwhile projects. The Audubon groups, as well as the retired teachers group, provided congenial companionship. These had been busy, happy years, and at age eighty-one, I was well contented with my life.

I forgot to bring my binoculars with me today, but there was plenty to see and enjoy in this park close to home. Tomorrow I would drive to Pedernales Falls State Park and see if I could spot some golden-cheeked warblers. I had not seen one yet this year. Austin was so good for bird watching. We had the Town Lake downtown, where every season, there was something exciting going on. There were the migrating woodland birds in the fall and the bats under the Congress Avenue Bridge in the summer, often chased by the peregrine falcons. Then there were the Wild Basin Preserve and Eastwoods Park nearby.

Ernestine Goldston would be coming over soon to discuss my biography. She was one of my chemistry students from the class of 1951. It was her idea to write my biography, and as we talked, I got excited about the project too. We had met many times so far. I gave her the addresses of my former students with whom I was in touch. She wrote them and asked for their stories about me. Many had already responded with remembrances of their association with me. The prospect of a biography had forced me to look back on my life. Lately, I had spent time recalling the people and events that had influenced me and recalled all the things I had done and those that were most enjoyable and meaningful to me. It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling as I remembered the good times as well as the challenges.

I had collected my letters home, my diaries of travels over many summers, my Christmas letters, and my articles that I had written over the years for various newspapers and publications. As I organized them chronologically, I enjoyed reliving my adventures these six decades as I read over them. They brought back so many warm memories—of people I had known and places I had visited. I loved to travel. In the summer months, I usually planned a major trip abroad. I had gone around the world several times, visiting countries in Asia, Middle East, and Europe. In the early years, I crossed the oceans by boat and later by plane. But I must confess, I preferred the boat! One meets interesting people on the way. When not traveling abroad, I usually hopped in my car and drove around America, Canada, and Mexico visiting friends during the summer months.

As I look back over my life, I remembered some years that held many trials and much hard work; but mostly, I remembered a great deal of happiness and contentment. I had contributed in my own way by demystifying chemistry to young women, and in doing so, I had opened their eyes to the possibilities of science. All my students had an appreciation of how chemistry was part of their everyday life and how important a basic understanding of chemistry was as they became wives and mothers. Many had followed me into teaching, while others had gone into research, medicine, and other careers. Through them, I hope I had influenced their children and families as well and the students they had taught. I had always endeavored to do my best to help needy and deserving young women gain an education and develop their full potential as citizens of the world, whatever their interests. I was glad to see that today, young people had so many more opportunities for an education if they truly seek one.

I realized I had been blessed to have lived through interesting periods of our country and world’s history in this twentieth century. I had seen the great changes that had occurred, much of which had been brought about by advancements in science. After all, I was born at the end of the Victorian era and grew up at a time when homes were not electrified and automobiles were first introduced. Commercial aviation and the radio did not become realities until I was a young woman. Television came much later. Sadly, the double-edged sword of science also enabled the destructive darker powers of the world wars. But in the end, it was up to us to use science wisely for the benefit of mankind.

I also lived through periods of great social change. In my senior year in college, women finally received the right to vote in this country. Living in the South, I witnessed segregation and was so pleased to see changes for the better, with all God’s children living together.

I hope that young people today may be interested in reading about the life of a woman chemistry professor back in the old, old days and her adventures in foreign lands before and after World War II. Hee, hee, I was reminded of a student’s grandson who, when told I taught back in the old days, asked, Were there dinosaurs when you were teaching? I so hope young girls will be attracted to science and not be put off because they think science is too difficult. Science is in fact very interesting and helps explain so much about our world and how things work that affect every aspect of our lives. And chemistry is fun!

Back to the biography, I will even suggest a title: Chemistry and Compassion.

Amy Le Vesconte

SECTION I

Teaching Days

Chapter 1

Teaching in Pakistan

1956

August 27, 1956, was the first day that I taught at Kinnaird College for Women in Lahore, Pakistan. This was just a few years after Britain partitioned India into the mostly Hindu India and the mostly Muslim Pakistan. I had been teaching at Flora MacDonald College, a Presbyterian college for women in North Carolina for four years, and before that, at Mary Hardin-Baylor College, a Baptist women’s college for twenty-one years. For a change, I wanted to experience teaching in a foreign country. This opportunity was perfect. While I had visited India before, I had not lived in that culture. I was covering for another teacher who was taking a sabbatical leave to return to England. What a treat it was for me to teach chemistry at a Christian women’s college halfway around the world for one year! I would be able to combine my love of teaching chemistry with my love of travel and possibly witnessing for Christ. My missionary sister Lillie was so glad that I might be