Proud Wesleyan Female College women alumni Esther and Molly.
Sisters in life and in college, Esther and Molly were always close. Wesleyan Female College in Macon, Georgia Class of 1898 they were quite the renegade pair. They were afforded the luxury of coming from a family of wealth and they’d made there way to college from rural Georgia to the then, “Big City” of Macon, Georgia.
They both had proper manners and thick southern accents. They were both women with a keen sense of humor and soon after arrival at Wesleyan, chemistry and astronomy took hold of their imaginations and they studied hard. At the top of their class for their chosen fields they were popular throughout the college and leaders with the incoming classes mentoring other young women scholars.
Esther was science smart and had been since she was young. Always showing an interest in all thing science, her father especially pushed her to follow the path of education. Molly showed an interest in the universe beyond. Her parents thought she was a foolish dreamer but they’d allowed it at the urging of Esther. Their parents were unusual that they wanted their daughters to follow the education route to their happiness instead of the expected marriage and family. If marriage and children came, they said, so be it.
Incidentally Molly did end up having a family but not before she opened up her own small planetarium in the really Big City. Here parents had financed the operation. They’d considered it a whim of hers never realizing that it would teach children around the really Big City about the universe beyond. Molly had become a teacher to many and her parents couldn’t be more surprised that their little investment had paid off and had become the region’s pride, interesting college universities and primary schools for it’s teachings.
Esther became a chemist, working in pharmacology research and development. She was at the top of her field for years, developing drugs to help children and adults live better lives. In some cases, when she was really lucky, she was involved in developing drugs that saved lives. She loved her job and her life and she was a woman to be reckoned with in the corporate arena of big pharma. She was responsible for creating a friendly workplace for women; demanding the same “luxuries” afforded men like equal pay and a non-hostile workplace. She could not and would not be ignored by the higher ups and she made life for the women behind her easier.
When Esther and Molly met up on the day this picture was taken at an alumni visit and college celebration they didn’t attend so they could see each other – they played bridge weekly and had coffee numerous times a month over pastries at a local sweet shop now that they were retired. They thought it would be fun to see their old college and the young women of this day.
To look at them with their roller-styled hair and their sensible shoes and their best hats you would never know that they helped pave the way for young career women in the 1900s throughout the southeast. Esther and Molly had visited Wesleyan College without knowing they were being honored for the perseverance for the rights of all women.
Esther and Molly left the ceremony that day and reminisced about their days at Wesleyan. They laughed. Then they drank a lot of coffee and played a quick game a bridge.
Written by Julia Roberts, Kidneys and Eyes
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