Lydia Alice Wampler

(February 3, 1872- ?)

Eureka College faculty member (1922-1936)

When the steamer Rochambeau entered New York Harbor in September 1922 after completing the Atlantic crossing from the French port of Havre, its immigrant passengers likely gazed at the Statue of Liberty before docking at Ellis Island. Crowded among the passengers, Lydia Wampler, a fifty-year-old scholar of classical languages, probably understood the transition better than most—as the Old World was giving way to the New World—even though she was simply returning to the land of her birth. She had visited Europe, but its ways, its traditions, its culture, and its languages would always remain with her.

Wampler’s professional studies had all taken place in the United States: the University of Kansas (1902), the University of Chicago (1902-04), Columbia University (1914-15 and 1920-21), and the University of Wisconsin (1920). Her studies at Columbia were briefly interrupted by a stint teaching in Lincoln, Nebraska, at Cotner College, a now-defunct institution that was affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Her “grand tour” to Europe in 1922 was designed so that she could visit ancestral sites in Germany that were especially meaningful to her.

Frau Wampler was returning to America to accept a new academic position. She would travel by train from New York to Eureka, Illinois, to accept a teaching position at Eureka College where she would serve as the Dean of Women and teach language courses in Latin, Greek, and German. By pure coincidence, she arrived at Eureka College the same year that Mary Frances Winston Newson began teaching at the College. The common interest that the two women shared in international affairs, and in Germany in particular, would aid them both as they became colleagues and friends in a new academic setting.

When viewed from a contemporary perspective, anyone who had to serve as the Dean of Women during the challenging social and moral climate of the "Roaring Twenties" must have faced a daunting task. It seems that Dean Wampler was prepared to deal with any circumstances that she might face. She was a woman of culture and refinement, but she was also tough and unflappable.

Academic Dean Samuel Glenn Harrod had recruited Frau Wampler to come to Eureka College, and he soon realized that she had the perfect temperament for the position of Dean of Women. Under her direction and supervision, parents of college-aged daughters found comfort in knowing that Eureka College was a "good" school that provided a safe, nurturing environment for the educational development of their children. (For example, the school did not even permit supervised dances until that policy was changed as a result of the student strike of 1928.)

Dean Wampler was instrumental in developing new programs and initiatives while serving at Eureka College. She was involved in the development of the “Eureka Plan” – a type of work-study program that enabled poor students to attend College during the years of the Great Depression. She also was involved in the development of Gunzenhauser Hall, a new residence hall for women and the first new building to be constructed on the campus in more than two decades.

Dean Wampler’s years at Eureka College were also difficult ones. Between 1922 and 1936 she worked for seven different college presidents. She decided in spring 1936 to resign her position as Dean of Women and continue her role as professor of languages. A notice published in World Call stated that she found “the work of being both a dean and a teacher was a very strenuous one.” Her plans were undermined, however, by President Raymond F. McLain who decided to implement a mandatory retirement policy for all faculty when they reached the age of sixty-five. Thus forced unceremoniously into retirement by an institution without a pension, Wampler moved to Knob Noster, Missouri, and lived with relatives there. The date of her death is unknown.