Ohio University Today, Summer 1998 - A Day to Remember... Commencment 1998

Priscilla Warmke (left) and daughter Clare pin on their caps.

Photos: Mike Elicson

The proud graduates - Priscilla (left) and daughter Clare - have proof in hand.

Dorothy Williams broke into a wide smile when asked about the significance of the moment. After all, it's not every day you get to see your daughter and granddaughter graduate from college.

"I am very proud of both my girls," Williams said. "They have so much energy."

On a day made for memories, Williams and family ar rived at a near-capacity Convocation Center on the morning of June 13 to watch as daughter Priscilla Warmke, 43, and granddaughter Clare Warmke, 22, sat in the front row and walked one after another to the podium to collect their bachelor's degrees from Ohio University. They were among a record 3,600 graduates to participate in the two undergraduate ceremonies.

Both longtime Athens residents, mother and daughter followed very different academic paths to graduation day. Priscilla, a single mother of two who works in OU's Upholstery and Sewing Shop, took 14 years to earn her bachelor of fine arts degree in art history.

An accomplished fiber artist who has sewn more than 300 quilts and runs her own upholstery business on the side, Priscilla found time to take one to two classes a quarter over the past four years to complete a goal she began soon after divorcing in 1984. Priscilla graduated summa cum laude with a 3.8 grade point average.

Journalism faculty member Frank Fee offers a congratulatory handshake after the ceremony. Clare, a talented writer and activist for domestic violence prevention, already had completed one year of college requirements by the time she graduated from Athens High School through Senate Bill 140, which allows high school students to take college courses. She went on to complete her bache lor of journalism degree in four years at OU cum laude with a 3.5 GPA, and worked two years as a student writer in the Office of University News Services and Periodicals.

"Doing this together makes the occasion very exciting," Clare said. "I'm really proud of my mom. For me, going through school was always a given. For my mom, it was a 14-year struggle. . . . Education has always been important to my mom. She always encouraged an intelligent atmosphere a t home."

As the close-knit pair celebrated with family at a party at Strouds Run State Park outside Athens on graduation night, they prepared to begin new lives in different parts of the country. The next day, Clare and fiance Bryan Rosser, BS '97, packed their bags for Thornton, Colo., a Denver suburb where he is an associate cartographer for a satellite imaging company.

Clare hopes to land a part-time writing job and free-lance, with the goal of moving to Russia in two to three years to create a sex education and empowerment program for pre-teen girls. She has visited Russia three times, most recently in spring 1997 as part of a delegation with the Women's Peacepower Foundation and National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Priscilla Warmke plans to marry Tommy Shaw, a Navy vet and member of OU's facilities management staff, in September and hopes to begin working on a master's degree in art education at the university in a year. She eventually wants to teach fiber arts at th e college level.

"I already had the graduate school catalog out yesterday looking at it," Priscilla said after receiving her undergraduate diploma. "I'm already wanting to get back into it. I don't know how to stop learning. I love it."

Four generations pose for a family portrait at a graduation party at Strouds Run: (left to right) Priscilla, Clare and Dorothy Williams and (seated) Jessie R. Williams , Clare's great-grandmother.