Washington College collection on World War II

Doris Thistle Bell (1896-1983) was born May 31 in Shenandoah, Virginia to Harrison Mayes Bell and Elizabeth Pace Lamour Bell. She was educated in Boston and England. Bell was one the first instructor of women’s physical training at Washington College. She began as a part-time instructor in 1926. She taught calisthenics and direct the highly acclaimed June Pageant in 1927, Bell herself having been a member of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet for a year. She was promoted to full-time and organized Women’s basketball and field hockey, later adding archery, tennis, badminton, volleyball, and fencing while also teaching ballroom dancing. Bell also took classes at the college in her spare time and graduated in 1950 with a degree in English. She continued teaching becoming an Assistant Professor of Physical Education in 1960. After retiring in 1965 she continued at the college as the Resident Director of Women’s Dormitories until 1970. She was inducted into the Washington College Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981. Doris passed away in 1983, at the age of eighty-six in Towson, Maryland.

The Post-War Reunion Committee, consisting of General Chairman John A. Wagner; Finance, Housing, and Banquet Fred W. Dumschott; Memorial Charles B. Clark; Pans and Program Harry S. Russell; and Dance A. Parks Rasin, Jr., was created to honor the over seven hundred students and alumni that served in the Armed Forces during the Second World War. The reunion took place over homecoming, October 12-13, 1946. Along with the usual homecoming weekend events, there was a memorial plaque dedication in William Smith Hall, a memorial service for those that died in service with a souvenir booklet. There was a call made in the Washington College Alumnus for alumni to submit their service history to the committee.