Frances Marries the New Chemistry Professor

Date
April 21, 1994

Frances Vuilleumier (Class of 1924) describes in an interview how she met her husband, Ernest Albert Vuilleumier, in her chemistry class. The current dean placed her in the class, and according to Frances, "being new, I required a good deal of assistance, you know, so somehow or other..." Professor Vuilleumier, who chaperoned dances, sent a note to Frances inviting her to a fraternity dance. Frances explains that it was acceptable for female students to date professor as "it had happened before." Previously, President James Henry Morgan married a student. Herbert Davis, Professor Vuilleumier's assistant in chemistry, married a student as well. Frances admits that it would be difficult to describe the typical date for a Dickinson student because her dates "weren't like anybody else's dates." According to Frances, male students would not ask her out on dates for fear of getting on Professor Vuilleumier's bad side. She recalls babysitting for another faculty family and going to the movies.

Location of Document in Archives
World War II Oral History, Vuilleumer, Frances