Education: The Quiet One

As she stood listening to the applause that greeted her in the big auditorium at Southern Methodist University, the plump, kindly lady seemed perilously close to tears. "If I cry," she said, "please forgive me." Then Mrs. Walter William Fondren, 76, accepted the large Steuben vase that ten colleges, hospitals and church organizations had bought for her as a special tribute. "Why I'm chosen," said she, "I'll never know. I've always tried to stay in the background."

To those who know her, there was nothing surprising about the tribute to Ella Cochrum Fondren—or about...

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