BANGOR, Maine — Whatever else Clara Lincoln Swan means to the people who attended a reception Tuesday at Husson University in honor of her upcoming 103rd birthday, she is, to any person, inspiring.
Dozens of Husson alumni, including Gov. Paul LePage, family, friends and current university administrators gathered at Beardsley Meeting House in the Darling Atrium to visit with Swan, who conversed enthusiastically with anyone who spoke with her about her life and career.
LePage greeted his mentor and friend with a hug and kiss, telling Clara he was never too busy to see her. LePage later said that Swan, who was academic dean when he started classes at what was then Husson College in the late 1960s, was one of the first people he met there. He spoke about what an inspiration Swan was to him, and how she encouraged him to work hard.
“She would basically tell us to do our work and keep our nose clean,” as a formula for academic success at Husson, he said.
These days, Swan lives alone with her cat, and occupies her time with crossword puzzles and walking.
Swan, who was born on April 28, 1912, in Princeton, was a Brewer High School graduate in 1930 and a Husson graduate with the Class of 1933. She taught in schools in Mexico and Dover-Foxcroft before returning to Husson as a teacher in 1939. During her 34 years at Husson, Swan was director of the Secretarial Studies Department, assistant principal, academic dean, registrar, corporate officer, assistant to the president and vice president. She also served as basketball coach for 19 years.
The people who gathered in her honor Tuesday saw her as teacher, motivator, coach, disciplinarian and friend.
As Husson’s oldest living alumna, Swan has demonstrated that even as institutions evolve over time, it’s their humanity that holds them together, said Husson President Robert Clark, during a brief interview. His favorite memory of Swan was during his inauguration when she gave the Alumni response. He said Swan asked alumni to stand as she called out each decade, and led them in saying, “President Clark, we’ll do anything you ask!”
Pat Treworgy of Milbridge, formerly Pat Newcomb of Hampden, said her former teacher recruited her to Husson from Hampden Academy when Swan refereed basketball there. Swan encouraged her to become a teacher, which Treworgy did. She also said Swan was adviser for Epsilon Tau Epsilon sorority at Husson when Treworgy was president of that organization. Treworgy has kept tabs on Swan and said she doesn’t miss any opportunities to honor her and her life’s work.
Paul Husson’s memories of Swan were more familial because she babysat him in his youth. Husson, son of Chesley Husson for whom the university is named, said she would give him a basketball and send him to the gym to play, and that he would go fishing with her at Green Lake. He said she was like another mother to him.
Teresa Steele, Husson Fellow from the Office of the President, has been compiling Swan’s personal stories and shared a few of them at the gathering. Steele brought a shoebox that was Swan’s bed for the first three months of her life, as she weighed just 1.5 pounds at birth, and read Swan’s own words about her early life and childhood. The stories talked about the influential people in her life, including her father and Chesley Husson.
Steele said Swan told her she would like to be remembered as a good friend and a good teacher. That drew a standing ovation.
