Willa Beatrice Player

Willa Beatrice Player

Willa Beatrice Player, educator and President Emerita of Bennett College, was born in Jackson, Miss., on Aug. 9, 1909, to Beatrice Day Player and Clarence Cromwell Player as the last of their three chil dren. She departed this life on Aug. 27, 2003, at the age of 94.

She was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Clar ence C. Player, sister, Edith Player Brown; brother-in-law, Raymond R. Brown; and niece, Dolores Brown Smith.

Willa Player grew up in Akron, Ohio, and graduated from West High School in 1925. She be gan her college education at Akron University; however, she and her sister, Edith, graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 1929. After receiving her M.A. from Oberlin College in 1930, Player found her first teaching position at Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C.

In her early career at the college, the young Miss Player taught French and Latin in addi tion to being made director of religious activities. She was made director of admissions and acting dean at Bennett af ter spending the year 1935 at the University of Grenoble, France, as a Fulbright Scholar. In 1948, she was awarded her Ph.D. from Columbia University. In 1952, she was named coor dinator of instruction at Ben nett. She was made vice presi dent in 1955, acting president, and then president in 1956. She served as president of Bennett College for Women until 1966, when she resigned to become director of the division of college support, U.S. Office of Education, Department of HEW, under the Lyndon Johnson administration. She served there until her retirement in 1977.

Dr. Player continued to serve as a consultant and was active on numerous boards and commissions until 1989. She be came the first woman president of the National Association of Schools and Colleges of the Methodist Church in 1962. Oth er boards and commissions include the National Commission on Religion and Race of the Methodist Church; the board of trustees of the Southern Fellow ship Fund; the Commission of Liberal Learning of the Ameri can Association of Colleges; the board of trustees of Clark College; the board of trustees of the Charles Stewart Mott Foun dation; and the Commission on Funding Black Colleges.

During her life of dedicated service in the field of higher education, Dr. Player received a great many awards and honors. She received eight honorary doctorates from distinguished colleges and universities, among them Morehouse College; Bennett College; Universi ty of North Carolina at Greensboro; and Ohio Wesleyan University, as well as a long list of citations from national, fed eral, and local organizations including the Presidential Leader ship Grant to Japan; Carnegie Corporation of New York; the Superior Service and Distin guished Service Awards from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; the Award for Outstanding Achieve ment in the Field of Higher Education from the 28th annual convention of the National Council for Negro Women; and the Silver Medallion Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Among her most recent honors was a formal resolution from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation recog nizing her distinguished service as a humanitarian scholar.

Willa Player had been identified with Methodism since early childhood. While a young professor and administrator at Bennett College, she spoke throughout the country at mis sion schools, annual meetings, and college seminars. Later, as president of Bennett College, she hosted the first fully inte grated national seminar for Methodist women. She assisted the United Methodist Women in an interpretation of the Charter of Racial Policies, and her leadership resulted in her being elected president of the Nation al Association of Schools and Colleges of the Methodist Church. She was a member of the National Commission on United Methodist Higher Educa tion. In Greensboro, she was a member of St. Matthew's United Methodist Church and in Akron, Ohio, a member of First United Methodist Church.

Dr. Player has left many loving relatives and friends throughout the country, including nieces, Barbara Brown Taze- well and Linda Beatrice Brown; nephew, Raymond Player Brown; grandnieces, Edith Anne Hall (Philip), Robin E. Rhaney (Michael), Linda Marsh (Joseph), Barbara K. Coble (William), Sharon Kristen Parham (Richard), Willa B. Bragg; grandnephews, Joseph L. Taze- well (Lora), Jonathan E. Taze-well (Margaret), Paul G. Taze-well, Thomas R. Tazewell (Sharon), Christopher P. Bragg, Raymond Zachary Brown; 22 great- grandnieces and -nephews; devoted friend and caregiver for eight years, Elnora Gladney; be loved family friends, Emma Howie Washington, and Yvonne Jeffries Johnson and family.

A memorial service will be held at the First United Method ist Church, 263 E. Mill St., Akron, Ohio, on Friday, Nov. 28, 2003, at 11 a.m. Arrangements by Smith-Hinnant Funeral Home in Greensboro, N.C., and Stewart & Calhoun Funeral Home in Akron, Ohio.



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