Together, they navigated a brave new world

here was the elephant carcass that turned up behind the Life Science building. The sandspurs that stuck to the inaugural first lady’s nylons. The blazing Florida sun that made wearing “Sunday best” hats and gloves unbearable. 

Walking USF’s grounds in those early years, Grace Allen was horrified, says Jean Anderson, a fellow Tampa newcomer and USF wife.

“I pointed out the dead elephant in the background of a photo,” she says. The campus was so barren, when neighboring Busch Gardens donated elephant remains for research, zoology students just hauled them to the grounds to dry. 

From day one, the wife of USF’s first president, John Allen, knew what she needed to thrive here: friends. On Aug. 8, 1960, more than a month before the university welcomed students, she opened her home to professors’ wives for a meeting of the USF Women’s Club — USF’s first club.

Sixty-five years later, Allen’s legacy lives on in the enduring friendships of women who’ve navigated so many chapters of life together, from raising children to burying loved ones, all while supporting their fledgling university. Today, their monthly meetings involve less dancing than the dinner parties of yesteryear, but their love for USF and each other remains evergreen.

“Most of all, Grace taught us to be cheerful,” says Anita Carr, an original club member who recently celebrated her 100th birthday. “She gave us community, and to this day, all of my friends are women in the club.”

Like Carr, who promptly ditched the hat and gloves to save herself from heat exhaustion, many of the first members were new to Tampa and agreed with Allen that a sandspur-infested airfield was a peculiar location for a university. Undeterred, even by the campus’s “No Hunting” signs, they leaned on each other for advice: where to find the scarce four-bedroom home, which USF musicals to see and what daycares to trust. 

They attended lessons on making hanging baskets, cookbook presentations and fashion shows presented by local clothing stores. They created the Explorers, a group of club members who took road trips to discover the Tampa Bay area. Those forays opened their eyes to needs in the community — and at USF. 

With $2 monthly dues, the club’s bank account totaled $46 in its first month. That number would skyrocket as the club quickly invited female faculty and staff, pushing membership over 300. They held fundraisers galore — selling everything from pecans to Christmas ornaments. 

“We did so many fundraising events that pulled us together and taught us skills we wouldn’t have learned otherwise, since many of us didn’t work outside of the home,” says Rose Killinger, a member since 1987 and three-time past president. 

The club has made a tremendous philanthropic impact, fully endowing two funds in Allen’s honor. The Grace Allen USF Women’s Club Endowed Scholarship, which started in 1970 with a $100 donation, now awards $10,000 in scholarships annually and has awarded at least $440,000 in scholarships to more than 250 students. 

The Grace Allen Library Fund has financed technology upgrades throughout USF’s Tampa campus library and will be used to hire a student to digitize the Women’s Club records, preserving a unique facet of university history. 

“Whenever I see the community impact, I first think of Grace,” says Anderson. “I think of how thrilled she would be to see how it took off and the eternal impact.”

These days, club meetings include games of bridge or bunko accompanied by lunch and laughter. The women don’t yearn to dust off the crystal punch bowls from their gatherings of the last century.

“A big thing that has changed is that we used to have dinner parties in the home, but as we got older, we said, ‘Nah, we’re going out!’” says Anderson.

If you run into them at a lunch outing, don’t expect a quiet bunch. With decades of stories to tell and photos of grandchildren and great-grandchildren to share, these women command rooms, happily reminiscing as, together, they confront their 21st century challenges.

“I’m so different because of the Women’s Club. I used to be shy, and now you can’t shut me up!” says Carr. “I’m grateful for the Women’s Club for giving me the ability to fill the silence with gossip and humor.”

And grace.

Contact the Women's Club by emailing usfwc1960@gmail.com.

- Molly Urnek, ’20 // Advancement