{"id":1215,"date":"2009-11-30T13:25:04","date_gmt":"2009-11-30T19:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/?p=1215"},"modified":"2009-11-30T13:25:04","modified_gmt":"2009-11-30T19:25:04","slug":"the-bemis-family-a-deep-rooted-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/2009\/11\/the-bemis-family-a-deep-rooted-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bemis Family: A Deep-Rooted Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Members

Members of the Bemis family with Judson M. Bemis Professors in the Humanities Owen Cramer, Dave Mason, and John Riker. Photo by Brad Armstrong.<\/p><\/div>\n

Imagine the Colorado College campus without the Bemis family. There would be no Bemis Hall, no world renowned collection of the letters of British and American writers, no Taylor Hall.<\/p>\n

Beyond these tangible reminders of their affection for the school, the Bemis family support has touched all facets of the institution.<\/p>\n

Alice Bemis Taylor\u2019s philanthropy, alone, amounts to approximately $750,000 per year for CC\u2019s coffers, changing the lives of countless students 67 years after she died. The Bemis family tree has sunk its roots into the CC soil ever since Judson Moss Bemis and his wife, Alice Cogswell Bemis, moved to Colorado Springs in 1881. The family had lived in Massachusetts, where Judson ran his lucrative bag-manufacturing empire, but the promise of relief for his wife\u2019s health problems brought them to Colorado Springs. At the time, the small resort town had fewer than 100 telephones, <\/em>and horsedrawn carriages traveled the unpaved streets.<\/p>\n

The family circle also included children Judson, Albert, Maude, and Alice; another daughter, Lucy, died in 1877 and young Judson died in 1885.<\/p>\n

\"BemisTheir parents lost no time in becoming vital, contributing members of the community. In the foreword to \u201cJudson Moss Bemis, Pioneer\u201d by William C. Edgar, Albert wrote of his father: \u201cEverybody who came in contact with him seemed to recognize and appreciate his salient qualities of tenderheartedness, integrity, thrift, industry, cooperation, and fairmindedness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Judson

Judson Moss Bemis<\/p><\/div>\n

Although Judson had little formal education, he was a natural entrepreneur determined to use his fortune for good. In a speech to employees, he once said, \u201cSuccess should be measured in the amount of money disbursed in the betterment of mankind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alice, described as a \u201csweet, cheery, and generous spirit,\u201d was a good match for him. She, too, saw their wealth as an opportunity to help others. And what better way to help their community and the world than through education?<\/p>\n

\n

\"Albert

Albert Farwell Bemis<\/p><\/div>\n

In 1898, the couple provided initial funding to establish the Bemis Professorship in Humanities to foster outstanding scholarship and teaching. Along with Colorado Springs founder William Jackson Palmer, they provided funding to build Bemis Hall, which opened in 1908. Two years later, the Cogswell Theater, named for Alice, was added in the basement.<\/p>\n

Judson once wrote a letter to his grandchildren that included the following passage: \u201cParents can lay the foundation for each child by their own life. They are giving daily examples by their actions and by word of mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Alice

Alice Cogswell Bemis<\/p><\/div>\n

The Bemises purchased and donated what is now the Jackson House residential hall in 1914; that same year, they provided funding to establish the school\u2019s department of banking and business administration, now the economics and business department.<\/p>\n

Alice Cogswell Bemis died in 1917, less than one year after the couple\u2019s golden wedding anniversary, and was remembered as someone who \u201chad the heart and the will to bring all the happiness she could to others.\u201d<\/p>\n

CC awarded Judson an honorary degree in 1920 and, at his funeral in 1921, former CC President William Slocum spoke of the \u201csincere, strong, and unselfish character\u201d of the man he worked with through the decades.<\/p>\n

\n

Examples of Bemis Philanthropy at CC<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • The Bemis Professorship in Humanities<\/li>\n
  • The Alice Bemis Taylor Scholarship (now named for Harold C. Harmon, a longtime trustee of the BemisTaylor Foundation)<\/li>\n
  • The Alice Bemis Taylor Library Endowment Fund<\/li>\n
  • The Alice Bemis Taylor Annual Gift Endowment<\/li>\n
  • The Alice Bemis Taylor General Fund<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n

    Alice, the Bemises\u2019 daughter, inherited her parents\u2019 passion for town and gown involvement. Born in Newton, Mass., in 1877, she was four years old when her family moved west.<\/p>\n

    The little girl who witnessed her parents\u2019 philanthropy grew up to be described as \u201cLady Bountiful\u201d in the local press. But she wasn\u2019t flashy about her generosity; she simply saw needs, consulted her heart and gave wisely and freely to help others.<\/p>\n

    Alice Bemis married Frederick Morgan Taylor, a wealthy stockbroker, in 1903. Little is known about their lives together, beyond the bare facts. They adopted a daughter soon after her birth in 1911 and named her Alice Doree. That daughter died in early 2009, aged 98, and was interred with her parents in Evergreen Cemetery, in southcentral Colorado Springs.<\/p>\n

    \"Alice

    Alice Bemis Taylor<\/p><\/div>\n

    Alice Bemis Taylor did make a splash when, from 1934 to 1937, she served as CC\u2019s first female trustee. Undoubtedly, there were many more acts of quiet generosity and civic involvement over and above the long list of endowments to CC.<\/p>\n

    This visionary yet modest woman was not content to merely sign checks. She also wrote notes about improvements to architects and builders before and during construction of buildings such as the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and the Colorado Springs Day Nursery. In fact, architecture was one of her hobbies and she often joked about inheriting the Bemis family \u201cbuilding bug.\u201d<\/p>\n

    When she died at 64 in 1942, her will revealed that she had left $400,000 to Colorado College, along with bequests to her other favorite causes.<\/p>\n

    In 1956, the college added a wing to Bemis Hall to provide a dining area for students and named it in honor of Alice Bemis Taylor. Today, the room is used for special events, lectures, and college gatherings.<\/p>\n

    The school and the family have been actively connected every decade since the 1880s, and several Bemis descendants gathered on campus in May 2009 to celebrate this long, happy, and productive relationship.<\/p>\n

    They included Steve and Sam Perry, whose mother, Marjorie, was the daughter of Albert Bemis, who, like his sister and father, also served as a CC trustee. Steve\u2019s daughter, Emily, is one of the many Bemis descendants who have studied at CC.<\/p>\n

    Steve Perry regrets not being part of that tradition. \u201cThe more we learn, the more we wonder why we didn\u2019t come to CC,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

    Perry also wishes he had thoroughly explored the Bemis-CC intertwined history with his mother. \u201cI would have said, \u2018tell me more.\u2019 I compare notes with other members of the family and it seems like every part of the family has a piece of the puzzle.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \n

    Bemis Family Contributions to the Community <\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Colorado Springs Historic Day Nursery, built 1923<\/li>\n
    • La For\u00eat Conference and Retreat Center, built 1928, Black Forest<\/li>\n
    • Bemis-Taylor Memorial Chapel<\/li>\n
    • Grace Church organ and the endowment for free Taylor Memorial Concert Series, presented in 1928 in memory of Frederick Morgan Taylor<\/li>\n
    • The Bemis Taylor Child Guidance Clinic, built in 1929 and a forerunner of the Pikes Peak Behavioral Health Group, with offices throughout the Pikes Peak region.<\/li>\n
    • Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, built 1936, (the architect was John Gaw Meem, who married Faith Bemis, daughter of Albert Bemis)<\/li>\n
    • Bemis Art School<\/li>\n
    • Taylor Museum of Southwest Studies<\/li>\n
    • Alice Bemis Taylor Elementary School, built 1952<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n

      Marjorie Perry did talk to her children about the portrait of her as a baby with her grandmother, Alice Cogswell Bemis. The portrait hangs above the fireplace in Bemis Hall. But his mother never took the portrait or herself too seriously, Sam Perry said.<\/p>\n

      During the family\u2019s tour of campus, Sam recalled an experience his mother recounted after a plane flight. She began talking with the young woman in the next seat and found out she was a CC student. Marjorie Perry asked the student if she had ever seen the portrait.<\/p>\n

      \u201cMy mother said, \u2018That baby is me.\u2019 The student got so excited, \u2018You\u2019re Baby Bemis! We used to draw mustaches on you at study time and when we were bored.\u2019 Some people might be mortified by that, but my mother thought it was just great,\u201d Perry said.<\/p>\n

      That day in May, the family campus tour paused near Worner Center at the Earle Flagpole, which lists donors whose lifetime gifts have reached $1 million or more.\u00a0 They searched until they found the names of Judson Moss Bemis and Alice Bemis Taylor, two extraordinary people who gave so much to the past, present and future of Colorado College. The college would be a different place, were it not for its significant and storied relationship with the Bemis family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Colorado College would be a different place were it not for its significant and storied relationship with the Bemis family, whose roots at the college reach from present day back to the late 1800s. Learn more about the history of the Bemises at CC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-1215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-november-2009","tag-features"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}