Six thousand five hundred and twenty-two young women have graduated from Sweet Briar since Shirley Pendleton Reid went to work at the College in the fall of 1954. She was honored recently at the Sweet Briar employee recognition luncheon for 50 years of service.
The ink barely dried on Reid's high school diploma from Amherst County Training School before she became a full-time maid at Mary Helen Cochran Library. Even before graduating, she rode a bus in the afternoons to work on campus part time.
Reid has served with five college presidents, nine deans, and three library directors. She became one of Sweet Briar's first African-American supervisors in 1980, when she was put in charge of circulation. She credits former library director Tyler Gemmell with making it possible.
The librarian pushed her to learn skills beyond housekeeping, she said. Gemmell taught her to shelve books using the Dewey Decimal system, to cover the circulation desk during lunch breaks, even how to greet people. "She used to tell me 'You need to be doing something else,' " Reid said. "She took me under her wing. I'm thankful to her."
The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the desegregation of public schools in 1954. According to Reid, as the decade-long fight for integration filled the news, Gemmell increased her responsibilities and encouraged her to be ready for opportunity.
"She used to tell me things would change. I never thought they would. Some people see the world for what it is and some see it for what they've heard. [Gemmell] saw it for what it is," said Reid, who would raise two daughters and watch both graduate from college.
Yolanda Reid-Caines went to Sweet Briar and is a computer consultant for Microsoft. Valerie Reid Jackson earned a graduate degree from Ohio State University and teaches junior high in Bowie, Md.
Other changes came along, too. The library survived conversion from Dewey Decimal to the Library of Congress automated system. It went from paper card catalogues to computers. "That was a job. But you change along with things," Reid said.
Skirt lengths lifted and lowered, and gave way to too-long jeans worn ragged at the hems. Reid remembers how students dressed up when they went into town in the early days. She fondly recalled the "beautiful flowing gowns" of the soon-to-be-revived May Day tradition. And although the students themselves haven't changed much, she said faculty members today are more relaxed and willing to joke around.
As circulation supervisor, library users rely on Reid - from reserving course materials for faculty to checking out movies for staff. She trains and manages about 25 students and is both a mother and mentor to all. She is ever ready with words of comfort or a barbed - and sometimes irreverent - quip. "I'm bad," she admits of her wicked sense of humor.
But she takes her work seriously, too. It shows in her dedication to keeping the library functioning. Exams or snow days often mean extra shifts or working the phones from home to ensure the doors are open. She sets a stellar example for her students, said John Jaffe, director of the library.
Students and administrators have repaid her in kind. In 1997 the student government association created the Shirley P. Reid Award and named her its first recipient. Each year the award goes to a staff member to recognize excellent performance. When SBC marked its 100th year in 2001, Reid was honored again as a Centennial Award winner for having a significant impact on the College.
Beyond the gates of Sweet Briar, Reid's first interest is her three grandchildren. She also enjoys home improvement projects and activities at Mount Olive Baptist Church, where she sang in the choir. Although she raised her girls in Lynchburg, she now lives next door to the Amherst home she grew up in with 12 siblings.
In a memoir she is writing, Reid talks about her family's long association with Sweet Briar. It's a tie she's not ready to break by retiring, she said. "Not as long as I'm healthy and I enjoy working."
