Sweet Briar College
Media, Marketing and Communications Office
P.O. Box 1056
Sweet Briar, VA 24595
{P} 434.381.6262
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The Sweet Briar Promise outlines our distinctive approach for providing meaningful, enduring education for women. It includes:
The Sweet Briar Vixens hockey team battled the Generals of Washington and Lee during Homecoming Weekend on Saturday, Sept. 26, on what is now known as Thayer Field. The hockey field on Boathouse Road, named in honor of Mildred “Bee” Newman Thayer ’61 and her husband, Bradley, was dedicated during a ceremony following the game.
President Jo Ellen Parker (middle left) and Bee and Brad Thayer are flanked by members of the field hockey team at the dedication of Thayer Field. Bee Thayer is holding Jennifer Crispen’s hockey stick.Bee Thayer, who played field hockey, basketball and
tennis while at Sweet Briar, was inducted into the Friends of Athletics Hall of
Fame with its first class in fall 2006. The Thayers have long been staunch
supporters of Sweet Briar and its athletics programs, and were among the first
donors to make a generous gift for the new Fitness and Athletics Center.
She is an emeriti trustee and has participated on the alumnae board, development leadership council, the Boxwood Circle committee, Reunion Gifts committee, campaign steering committee and the Fitness and Athletics Center Gifts committee.
President Jo Ellen Parker was among several speakers at the ceremony and it was she who revealed the athletics department had a special gift for Thayer.
“Bee, it is an honor to have you presented with Jennifer Crispen’s hockey stick,” she said, eliciting an approving reaction from those who had gathered to watch the dedication.
A student presented the hockey stick to a suprised Thayer. It had belonged to Crispen, Sweet Briar’s longtime and much-loved coach, who died last November in her 31st year at the College.
“I’m so glad I have a good stick to lean on,” Thayer said when she took the microphone and, describing Brad Thayer as her “life teammate,” said they are deeply grateful to have the field named for them.
Addressing today’s students, she echoed Parker’s earlier words to play on the field fairly and honestly. Then, she left the students, members of the athletic department, numerous staff and her former teammates who were gathered on the hill above the field with one final charge: “Go Sweet!”
