Clarene Lincoln Robertson '25 remembers a time when women were only allowed to leave campus on Sunday afternoons, and even then, only with their parents' written permission. Read more about Elon's oldest known living alum...
Clarene Lincoln Robertson says there’s only one secret to living a long, healthy life. “Behave yourself!” she exclaims.
She’s behaved very, very well.
Robertson, who graduated from Elon in 1925, turned 100 on Jan. 11, making her the university’s oldest known living alum. And although she hasn’t visited campus in more than 65 years, she still has a fondness for the place she remembers as “a little old country school” in the early 1920s.
“I still think Elon is the best place,” she said during a phone interview from Blanco, Texas, where she and her 91-year-old husband, Robby, live with their daughter, Maryella Vause, and her husband, David. A retired teacher whose 30-year career teaching English and American history included stops in several North Carolina public schools and Huntington Girls’ College in Montgomery, Ala., Robertson says she is trying to convince one of her eight great-grandchildren to come to Elon right now.
She enrolled at Elon in fall 1921 after finishing high school in Harrisonburg, Va. She grew up in the small town of Tenth Legion, Va., about 12 miles away, but during high school, she lived with relatives in Harrisonburg through the week so she could attend a better school. “My dad would come pick me up in Harrisonburg every Friday afternoon and bring me home,” she says. “Over the weekend, I would get all my clothes cleaned up to get ready for the next week.”
As a member of Bethlehem Christian Church near Tenth Legion during her youth, Robertson remembers taking collections from parishioners, which were then sent to Elon. “People in the Shenandoah thought of Elon as their own,” she says. “I never thought about going any place else.”
Robertson remembers living in West Dorm, the fire of 1923 which destroyed a significant portion of the administration building, and the “rules for girls” which were enforced stringently. Girls had to have written permission from their parents to leave campus, and even then, they were only allowed to leave for a few hours on Sunday afternoons. One time, she says she and some friends were invited, on a Saturday, to visit some young men who lived next to campus. “Well, of course we jumped at that opportunity,” she laughs, but remembers that she and her friends got caught by administrators. “Boy, we got called on the carpet for that one!”
Maryella Vause reports that her mother is one of four centenarians living in Blanco, but that her mother is the only one whose husband is still living. Alumni who would like to send Robertson a note or a card to congratulate her on her 100th birthday can mail her at P.O. Box 1108, Blanco, Texas 78606.