213 The Women Who Built Harding Harding’s women were certainly known for their hospitality like Sally Hockaday Benson, the wife of Harding’s second president, George S. Benson. Sally Benson was born in 1896 in Granite, Oklahoma. She would go on to earn her bachelor’s degree at the University of Oklahoma, where she would later teach. She also taught at Oklahoma Christian University before moving to Morrilton, Arkansas, as a teacher in Latin and math. There, while in a play cast by Armstrong, she met her co-star and future husband George S. Benson, who was a coach and principal at Harding Academy. At Harding, Sally Benson took an active role in campus activities, teaching at Harding Academy, hosting teas for visitors and supporting the formation of a gardening club. Harding women also focused on making advancements in their career fields, like the formation of the Business and Professional Women Club. The college created the club to help female professors and faculty gain connections and relationships through their monthly dinner meetings with an array of guest speakers. Their first president was Miss Marguerite O’Banion, secretary to President George S. Benson. In addition to developing their staff, Harding also began to encourage their female students to begin studying STEM fields saying: “Leaders in American education would be guilty of a fateful omission if they did not consider the necessity of bringing about a radical change in the accustomed study of science medicine, and American attitude toward the engineering by women.” During this period, a minority of the women in Harding were majoring in nursing, medicine, math, biology and minoring in chemistry. The female students were not only interested in academics but in pouring into their fellow students with the advent of the Big Sister program during the 50s. Many upperclassmen were eager to apply for the program to be a mentor to new incoming freshmen girls. The women of Harding this time carving out their own path at this institution. 1950s Sally Hockaday Benson Photos from Brackett Archives This decade of changing ideals and attitudes began to reflect itself in the ideas and goals of the women of Harding. These women cited wanting to get a good education as one of their primary goals for coming to college and dreamed of working in journalism, biological research, and teaching. Many also came with the dream of meeting their future spouse and starting a family, but still put a heavy emphasis on their education as their reason for choosing Harding College specifically. The women of the faculty, staff, and community also continued to deepen their ties through their work and service to Harding through the establishment of Associated Women for Harding (AWH) in February of 1965. President Clifton L. Ganus wanted to find ways to foster an investment and passion for Christian education and found that solution through the AWH. The organization, which started with one hundred fifty members quickly grew to having nearly a dozen chapters scattered throughout the state, with even one out of state chapter (Louisiana). Graduate Mae Ann Songer acted as the first president for the Searcy chapter with First Lady Louise Ganus acting as the vice president. This group of diligent, godly women quickly began work on their respective activities to fundraise for and better the institution. For example, the Pine Bluff chapter fundraised for a new instrument for the school while the Little Rock Chapter focused on renovating a room in the American Heritage Room. The Searcy chapter spent their first year writing a cookbook with recipes compiled from the members of the AWH to sell and return their profits to the school. They also began organizing an annual spring “style show,” hosting numerous luncheons and programs, 1960s Mildred Bell, Bessie Mae Pryor, Mary Formby and Mae Ann Tucker From Brackett Library Flickr Louise Ganus Harding also began to experience some of this social revolution as well. In the early ’70s, congress passed the title IX act which called for equal opportunity in sports for both men and women. Harding faculty and staff wanted to balance upholding their Christian morals and standards while complying with the act’s regulations to ensure its students could continue to receive their federal financial aid. Harding students began rallying around the cause, sending letters to President Clifton Ganus, creating petitions and submitting editorials. This push for intercollegiate sports coupled with the success of Harding women’s intramural teams allowed for the development of a women’s basketball team through Arkansas Women’s intercollegiate sports association. Students continued to advocate and appeal for the advancement of women’s sports programs within the institution, and by the ’80s women’s sports merged into the AIC of Arkansas Intercollegiate Sports, including basketball, volleyball, track, and cross country. Through the growth of women’s sports to the relaxation of the dress code which finally allowed women to wear pants, the ’70s saw ten years of massive change and progression for the women of Harding. 1970s women of campus. From Brackett Library Flickr
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