Memorial University’s spring convocation of 1960 was the last official function held at our original Parade Street campus. It was at this ceremony that Memorial decided to celebrate one of the most important and influential individuals in its history by awarding the university’s very first honorary degree.

The recipient was Monnie Mansfield.

Born to Newfoundland parents in Boston, Mass., Ms. Mansfield came to St. John’s as a teenager. She studied to be a teacher at St. Bride’s College, commonly known as Littledale, and taught school for a short time.

But she discovered her true vocation in December 1929 when President John Lewis Paton hired her as the Memorial University College registrar.

The appointment determined the course of life at the Parade Street campus for 30 years and the hundreds of students who would pass through its halls.

Formally, Ms. Mansfield was registrar, bursar and, after completing summer courses at Columbia University in “librarianship,” the college’s first librarian.

Informally, she was student confidante, truant officer, human databank, encyclopedia, cheerleader, record keeper, honorary president of MU Gamma (a society for the college women) and official matchmaker for unmarried staff members.

In essence, she ran the place.

Filling so many roles ensured that she was the central node in the college’s network — the heart and soul of the institution.

No formal dress for a graduation ball? She figured out where to get one. No textbook? She would find one. Trouble getting a job? She’d advise you to work harder and then quietly put in a good word on your behalf.

Former students tell of her vigilance for their needs and happiness. She knew them all, past and present, even as enrolment continued to grow. She insisted on the individuality of the students, and the honour and privilege of teaching each of them.

She cared how the students turned out, warned them when they slackened and showed them how to surpass themselves.

 

Ms. Elva Blake, from Barr’d Island, receives a scholarship in September 1956. (l-r) Mrs. T. Shannon Cliff, Ms. Monnie Mansfield (registrar), Mrs. E. Marrett (Education secretary), Ms. Elva Blake, Mrs. H.G. Puddester (regent) and Mrs. H.D. Roberts. Photo from Memorial’s Digital Archives Initiative.

 

Such was her rapport with students that, in 1944, she was named dean of women. In acknowledgment of her special gifts, her role was considered equivalent to a faculty member, which included a 15 per cent pay increase, an extraordinary move — and recognition — in the financial restraints of the day.

Though universally admired by students, staff and faculty, she was no pushover. Her approach was stern. She set high standards for herself and others and was a formidable force.

One student recalled, “If you wanted to know anything you just went to her and she found out about it or did what had to be done.” Another student said that Ms. Mansfield “was a mother to us all and the first person we went to see when the train pulled into the station when we returned home.”

Ms. Mansfield retired from the university in 1959, having served with fervent loyalty for three decades.

On the day she received her honorary degree, Dr. George Story, the university’s public orator, noted, “To speak of Monnie Mansfield is to speak of this university, and of its parent university college, almost from the beginning…. In honouring her, the university pays tribute to a long career of unselfish loyalty and devotion to the institution. But it honours, also, a remarkable and loveable woman whose love of learning and wit, generosity and courage, shall not be forgotten.”

After the ceremony, Ms. Mansfield shared her thoughts on the occasion by responding to a congratulatory letter from one of her former students.

“Every spring,” she wrote, “I died a little saying goodbye to the graduates, wondering about their futures. In September came a renascence — the surge of youth into Memorial with its hopes and possibilities. Now that I shall no longer be rowing in the boat, you may rest assured I shall be cheering loudly from the shore.”