During the festivities of Homecoming 2023, students, faculty, staff and alumni gathered at The Avenue, in front of Le Fer Hall at the 1962 Ring Garden for the blessing and dedication of the Ring Centennial Sculpture, which was just completed this year to mark the 100th anniversary of the Woods Ring.
Interim President Brennan J. Randolph, MBA, welcomed attendees. “It gives me great pleasure to be a part of this blessing, an event that was 101 years in the making!” Randolph proceeded to share the College’s history, as SMWC is the oldest Catholic college in Indiana. “We value our roots. We look to the future. We celebrate our strengths. One of those strengths is the unwavering bond our students and alumni have with one another and this place. How appropriate it is to have another space, the 1962 Ring Garden, where we may gather, reflect and pray as individuals and a community,” Randolph said.
As a special nod to the Woods Ring designers, Margaret Williams Mead, 1922 and Dorothy Helm Geisel, 1923, the story of the ring is displayed on a plaque behind the side stone of the sculpture, which says, “I have promises”. Although they were ordinary Woods students, they made an everlasting impact on the tradition of the Woods Ring, according to Jess Bicknell Crawford ’19G, SMWC advancement officer. “What makes them stand out is the mark they left that so many of us proudly wear, and that is represented here in limestone, granite, mixed metals and stained glass. Dorothy designed the SMW monogram, and Margaret designed the oak leaf and acorn base that denotes a class year, and now also the master’s program for graduate student rings,” Crawford said.
The Ring Centennial Sculpture would not have been possible without the support of donors and sponsors whose generous support funded this commemorative sculpture and established the Mead-Geisel Ring Scholarship Fund. More than $100,000 was raised at the Ring Centennial dinner in Fall 2022. The full list of donors and sponsors is below:
Nancy Payonk, 1981
Mary Ann Kelly Hellmann, 1964 and Jerry Hellmann
Rita Mankus, MD, 1982 and Robert T. Novak
In Memory of Marilynn Sonderman
Anita Tiberi McMahon, 1961
Michael McMahon
Mary Kay Campbell Watson, 1969 and John Alan Watson
Union Health
Karen Dyer and Kirstin O’Rourke-Wilson, 2016
Follett Higher Education Group
Dottie King, Ph.D. and Wayne King, 2014G
Barbara Norton O’Brien, 1967 and Paul O’Brien
Catherine Mickey Saunders, 1998 and Jason Saunders
Cherly Thralls, 2015 and Daniel F. Thralls
The sculpture has a variety of details and features that are symbolic of SMWC and the state of Indiana. The Indiana limestone represents the historic buildings. Like the Woods Ring, six acorns are represented around the SMW insignia to symbolize Saint Mother Theodore Guerin and her five companion sisters who established the College. Accompanying the acorns, oak leaves can also be found as they represent knowledge gained at The Woods and the institution’s motto, “Virtue Cum Scientia.” The mixed metals represent the diversity of the students of SMWC.
On top of the sculpture rests a crown of a linden leaf flanked by two oak leaves. The linden leaf is included as a reference to the love and respect Saint Mother Theodore Guerin had for the linden tree. “The linden leaf, which is central to Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, whose legacy we are all a part of as we walk in her footsteps at these Woods, is flanked by two mighty oak leaves representative of the nearly two centuries that The Woods has been educating and empowering students to effect change,” Catherine Mickey Saunders ’98, associate vice president for advancement, explained. As the linden leaf symbolizes Saint Mother Theodore Guerin in the sculpture, it also represents the sacred heart and innocence, love and kindness. As a unique feature of the sculpture’s crown, light is an important element. “From sunrise to sunset, throughout the seasons, as the sun’s position changes, its effect on this space varies. Just as our students grow and change in their educational journey at The Woods,” Saunders said.
As a significant part of the tradition of the Woods Ring is the story behind the song that is paired with it. The class of 1962 borrowed “Terra’s Theme” from the 1939 classic, “Gone with the Wind,” and words from Robert Frosts’ poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” and crafted a song, as it was a tradition for the junior class to write and sing a song to the senior class after receiving their rings. The class of 1963 penned their own song for Ring Day in 1962. In 1963, the class of 1964 contacted their Big Sisters from 1962 and asked if they could sing their song because they loved it so much. The Ring Song has been sung at each Ring Ceremony for the last 60 years. In 1987, it was proclaimed that the Class of 1962 be given credit for its lyrics by then SMWC President Sister Barbara Doherty ’53 through a memo discovered just before the Ring Centennial in 2022. To honor the song and its meaning at The Woods, the “Ring Song” lyrics are engraved on the back of the center stone of the sculpture.
Lynn O’Linkski ’76, president of the alumni association board of directors, shared a prayer to bless the sculpture. Following the blessing, former and current members of the Alumni Association Board of Directors consecrated the sculpture with holy water. Students, faculty, staff and alumni also blessed the sculpture with holy water.
To end the celebration, students, faculty, staff and alumni gathered hand-in-hand surrounding the 1962 Ring Garden and Ring Centennial Sculpture and sang the “Ring Song.”