May 23, 1955
To Members of the Faculty:
News has come from Ashland, Virginia, of the death of Miss Jessie L. Ferguson. Miss Ferguson was a member of the college library staff from 1923 to 1946, during the later years as reference librarian. During this period of twenty-three years, she served faithfully and efficiently. She always had a kindly interest in the students who worked under her supervision and she will be long remembered for her gracious manner and keen sense of humor.
At one time she served as president of the College Club, now known as the Faculty Women's Club, and she was a loyal and devoted member of the local Presbyterian Church. After going to Virginia she was active in church and community activities to the time when she was stricken with the illness which ended in her death on Friday, May 20, 1955.
Sincerely, J. W. Maucker, President.
Jessie L. Ferguson
(Reprint from the Herald-Progress, May 26, 1955)
Funeral services for Miss Jessie L. Ferguson of Ashland, Virginia, were held Monday afternoon at 4, at the Ashland Presbyterian Church, with the Rev. George H. Orser, pastor of Duncan Memorial Methodist Church, officiating. She passed away Saturday at a Richmond nursing home, after an illness of four months.
Miss Ferguson came to Ashland in 1946 from Cedar Falls, Iowa, where she had been on the library staff of Iowa State Teachers College for twenty-three years. Miss Ferguson, a graduate of James Millikin University, had been a teacher in the public schools in Illinois, Kansas, and Kentucky, and had served as librarian at Ferry Hall, Lake Forest, Illinois, and at the Art Institute in Chicago. After making her home in Ashland with her nephew, the late Paul Ferguson Watkins and Mrs. Watkins, she became an active member of the Ashland Presbyterian Church and teacher of the Women's Bible class until her illness.
She is survived by five nieces: Mrs. K. A. Rotharmel, New Orleans, Louisiana; Mrs. Russell Rudolph, Grayville, Illinois.; Mrs. Mord Bogie, New York City; Mrs. Shirley Strope, Long Beach, California; and Mrs. James Trotter, Washington, D. C. Also by two nephews, George Bowman, Grayville, Illinois, and Major Edwin Bowman, Washington, D. C.