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VCU dedicates building named after Halifax native
A Halifax woman will be the focus next Friday, December 7, 2007 when
Virginia Commonwealth University dedicates the Grace E. Harris Hall in
Richmond. Harris, one of six daughters (and one brother) of Elisha and
Elizabeth Edmondson of Halifax, worked with VCU for 32 years from 1967
until her retirement in 1999. She was a graduate of Halifax Training
School, the forerunner of Mary Bethune High School.
In 1982 she became the Dean of the School of Social Work, a position
she held until 1990 when she was named Vice Provost for Continuing
Studies and Public Service, a post she filled until 1992 when she moved
up to Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs where she served
until her retirement in 1999.
Grace, whose parents were both school teachers, graduated from Hampton
Institute after being turned down for entrance into RPI, now VCU.
She continued her education, getting her Masters degree in sociology
from Boston College. She then got a job at RPI and worked there while
getting her doctorate from the University of Virginia.
Honoring Harris for her "32 exemplary years of service" the new
facility will be dedicated at 4:30 p.m. next Friday.
One of her sisters, Lola Sadler who lives with her husband, Johnnie,
near Halifax, won't be able to attend the dedication. "We've just got
too much going on — all at the same time," Sadler said this week. When
asked what on earth could keep her away from the Harris Hall
dedication, Sadler explained that she, her husband and their youngest
daughter, Blythe Scott, and her three children are all headed to the
launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis at Cape Canaveral, Florida on
Thursday, December 6. The lift-off is scheduled for 4:27 p.m. as the
astronauts aboard head off to the International Space Station.
Among the crew members will be Johnnie's cousin, Mission Specialist I
Leland Melvin, formerly of Lynchburg. It will be the first space
mission for the 44 year old Melvin, who is a graduate of the University
of Richmond.
Family members have been invited to tour the space program facility and
to enjoy a continental breakfast with the astronauts. "It was just
something we couldn't turn down," Sadler said with a big smile.