Latin School of Chicago

Miss Vickery. The element of beauty was emphasized in the construction and furnishings of the building, and had it been her own home, Miss Vickery could not have given it more exquisite care." She brought in antiques and flower boxes and, for a short time, there were even canaries. Even late in life, Miss Vickery was an energetic leader who "in her 70s climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, never pausing, and showing no appearance of exertion." She finally retired in 1929. On her retirement she donated $5,000 toward the girls school's first library. (When the schools merged in 1953, the Mabel Slade Vickery Library moved to the 1531 N. Dearborn building, where it resides today.) That June the Alumnae Association of the girls school held a reception honoring Miss Vickery at the Fortnightly, a prominent Chicago women's club where the portrait by Frank Salisbury was unveiled. Former students, faculty and parents lined up for half a block from the entrance of the Fortnightly to pay their respects to the much-loved educator. A sense of the meaning of Miss Vickery's long career was given in the 1929 Rostra, the girls school yearbook. "If to have created an educational institution in answer to a definite need, to have maintained it at a high standard and the sacrifice of personal interest, and to have established it on a sure foundation for the future is the mark of a rich life, then Miss Vickery's has been rich beyond the power of this short history to tell." Miss Vickery, who never married, returned to Natick, MA to share a house with her sister after her retirement. Her last visit to Chicago Latin School was in 1937 for the 30th commencement of the girls school. During the years before her death, Miss Vickery corresponded regularly with Josephine Wilkins and her mother. She continued to be interested in goings on at Chicago Latin School, but poor health prevented her from ever traveling to Chicago again. Miss Vickery died in Natick on August 22, 1944 at the age of 89. n Mr. Whiting, who taught Latin and Greek, and made his charges like it, will always retain a warm niche in the hearts of the alumni over whom he worked so diligently. There is no school better than its faculty and that is why any Chicago Latin School boy, no matter how long after he graduates, continues to be a Latin School boy for the school stamp stays with him, to his credit, until he dies." In addition to their commitment from the beginning to hire and retain a gifted faculty, Miss Vickery and Mr. Bates also had a clear mission for their school as the Chicago Latin School catalogue for the 1899-1900 school year states: "The object of the school is the careful and conscientious education of its pupils in the broadest sense of the word education. The aims constantly in view are, besides thorough preparation for leading colleges and universities, to assist the pupil in forming definite and independent habits of thought, and to develop broad and unselfish characters." The school day started at 8:45 a.m. and ended at 3 p.m. Requirements in the upper school included foreign and classical The first lower school pets? Miss Vickery kept canaries at the school. A report card. LATI N SCHOOL OF CHI CA GO 33

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