Like the intertwining oak branches forming an archway over Magill Walk, the latticework of multigenerational families at Swarthmore fans out from a solid trunk of family and College history.
These interwoven offshoots of relatives within the larger College family remain rooted in past memories while stimulating further growth at Swarthmore.
According to Jim Bock ’90, dean of admissions and financial aid, “legacies are typically admitted at a slightly higher rate than other students in the applicant pool, and they also tend to be a bit stronger academically.” The “strongest preference" is given to applicants with parents or siblings who are alumni, he says. Although “every consideration is given to legacies, it doesn’t necessarily make or break a decision," which is based on many student skills and interests.
As one current student from a multigenerational family says, “I rarely run into people who know other members of my family, and I prefer to be known for who I am, not just who I’m related to."
But Bock’s experience is that students with “legacy ties have a good sense of Swarthmore that is transferred to the student and a common bond of intellectual passion and a love of learning."
Although changing times have shaped individual experiences for each generation, the insights of the following three Swarthmore families—representative of the 117 with three or more generations—open windows on the essence of Swarthmore that endures, along with the age-old oaks first planted in 1881.

Jared Thompson ’05, the fourth consecutive generation on his father’s side to attend Swarthmore, mined his family’s rich history during the winter holidays. Before traveling from his West Hartford, Conn., home to visit grandmother Jean Maguire Thompson Seely ’40 and aunt Marjorie Thompson Mogabgab ’74 in Nashville, Tenn., Jared described maternal grandparents Edmund ’39 and Adalyn Purdy Jones ’40 as “loyal members of the Swarthmore College community." He also mentioned cousin Guian McKee ’92 and carried thoughts of now-deceased great-grandmother Marjorie Gideon Maguire ’14, whose spirit still guides his family’s story.

When Jared asked grandmother Jean why she attended, she said: “Well, Mother had a whale of a good time at Swarthmore, and that certainly influenced it. I also knew it was intellectually a top college."

In turn, Marjorie was similarly influenced by her grandmother’s and mother’s memories. “My grandmother told wonderful stories about her life at Swarthmore that have been part of family lore for several generations," she said. “They were mostly about boyfriends and clever circumventions of Parrish house mothers."

Also encouraged by Jean’s experience, shaped as a swim team and Outing Club member, Marjorie’s college choice was complicated by having spent grades 4 to 12 in Swarthmore. “I wanted to attend college somewhere other than my hometown, to ‘expand my horizons’ and establish independence from home. However, I was well aware that Swarthmore was the cream of the five excellent colleges I had applied to; when a fine scholarship offer was made, I had no further hesitation," she said.

Family stories also convinced Jared about the benefits of choosing a small liberal arts college. “I was more influenced by my own experiences visiting Swarthmore than by the stories I have heard from relatives," he said. “However, hearing how much they all enjoyed being at Swarthmore was certainly another factor that made the College appealing."

Jean told her grandson, “Mother knew my friends, and they all really liked her. They even had a pet name for her," Chappie, created after she chaperoned a shore trip. “I knew some of Marjorie’s friends," she added. “There is a common bond that comes from knowing the friends of different generations."

For Marjorie, who traveled with her mother on a seven-month round-the-world trip after graduation and worked with artist Georgia O’Keeffe for four months in New Mexico before attending McCormick Theological Seminary, this family interconnection is beneficial: “It strengthens our common bond, and it’s interesting to compare notes on our experiences. It fosters a sense of loyalty to the College and its well-being. Now, with Jared beginning his college experience, it will enter our conversations more frequently."

A National Merit Scholar and singer in a choral group that has toured Europe, Jared is considering a biology major or possibly a minor or double major in Spanish. “It’s been especially fun to try branching out," he said.

“I was a bit concerned before I arrived about not knowing anyone, but it has been really fun to make new friends and get involved with things at the College," Jared said. “Living with other students in the dorm is a much more social experience than life at home was, and it’s been great getting to know new and interesting people."

Jared has been singing in the College chorus and with Sixteen Feet, the all-male a cappella group. “Feet has been one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever done," he said. “My aunt was very involved in singing at College concerts, which I am doing now."

According to Marjorie, “The common bond of Swarthmore is significant in both our immediate and extended family. The College is certainly a common point of reference for our families," she said. “In our case, the bond to Swarthmore includes the experience of ‘village life’ as well. The senior Joneses still live in Swarthmore, and both my mother and I still have friends who live there. My husband and I were married in the Swarthmore Presbyterian Church.

“Memories abound for all of us, yet our memories of both village and College differ depending on our specific experiences," she added. “We can still surprise each other with untold stories, and it is fun to watch old connections come gradually to light for the new generation."

Jared said that “Sometimes talking about my experiences will inspire others to tell stories about similar or related things. The common connection to Swarthmore does lead to some interesting conversations, most often about the way things have or haven’t changed."

For example, his grandparents remember “more formal, family-style meals” and the “linen and cleaning service for men, although not for women," Jared said. “I was a bit surprised by that, but it seems like the College has changed as society has changed over the years. Still, some things—especially the types of people at Swarthmore and the general experience of being here—seem to be more or less the same."

With similar impressions, Marjorie echoed her nephew’s observations: “Swarthmore has certainly changed over the years, as most colleges have. It has grown a great deal since my grandmother’s time, both in size of student body and in physical plant," she said. “Its requirements and regulations have changed—for example, since the time that ‘three feet on the floor’ applied to a man and woman in the same room! What has changed little are Swarthmore’s basic values: commitment to excellence in academics, top-flight faculty, low faculty-to-student ratios, balance in extracurricular activities, needs-blind admissions policy, the unique Honors program, and commitment to essential values of the Quaker tradition," said Marjorie, a Presbyterian minister and director of the Pathways Center for Spiritual Leadership for Upper Room Ministries near Nashville. She has been particularly heartened by the College’s increasing support of campus religious advisers from various faiths since the 1970s.

Jean also marveled at changes on campus since she was a student. “Martin was the new building when I was there, housing biology, zoology, and psychology. Our women’s gym was where the library is now, and the dining facility was where the Admissions Office is. Wharton was there, and Worth was there—I lived there—but there are new dorms over on what we knew as the men’s side of campus [Dana and Hallowell].

“We had separate dorms for men and women. We had to sign out in the evening and certainly if we were going anywhere overnight," she added. “We had fresh whole milk and cookies or crackers delivered every night at 10 to our dorms. Fraternity boys would come to sing under our windows."

Jean has also previously noted her concern about the increasing costs at the College through the generations. “When Mother attended Swarthmore, it cost $400 a year; when I was here, it cost $1,000 a year; for Marjorie, $3,000-plus a year; and now Jared, $34,000-plus."

But she also recognized the ways that her Swarthmore education later supported her family—particularly after they returned from living in Thailand, Marjorie’s birthplace. “When I really needed a job, after arriving in Swarthmore with three kids, I really think that being a Swarthmore graduate helped me get the job I managed to get," she said.

Remembering this pivotal time after her father’s death, Marjorie said: “His death occasioned our move to Swarthmore from overseas, where he had been a missionary in Thailand: “His loss was a terrible trauma that drew us even closer together. My mother poured her life into her children, even as she labored to make herself fit for a job in guidance counseling and later as a school psychologist.

“As children, we knew we were deeply loved," she continued. “We learned the meaning of sacrifice and simplicity early on. In my view, faith was essential to our survival. These are enduring values that have permeated our marriages and family life ever since. We all know the value of human life and love."

Descending from five generations of Swarthmoreans, Sarah Fritsch ’04 thinks that Swarthmore keeps her close to the family’s Quaker roots. “I do feel that walking the same paths as my family before me has made me feel a stronger connection," she says.

These family ties trace back to 1868, when Sarah’s great-great-great aunt Lydia Hart Yardley invested in Swarthmore College by purchasing one share of stock in November of that year and a second share several months later in 1869. In the following years, members of the family became students at the College. The first was apparently a great-great-great uncle of Sarah’s: Seymour Yardley Cadwallader, who attended the College in 1890 but died from tuberculosis as a student. He was followed by his niece and Sarah’s deceased great-grandmother Elizabeth Cadwallader Wood ’11, whose daughter is Sarah Wood Fell ’49 and son John H. Wood Jr. ’37.

Other relatives include Elizabeth’s deceased brother J. Augustus Cadwallader, Class of 1913. His son is T. Sidney Cadwal-lader ’36, who is class co-secretary with wife Carolyn Keyes Cadwallader ’36.

Further lengthening the family line, three of John H. Wood’s children are also Swarthmore graduates: John C. Wood ’67; Roger Wood ’69; and Elizabeth Wood Fritsch ’73, Sarah’s mother. Susan Yardley Wood (Tufts University ’79) was an exchange student at Swarthmore in her junior year.

Supporting their Quaker roots, Sarah’s grandfather, an attorney and partner at Wood and Floge in Langhorne, Pa., is very active in various Quarterly and Yearly Meeting activities. Her mother is an attorney and co-director of Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania. Her uncle Roger, an attorney at Dilworth Paxson LLP specializing in business and banking law, also does committee work for the Philadel-phia Yearly Meeting.

Sarah admits that her relatives’ “pleasant experiences at Swarthmore" influenced her to apply. “However, its academic reputation was probably the biggest factor and the lo-cation as well—not too far from my home," she says.

Planning to pursue a career in diplomacy and international relations, specifically involving French-speaking nations, Sarah also wants to explore musical production and composition when she graduates. This musical interest is shared by her mother, who sang in College concerts with Marjorie Thompson ’74 (see the first family in this story).

Roger, Sarah’s uncle, was particularly drawn to Swarthmore because of the way it supports individual differences. “I had been on campus many times as a child and felt very comfortable with the atmosphere there. As a result of conversations within the family, I believed that Swarthmore had many of the same values that were important in our family, including a social awareness and tolerance for individual differences, and I felt that it would be a good fit for me," Roger says.

John C. Wood, Roger’s older brother and senior consumer protection attorney at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C., was an economics major—following the same path as his father, which was later continued by his brother. The author of articles that have been published in the Federal Reserve Bulletin and ABA Bank Compliance, he has also cultivated leisure interests such as skiing, sailing, and tennis.

Sharing some of these interests, Roger was a resident assistant on campus who drove 350 miles to Vermont, during the winter break in 1967, with Dean Robert Barr ’56 and two other proctors to discuss student life and to ski. As a student, he also was a member of Student Council and of Delta Upsilon. Today, Roger believes that the College should continue to encourage the development of leadership abilities in students.

“My general impression is that Swarthmore has remained the same with respect to its core liberal, social, and political values," Roger says. “But that in recent years, it may have changed its educational mission by placing greater emphasis than ever before on scholarship and academic achievement and possibly placing less importance on the education of the whole person, including the development of leadership skills. Although this change has earned Swarthmore a preeminent national reputation as an elite academic institution, I think it represents a departure from the college that earlier generations knew."

Sarah is able to share some of this knowledge about the past, gleaned from family stories, with current classmates. “I can provide a historical perspective for students sometimes, when they have a question about why certain college policies are the way they are now," she says.

Sarah’s impression is that “Swarthmore always comes up at family gatherings on my mother’s side," she says. “Among my relatives who are alumni, it has created a sense that I am experiencing things that they also have, which is comforting."

Another advantage of this commonality is that “when I mention events or places at Swarthmore, people understand me. I think it’s nice for my relatives to be able to check up on how Swarthmore is functioning since they left and the changes that have occurred," Sarah says.

Her grandfather hopes that “Swarthmore will always encourage its students to be active in community service either directly or indirectly," which was his own personal dream. Like others from his generation, he has also vehemently objected to the “sky-rocketing costs" of higher education.

Traveling from his Langhorne, Pa., home in January, Sarah’s grandfather visited with some of these classmates at the Highland Park Club in Florida. The club, started around 1925 by a group of alumni, offers snowbirds a haven during the winter months for playing golf, bridge, and croquet together.

“I don’t think Swarthmore has changed very much because my mother, grandfather, and uncles seem to recognize most of the things I talk about in reference to school," says Sarah, whose work at the College is sometimes compared by family members with her relatives’ performance. “I do, however, think the choices that we have made are very different—each of us has gotten a completely different experience from the same place."

In another curving Swarth-more branch, Ruth Feely Merrill ’38 passed her love of the College on to three of eight children: Suzanne ’63, who married David Maybee ’62; Barbara ’69; and Chip ’71. “I have always loved going to Swarthmore and have included my family in these visits," Ruth says.

Suzi, director of communications at Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Md., recalls: “I probably made my first trip to Swarthmore when I was 6 or 7 years old. My parents had just built their home under the G.I. Bill and were picking out plantings. We spent several hours in the lilac grove near the Friends Meetinghouse, finding just the right color and scent for the lilacs we would plant at our new home. In subsequent years, my mom seldom missed a reunion or a Somerville Day...;. Swarthmore became equivalent with college."

Suzi’s college years shaped her own priorities. “My values and attitudes were chosen because they had meaning for me and the adult I was becoming," she says. “In some cases, family values were reinforced; however, by sending me to Swarthmore, my parents encouraged me to develop my own."

The friendships formed on campus are still the most important ones for Suzi and husband Dave, a clinical reviewer at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “My husband’s college roommates are our closest friends—‘uncles’ and ‘aunts’ to our children; my Robinson housemates still gather to share important days; lacrosse and badminton coach Pete Hess welcomed me back to campus on my first day as a Swarthmore parent," Suzi says. “It was the manner in which people on campus interacted with each other that had the greatest impact on me as a person."

The College’s academic and athletic program also attracted four of Suzi and Dave’s five children: Beth ’88, David Jr. ’89, Lynne ’91, and Jill ’96. Interlacing Swarthmore families again in the third generation, Beth married David Allgeier ’86 at Swarthmore’s United Methodist Church; they had daughter Elizabeth in 1999 and son Matthew in 2001. Extending this horizontal expansion, Lynne married Leonard Nathan ’92; daughters Alyssa and Danielle were born close to their cousins’ births.

“Each of our children was an individual—and their own person. I knew from the day they expressed interest in Swarthmore that they would find their own way—their own values and friendships—at the College. Their father and I needed to stand back," Suzi says. “So we waited for invitations to visit, and in all four cases, we were invited and welcomed whenever we came. It would have been wrong for us to expect our memories and experiences to be the same as theirs—but in the end, they have proved to be quite similar."

David Jr., who grew up surrounded by Swarthmore paraphernalia, thinks his family’s priorities of “autonomy, frugality, pursuit of intellectual interest, and belief in the positive qualities of diversity of opinion" were reinforced by the College. But his generation did not implicitly believe in “the wisdom of our elders and leaders" as did his parents and grandparents’ classmates.

Grandmother Ruth has “witnessed the growth of the children as they mark their trails in each of their separate ways." Changes she notes over the years include Swarthmore’s larger student enrollment, exchange programs, and new buildings. But Ruth still thinks “The essence of the College has remained the same."

Living on a 200-year-old farm in Stanton, N.J., for 30 years—where the family often gathered for reunions—Ruth values “the wonderful opportunities offered the Garnet Sages" at the College. Some of these include Alumni Weekend reunions, during which granddaughter Lynne has driven golf carts. She also relishes memories of 1988, the year of her 50th reunion and Suzi’s 25th—when Beth graduated from Swarthmore.

Swarthmore’s Education professors influenced Lang Scholar Beth, who taught middle school for seven years. “They were wonderful mentors and models under whom to develop a philosophy of education," she says. Husband Dave, who worked in Swarthmore’s Alumni Office for five years, is now a veterinarian. He strongly opposed the College’s decision to eliminate football, voicing his anger in a letter to the Board. Despite his disappointment, he also says that “classmates, teammates, professors, coaches, and colleagues at Swarthmore had a huge effect on who I am and how I conduct myself professionally and personally. Save my family and my church, Swarthmore probably shaped me more than anything else in my life."

A certified athletic trainer now working at the College, Lynne played soccer for four years as a student. Husband Len, an officer at MBNA America in Wilmington, Del., describes soccer on campus as “the nonacademic activity that meant the most" to him.

“Once you are accepted to Swarthmore, the real work begins," Lynne says, relating glowing high school memories. “Then I came to Swarthmore, where I was surrounded by the brightest from all over the world. If I hadn’t had faith in my own personal worth to carry me through, I could have been entirely eclipsed here."

Prepared for bumps, Lynne learned to cope with the challenges. “Having it so tough is part of what makes the Swarthmore experience such a worthwhile one," she says. “I think you could ask any member of my family if they would make the academics less challenging, and we would say no. We weren’t any of us looking for easy. Easy doesn’t teach you about your own potential," she adds.

“The values and priorities that I learned at home were reinforced at Swarthmore: to be myself, to respect my peers, to take re-sponsibility for my words and actions, to play hard and work harder, and to value my friendships with others," she says.

The same qualities have carried into her work life at the College, although disillusionment and questions have shadowed her love of Swarthmore since the athletics decision. “When did it become so important to meet the standards set forth by others instead of walking our own path?" she asks. Searching for renewed respect, Lynne hopes the administration will place students first by “giving them every opportunity to achieve their highest potential academically, artistically, and athletically."

The campus first enchanted sister Jill after her family returned from Hawaii, where they lived from 1976 to 1983. The summer they returned to the mainland, Jill’s grandmother took her on a campus visit, when she discovered the amphitheater. “I left Swarthmore that day feeling like I had left my home," she says.

Later College visits sustained this impression. “What amazes me most about Swarthmore is that every relative ...; had a different and unique experience. My siblings all attended the College at the same time and hardly saw each other unless they were trying to," she says. “We all found different subjects and activities that interested us, and yet we can talk about Swarthmore and remember very similar experiences." Now in her fourth year at Temple University Medical School, Jill played lacrosse at the College like her mother and soccer like her sister. Despite changes in Swarthmore’s “very dynamic community, where ideas are constantly debated by intelligent people," Jill thinks that the College continues to draw students “with a passion for learning, a balanced approach to life, and a unique sense of self."

She adds: “I find all my siblings to be very unique, intelligent people; I think the same qualities that led us to all have such different interests at Swarthmore are what continue to make us interesting to each other. Whenever we have a discussion over a topic, we each have our own slant on the issue, and we are all capable of disagreeing all night long if the mood strikes us."

Reflecting on her own experience with classmates and College life today, Suzi says: “It was the fellow students who were the essence of the College for me. There was a mutual respect—for ideas, talents, opinions, diversity—among the people I knew at Swarthmore. We were all individuals. It was OK not to conform, to think independently, and to explore new directions. I believe that this is still true today,"

Suzi, who has served as an extern sponsor as has husband Dave, says: “But Swarthmore, like society, has its own particular growing pains and its own challenges; these show themselves in the controversies that swirl through the campus from time to time. If the essence of Swarthmore remains as true today as it was in the 1960s, then it is the process—the listening, the discussion, and the resolution of these issues—that will ultimately endure.... Sometimes the controversies overwhelm the basic mutual respect on campus; we seem to be going through just such a time now. But I expect that, in the end, mutual respect will come through."

Son David, now at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, agrees: “Many friends are very disappointed that a traditional sport that they held dear flew the coop one night.... But graduates of Swarthmore are purists and traditionalists, and they hold certain common values that I think are positive and constant—the most significant is the validity of their voice." Despite any reservations, he would still encourage the next generation to attend Swarthmore, valuing the “writing and reasoning skills" he developed as a student.

Pondering her family’s continuing legacy at Swarthmore, his grandmother says, “I certainly hope that they all will follow their hearts and go somewhere that they can be as happy and fulfilled as we have all been who attended Swarthmore." Ruth adds, “The uniqueness of Swarthmore and its willingness to change has been experienced by each in their own way."

But the family’s still-mending wound gives Suzi pause. “Certainly, the recent ‘flap’ over athletics and the impression that somehow athletes are undervalued as contributing members of the student body or that they are less qualified academically certainly leaves a ‘bad taste’ for our family, where each member was involved in athletics to some degree," she says. “Being an alum legacy sometimes carried similar implications."

Ultimately returning to the love of Swarthmore that was instilled in her childhood, Suzi says, “My hope is that this will be resolved in a positive way so that at some time in the next generation, one of my grandchildren might find that Swarthmore is just the right place to grow into adulthood and to develop his or her particular potential."