When Paige Spivey '14 of Murfreesboro, Tenn., moved into Veasey Hall on Aug. 17, 2010, she was continuing a tradition that began more than a century ago. Paige is the fourth generation of her family to enroll at Hendrix College.
Her great-grandmother, Florence Hamilton Matthews, who earned an A.B. degree in 1910, was the first. Mrs. Matthews' daughter, Mary Estelle, was a 1948 graduate and so was Mary's husband, John W. Spivey Jr.
Five Spivey children attended Hendrix. John W. Spivey III is a member of the Class of 1974, as is his wife Cathy McLendon Spivey. Thomas M. Spivey graduated in 1975, James R. Spivey in 1976, and Susan Spivey Freydl in 1979.
Paige's father, David W. Spivey, is a member of the Class of 1987 and her mother, Ronda Edmonson Spivey, graduated in 1989.
Four of Paige's cousins graduated from Hendrix: Mary Beth Spivey Tabor '00, Margaret Spivey Chicka '02, Matthew Spivey '05, and Clair Spivey '07.
Paige told us about these relatives when she applied for admission, but after doing our own research we discovered that Florence Hamilton Matthews' son, J. Thomas Matthews Jr., also attended Hendrix, graduating in 1940. In addition, we found that a niece and nephew of John Spivey Jr. attended Hendrix: Helen Spivey Baber Dunn '68 and Harold Baber '64. Two of Helen Dunn's cousins are also Hendrix alumnae: Patsy Hull '50 and Greer Grace '75; and Harold Barber's son, Jonathan Baber, graduated in 2001.
If we had more time to search, maybe we could even find a connection between Paige and one of the 76 other new Hendrix students with legacy ties to the College. Welcome, one and all, to your new Hendrix family!