Colorado College Bulletin

The Bryson Family

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Karrie Williams
Bulletin Editor
14 E. Cache la Poudre St.
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
(719) 389-6466
kwilliams@ColoradoCollege.edu

By LANI CARROLL HINKLE '83

More than 20 relatives of Robert W. Rasor, M.D. '35 have attended, graduated from, or taught at CC. Remarkably, someone from his family has been on campus all but two decades of the past century. And a grand-nephew graduates in 2000, carrying the CC connection into the new century.

Rasor's grandfather, W.A.A. Bryson, was a businessman in the lumber industry. He died in Silverton in 1906, a young man in poor financial status, leaving a wife and five children in Pueblo. Despite the odds, two of those children made their way to CC and graduated -- Florence Bryson Behm '16 and Arthur Earl Bryson '11 -- apparently passing on an attraction to CC that has touched three subsequent generations. Rasor's family tree includes several CC notables:

Arthur Earl Bryson '11 was a founding member of Phi Gamma Delta's CC chapter as a student, served as a trustee (1948-49), and later organized the 50-Year Club on campus.

An investment banker who served as mayor of Winnetka, Ill. for several terms, Bryson was also a renowned civic leader in Colorado Springs. He founded The Springs Area Beautiful Association and was heavily involved in the Senior League, the Landmarks Council, and the Saturday Knights hiking club.

Dorothy Printup Hulbert Wing Bryson, who received her bachelor's degree at Oberlin College and her master's degree from Radcliffe, was a special instructor of classic languages at CC during the early 1920s. Her influence at CC, however, spanned the century. "She was an icon at CC," comments Rasor. She served as head resident of a dormitory, on staff of the dean of women, executive secretary for the summer session, and president of the Woman's Educational Society. She was voted an honorary life member of WES in 1977, and awarded a doctor of humane letters at CC in 1989. She worked with her first husband, Archer B. Hulbert, on his Overland to the Pacific history series, completing it after his death.

Archer Butler Hulbert served as chairman of the history department from 1920 until his death in 1933, and the Hulbert Center for Southwest Studies is named for him. He wrote more than 100 books and monographs, including his ambitious Overland to the Pacific series. He was made a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and held lectureships at Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, Western Reserve and Wisconsin universities, and Pomona College.

Nancy Ann Bryson Schlosser '4 was an English literature major at CC, a member of Kappa Alpha Theta, and the homecoming queen in 1946. Her post-grad involvement has included two terms on the board of trustees, generous financial support, service on a host of committees and alumni activities, and establishment of the Nancy Bryson Schlosser and C. William Schlosser Professorship in the Arts.

Rasor, a biology major and a member of Phi Gamma Delta, graduated in the late years of the Depression. He found a job at the State Psychiatric Hospital in Pueblo which led him to medical school and then into a distinguished career in psychiatry with the U.S. Public Health Service and the National Institute for Mental Health. He retired in Colorado Springs in 1970. His older brother, Frank Whitney Rasor -- "the brainy one in my family" -- attended CC on a full scholarship, graduating magna cum laude. He had a successful career as a division head with the U.S. Forest Service (CC taught forestry at that time).

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