By Rose Hamilton

As an 18-year-old Lasell freshman in 1942, Gloria Boyd Major-Brown '44 thought the new mattresses on the fourth floor of Woodland Hall were inferior to others in the residence. To protest, she lined up several mattresses and pushed them down the front staircase.

Major-Brown fully expected to be punished, yet merely received a stern talking-to from Carpenter’s housemother, fondly referred to as The Duchess. A few weeks later the self-described rebel was shocked to learn she had been appointed to the Executive Council of Lasell's College Government Association, the student-led campus organization charged with encouraging rule breakers to abide by Lasell’s guidelines.

The housemother saw to it that I was elected vice president,” Major-Brown recalls. “She taught me about responsibility and leadership. These are the things about Lasell that I am grateful for.”

In part because of the guidance she received 80 years ago, Major-Brown is a generous supporter of the University, making yearly gifts to the Annual Fund and other initiatives. She is also a member of the Heritage Society for including Lasell in her estate plans.

“The faculty and staff were so good to me when I was at Lasell,” she says of her support of Lasell and fondly recalling Dean Margaret Rand, Spanish professor Refugio Orozco, and physical education instructor Marion MacDonald. “I could have gone in a different direction. They were a real influence in my life.”

Now 98 years old and residing independently at a senior living complex in Santa Barbara, California, Major-Brown tackles life with the same determination and spunk she exhibited as a Lasell student. She joins friends for water aerobics three mornings a week and tracks her miles during her daily stationary bike rides. “It’s competitive,” she says. “Right now, there are two men in their 80s who are trying to get ahead of me.”

To round out her exercise regimen, she does a weekly Pilates session via FaceTime with her older daughter, Lorn, who lives in Austin, Texas. “My daughter pushes me in Pilates and I love it,” Major- Brown says. “Just because you are old, it doesn’t mean you have to go sit in a chair.”

Raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio, her family emphasized volunteering. While raising her family in New Jersey and Connecticut, she started church groups for children and volunteered at the local YMCA. She also helped launch a nonprofit that supports independent living for the elderly.

People say, ‘How do you do it?’ I say, ‘I’m lucky that I’ve always had a lot of energy, ” Major-Brown adds.