Mary White Phifer '84

Thanks to her upbringing, Mary White Phifer grew up with a desire to attend college just as her three older siblings did. Born in Oklahoma and making her way to Kentucky as a young teenager, Mary was guided by her father, who was an educator, and her mother, who attended the Lincoln Institute during the early 1940s.

During high school Mary discovered that she had a desire to help others when she took an elective class and learned basic nursing skills. "I was excited to discover that the Nursing program at Berea College was well respected," said Mary. In addition to this program, Mary was drawn to Berea because "the labor program would afford me the opportunity to attend college despite my personal meager economic resources."

During her first year attending Berea, Mary met her future husband, Fred E. Phifer '83. The two were married in Danforth Chapel on campus at the end of Mary's senior year. After many years of marriage, Fred passed away in 2010, and Mary started the Fred. E. Phifer Endowed Scholarship in his honor. "We often spoke about wanting to give back to Berea College in appreciation for what we had received," she explained.

She notes that the academic and labor programs shaped her life, allowing her to have a fruitful and meaningful career. "The memories that were made will last me for a lifetime," said Mary. "When I think of those memories, it is my desire for the current and future students to also have the same opportunities that I had."

Mary stays close to her alma mater because of the history of the College, its Great Commitments and its scriptural foundation, "God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth."

During the College's historic 100 in 100 bequest initiative, Mary notified the College that she has included Berea in her will. I want to leave a legacy for my family to show them the importance of giving back," said Mary. "I think that every person should have the ability to dream and the opportunity to realize those dreams."

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Lincoln Institute was an all-Black boarding school that was created by the trustees of Berea College after the Kentucky House of Representatives passed the Day Law in 1904, which mandated racial segregation in educational intitutions in Kentucky. Matching a challenge grant of $200,000 from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, the College’s Board of Trustees purchased over 400 acres of land in Shelby County, Kentucky, to build a college for African-American students disenfranchised by the Day Law. By the end of 1912, the Lincoln Institute, named for President Abraham Lincoln, began to educate its first students. Learn more at berea.edu/about/1855-to-today/.