By Camille E. Boechler (LA *21)
From Right to Left: Lucille Godelfer’s portrait as Secretary-Treasurer of Newcomb French Circle from the 1924 issue of Jambalaya, the official yearbook for Tulane University and Newcomb College; Mary Rollins as a chemist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (image credit: NIST); May H. Lesser’s senior graduation portrait from the 1947 issue of Jambalaya
Lucille Godelfer (Class of 1924)
Lucille Amanda Godelfer (1903-2006) was born on February 2, 1903 to Estelle Genin and George Godelfer. Godelfer obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Newcomb College in 1924. She also attended Loyola University, Louisiana State University Medical School, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In her career as a medical technologist, Godelfer served on the Louisiana State Board of Health and as the Head of the Bureau of Laboratories.
The Lucille Godelfer papers (Collection NA-356) can be found in the Newcomb Archives and Vorhoff Collection Finding Aid here.
Mary Rollins graduated from Newcomb College with the Class of 1930. She was a chemist and was involved in Study Club, a gathering of women who studied together and met several times a year in Gulfport, Mississippi. Rollins worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) from 1929-1938, specializing in the identification of papers and fabrics and their conformance to industry standards. She spent the remainder of her career at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she became an international authority on using electron microscopy for textile research.
The Mary Rollins papers (Collection NA-075) can be found in the Newcomb Archives and Vorhoff Collection Finding Aid.
May Hyman Lesser (Class of 1947)
May H. Lesser graduated from Newcomb College with honors in drawing. As an artist, she had the rare experience of being on the inside of medical centers at University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California, and Tulane University, as many in her family were physicians. Lesser spent the last three decades of her life “immersed in the field of medicine and creating a body of artwork chronicling the study and practice of medicine” (Newcomb Archives Digital Repository). Through her work, Lesser wove together the human side of medical education with the clinical environment of medicine.
The May Hyman Lesser papers (Collection NA-096) can be found in the Newcomb Archives and Vorhoff Collection Finding Aid. An oral history of Lesser can be found in the Newcomb Archives Digital Repository (NADR).