Name/Title
Margaret Trahern PatchEntry/Object ID
2012.638Description
Mixed-Media collage about a woman from Tennessee named Margaret Trahern Patch
Margaret Trahern Patch
1899-1991
Margaret Trahern (whose brother's wife lent her name to the Trahern Gallery on campus) was born in Clarksville in 1899. She lived most of her life at Tip-Top, her family home off of Madison Street. Her life-long best friend was Mildred Smith Glen (granddaughter of Serepta Jordan) who lived at Oak Top nearby. The two girls were inseparable, spending the school year here and parts of their summers together in Anchorage, outside of Louisville, KY.
In 1917, when Southwestern Presbyterian University (then located on the present campus of APSU) first admitted women, Margaret Trahern was among the five women to enroll that year, along with her friend Mildred (their exploits are recorded in a diary Mildred kept). Both girls were a part of the Girls Basketball Team, established two years later. Margaret graduated in 1921, the first female graduate of what is now Rhodes College (which relocated to Memphis in 1925). The following year she received a Masters degree in History, as well as becoming a charter member of Chi Omega sorority.
After graduation, Margaret took a position as a chemist with two businesses belonging to her father, where she worked with the nicotine levels in snuff with nicotine sulfite in the production of a pesticide for orchard farmers. Her other job was to chauffeur her father to and from work.
After WWI ended, Margaret married William Green Patch. She continued to work as a chemist, while raising three children and gardening, and adopted a new passion: bridge playing.
"The life of Margaret Trahern Patch spanned two centuries. Margaret Patch, born December 1899, experienced first hand the horse and buggy, horseless carriage, two-door coupe, trains, planes and watching the landing of a man on the moon. She saw the inception of radio, typewriters, talking movies, television, the use of the Atomic Bomb and Nintendo.
Margaret Trahern was a free spirit. One of her favorite espousals was: 'He's only free to choose his path who cares not which way he goes.'
A quiet visionary and wit, Margaret encouraged her children and grandchildren in their personal pursuits of freedom and happiness. Found in her booklet of clipped cartoons is the proverb: 'The cat and the love you give away always come back to you.'"
- Rubye Patch, 1997Artwork Details
Medium
Mixed-Media, CollageCollection
APSU Permanent CollectionMade/Created
Artist
Susan Bryant & Billy RenklDate made
1997