‘HIGH IDEALS AND RIGHT AIMS’:


Life’s great purpose, David Bancroft Johnson believed, could be encapsulated with a question: “How much can I give?”


Winthrop University’s founding president urged students to spend their lives immersed “in loving deeds,” and he lived by example. For more than 40 years, Johnson devoted himself wholeheartedly to serving the university he loved and to advancing education in South Carolina.


On May 5, Winthrop celebrated Johnson’s legacy and served as host for his long-awaited induction into the South Carolina Hall of Fame during a special ceremony and reception in McBryde Hall. The ceremony honored Johnson as well as contemporary inductee Stanley Donen, a film director, choreographer and South Carolina native. Carla Donen Davis, Donen’s sister, and Donen Davis, his nephew, attended the ceremony to


WINTHROP FOUNDER INDUCTED INTO SOUTH CAROLINA HALL OF FAME talk about the artist’s life and receive the award from S.C. Hall of Fame Chairman Rodger Stroup.


Provost and Executive Vice President Debra Boyd noted that the ceremony’s location — in McBryde, surrounded by historical documents, photographs and artifacts from Johnson’s life — offered a fitting tribute to Winthrop’s founder, an influential educator and advocate who made the university his home.


“To have the opportunity to host this event, to host the board of trustees of the hall and to be able to include so many of our family — our students, faculty, administration, alumni and friends — is the ultimate honor for us,” said Boyd, who accepted the plaque from Stroup as well as a resolution from the South Carolina Legislature presented by S.C. Senator Wes Climer.


Organist Shirley Fishburne ’72, ’73 and Winthrop alumnae in attendance provided a musical tribute to Johnson — a rendition of “Fairest Flower of the Southland,” adopted officially as the university’s first alma mater in 1936.


In addition, Winthrop alumnae played instrumental roles in securing Johnson’s induction into the Hall of Fame. Susan Hoffer McMillan ’71 of Conway and the late Libba Singleton submitted the initial nomination in 1984. McMillan and retired Winthrop professor Louise Pettus ’46 resubmitted the nomination in 2010. Gina Price White ’83, director of Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections, also pushed for Johnson’s inclusion in the Hall of Fame year after year.


White, who provided historical background on Johnson’s life and career at the May 5 ceremony, described Winthrop’s founder as “one of South Carolina’s great educators.”


“Johnson served as Winthrop’s president from 1886 until his death in 1928, and he never wavered in his belief in the importance of women being the key to educate the state’s citizens,” said White.


White noted that Johnson’s dedication to Winthrop helped the institution grow into one of the premier women’s colleges in the region, expanding its mission to become a comprehensive institution offering degrees in a variety of disciplines. Although the university has changed dramatically since its humble 1886 beginnings, Johnson’s legacy of scholarship and service remains a vital part of Winthrop’s mission.


ROAD TO WINTHROP


David Bancroft Johnson seemed destined to be an educator. In fact, he was born on a college campus in 1856: in the dormitory of La Grange Female College in La Grange, Tennessee, where his father was founder and president. A strong student, Johnson went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees at East Tennessee University (now the University of Tennessee). He worked briefly in Tennessee before moving to South Carolina to work as a school principal in Abbeville, followed by an appointment to superintendent of the Columbia City Schools. There he faced the harsh reality of chronic teacher shortages in


Left to right: Susan Hoffer McMillan ’71 and Gina Price White '83, alumnae who advocated for D.B. Johnson’s induction, pose with Provost and Executive Vice President Debra Boyd (holding plaque) and S.C. Hall of Fame Chairman Rodger Stroup after the May 5 ceremony.


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