Eula Proctor Greathouse

Eula Proctor Greathouse. Image Source: West Edgecombe High School. 1963.

Eula Proctor Greathouse served on the ECTC board for one term, from 1943–1947, during the last years of Dr. Leon R. Meadows’ (1884–1953) presidency. Along with the other women on the board at that time, Greathouse was a staunch supporter of Meadows, both concurring with the board’s vote upholding Meadows’ dismissal of six faculty identified as disloyal, and then later, even as evidence of financial mismanagement mounted, supporting a board resolution declaring Meadows exonerated of any wrongdoing. Regardless of the board’s decisions on those counts, Meadows was indicted, tried, convicted, and imprisoned for misappropriation of student funds. When Greathouse’s term expired in 1947, she was not reappointed to the board, nor were any of the other female trustees who supported Meadows.

A member of the Class of 1912, Greathouse is noteworthy on other counts. First, when appointed to the board in 1943, she became one of the first (and the earliest) alumnae appointed to the board in East Carolina’s history. The first alumna-trustee was Ruth Moore Johnson (1893–1972), who served from 1935–1948. But Johnson was a member of the Class of 1913, graduating a year after Greathouse. The second alum to serve on the board, appointed in 1941, was John Herbert Waldrop (1895-1966), who was reportedly an ECTTS student in 1910, making him the earliest East Carolina alum to serve as a trustee.

Then, even after her term expired in 1947, Greathouse became the first former board member to return to campus — almost 40 years after her first graduation in 1912 — and earn both a bachelor’s degree (’50) and a master’s degree (’52), demonstrating her commitment to East Carolina’s longstanding mission of teacher training. In the decade that followed, Greathouse contributed to the educational uplift of the region, devoting herself to expanding educational opportunities for physically and cognitively challenged yet often underserved students.

Shortly after graduating in 1912, Mrs. Greathouse — née Eula Proctor — taught school in Edgecombe County. However, with her marriage in 1915 to Frank Lee Greathouse (1892–1946), a successful certified public accountant, she assumed full-time responsibilities as a wife, mother, book club member, and devoted East Carolina alumna. A resident of the Nashville-Rocky Mount area, she was active in the Nash-Edgecombe Alumnae Association. And she often attended East Carolina alumnae events in Greenville and elsewhere in the state, becoming one of the most prominent and loyal alumnae of her day. However, with her husband’s passing in 1946 and with the expiration of her term as a trustee in 1947, she returned to ECTC and completed two degrees.

While at East Carolina in the early 1950s, Greathouse became involved in two relatively new dimensions of modern public education: speech therapy and special education. In 1951, along with Dorothy W. Perkins, speech therapist at East Carolina, Greathouse helped organize the East Carolina Chapter of the International Council for the Education of Exceptional Children and was elected to serve as its vice president. Greathouse also worked with Perkins to organize workshops on methodologies in speech therapy for use in public schools. In addition to teaching during the regular school year, she served as a speech therapist for children with learning disabilities at the “Crippled Children’s Camp” held annually in eastern N.C. during the 1950s, thus emerging as a regional pioneer in the establishment of greater educational opportunities for those with learning disabilities.

Sources

• “Alumnae News.” Teco Echo. December 15, 1943. P. 4. University Archives # UA50.05.02.276. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/37930
• “Alumnae Of E.C.T.C. Will Establish Fund: Association Plans Memorial to Late President of College; Flowers Placed on Grave.” News and Observer. May 31, 1936. P. 10.
• “Class Day Exercises program 1912.” University Archives # UA50.06.03.04. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/22256
• “Commencement of 1917.” Training School Quarterly. Vol. 4, no. 2. July, August, September 1917. Pp. 145, 172. University Archives # UA50.03.04.02. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/37016
• East Carolina Teachers College News. Vol. II, no. 4. December 08, 1924. P. 4. University Archives # UA50.05.01.15. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/22594
• “ECC Workshop Set for Atlantic Beach.” News and Observer. May 12, 1951. P. 11.
• “ECTC Teacher Heads Eastern Study Group.” News and Observer. February 22, 1951. P. 5.
• “‘Exceptional Children’ Get Attention.” News and Observer. July 4, 1952. P. 6.
• “First Alumnae Dinner.” University Archives # UA13.01.01.54. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/22138.
• “Handicaps To Be Talked.” News and Observer. October 30, 1952. P. 21.
• McClees, Estelle. “Alumni News.” Teco Echo. November 14, 1941. P. 4. University Archives # UA50.05.02.242. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/37896
• “Mrs. Frank L. Greathouse.” News and Observer. January 20, 1970. P. 5.
• “Program for Alumnae Day 1934.” June 02, 1934. University Archives # UA50.06.25.05. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/22608
• “Program of Commencement Day Exercises 1911.” University Archives # UA50.06.02.01. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/22251
• “Program for Summer School Commencement 1950.” August 18, 1950. University Archives # UA50.06.41.02. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/22426
• “Program for the Forty-Third Annual Commencement of East Carolina College.” May 19, 1952. University Archives # UA50.06.43.01. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/22431
• Richardson, William. “45 Crippled Children End Coastal Plains Camp Vacation.” News and Observer. August 2, 1953. P. 4.
• Richardson, William. “Crippled Children’s Camp Is Success.” News and Observer. August 7, 1955. P. 7.
• “The Alumnae.” Training School Quarterly. July, August, September 1916. Pp. 152, 153. University Archives # UA50.03.03.03. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/37013
• Toler, Mary M. “Crippled Kids Enjoy Camping On the Pamlico.” News and Observer. July 26, 1959. Sect. II, p. 14.

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