Notable international alumna: Eunice Purdy ’39

Eunice Purdy ’39 knew in an instant that she wanted to attend Smith College. Purdy once wrote,

“When I found a major in landscape architecture listed in the Smith College catalogue, I knew right away that this was IT—my two great loves, art and nature combined. The outline of my life plan was formulated at that very moment.”

In the early 1950s Eunice moved to Trail, British Columbia, and in the ’60s, Eunice became the first female member of the British Columbia Landscape Association.  In 2002 she became the first female life-long member of the British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects (fellow Smithie Cornelia Hahn Oberlander ’44 is also a member).

In an article for the British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects, Eunice said, “Have I seen progress in the status of women in the profession? Yes indeed I have…. Now women register equally with men in order to study Architecture and Landscape Architecture.”