True To Form
“Convincing my father to support my desire for a college education at Houghton was quite a job,” says Claire (Ejov ’51) Reed. “At that time he felt that women should be teachers or secretaries. I didn’t have a career in mind and it was expected that most of us would ‘just get married.’”
Born in 1930 during the Depression to Russian immigrant parents in Englewood, N.J., Claire recalls what it was like preparing financially for her education in a time when people didn’t take out student loans. She made her own clothes, babysat, became an au pair for a New York surgeon’s three children in the Poconos and took on miscellaneous part-time jobs.
Claire remembers her early days at Houghton: reading from original texts, writing an essay a day for six consecutive days for Professor Hazlett, learning to love history from Frieda Gillette (after hating it in high school), playing on the basketball and field hockey teams, having meals in professors’ homes and being supported by fellow students of faith. She graduated magna cum laude in 1951 with a double major in German and history.
As a new college graduate searching for work, Claire recollects wrestling with the question “What are you fit for with a liberal arts degree?” Her foremost ambition was to find something interesting and challenging. Indeed, her first challenge began with a job in the customer securities department of the prestigious Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Co., dealing with stocks and bonds – something she knew nothing about.
“If you get a job you don’t know much about, then you do your homework and start learning,” says Claire. “If you need a job, you take anything and grow from there.” Following her job at the bank, Claire became sales office manager for Franklin Electronics Corp., a private firm manufacturing high-speed digital printers in conjunction with Jet Propulsion Labs, used on tracking stations worldwide on the Apollo space launch by NASA.
The next chapter in Claire’s career led her to Temple University as program administrator for the department of psychiatry. “I thought if I could survive two years there I could do anything,” she laughed. “Well, I survived five years and had a lot of fun with it.” Claire was promoted and appointed grants manager officer for the newly created Temple University Health Sciences Center. She sees this job as particularly significant because there was no job description for her and she had to develop one on her own. In addition to her in-house responsibilities, Claire developed a computer program for grants administration which was recognized nationally. She was then invited to join the National Institutes of Health as an ad hoc consultant to evaluate potential funding for significant project grants in universities throughout the country. “That was the most fantastic thing in my entire career, working with scientists and being the sole female in the fiscal/administration arm of the committee.”
After a short stint at the Michigan Cancer Foundation, Claire finished up her career at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., eventually becoming the assistant director of the Office of Research. She successfully authored a research manual on the “Conduct of Research at Lehigh University.”
A third chapter in Claire’s life began in 1989. Having just retired from the university, she met and married Robert P. Reed, the love of her life. Bob was a mining engineer at Bethlehem Steel and a consultant with Air Products Corp. Claire and Bob traveled extensively; throughout her lifetime, Claire’s curiosity about other cultures took her to over 40 countries.
Listen to an audio interview of Claire Reed’s autocross
experience. After 20 years together, Bob passed away in 2009. True to form, life began anew for Claire. At 80 years of age, she fulfilled a lifelong dream of owning a sport convertible by purchasing a Mazda Miata MX-5, joining the local Miata club, rallying with the boys and participating in autocross, a timed obstacle course race at the Portland International Raceway. “A few days before I was ready to go [autocross racing], I was going to cop out of it and I said, ‘No, I’m going to go try it. Even if I knock all the cones down on the obstacle course, I’m going to just go to see if I can learn how to handle my car.’” Upon signing up, she was contacted by the person in charge of registration. “He says, ‘Claire, would you please submit your correct birthday? There seems to be a problem.’ I said, ‘Well, sir, sorry, it is the correct date. I’m a member of the Miata club. I rally with the boys and I passed their initiation test.’”
As Claire reflected on her career, she felt her curiosity and determination, together with an ability to think, write and communicate effectively, drove her to be successful at jobs she had no training for and that were usually held by men. “I’d get a little scared about a new job, and I’d think, ‘Well, if somebody else has done it, I can do it. With the help of God I can do it.’” To current Houghton students, Claire recommends heavy doses of discipline and courage, aided by the liberal arts education that prepared her for anything. “I got history, psychology, science…and somewhere along the way, I’ve made a job out of all of them.’”
In summary, Claire says about herself, “My firm belief in a personal God and a curiosity which continues to take me to new experiences throughout the world show that I am living life to the fullest in spite of many disappointments and setbacks along the way.”
“I’d like to be remembered as loving God and telling about His impact in my life over the years — how faith can really make miraculous things happen. I have no idea what my future holds. I start each year wondering what the New Year will bring…Life just seems to unfold for me.”
