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Muriel “Midge” Appleton Photo by Mark LaFrance |
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As a student in Sargent College in the 1940s, Muriel “Midge” Appleton and her classmates — the college was all women back then — lived in the same dorm. They dressed alike, in green tunics, black shoes, and green blazers. They sang class songs at the dinner table, songs they still sing at reunions. They spent a total of five months at Sargent Camp in Peterborough, New Hampshire, learning outdoor and water sports. “We really bonded,” Appleton says. “We all became best friends.”
Over the years, Appleton (SAR’48, SED’51) has remained close to her classmates, and to the school. She recently established a charitable gift annuity with a $1 million gift — believed to be the single largest planned gift in Sargent’s history — to benefit the Dean’s Fund, which supports Sargent priorities. Appleton says she made the gift not only because of the camaraderie she enjoyed at college and the lifelong friendships she forged, but also because of the education she received. “It enabled me to earn a good living the rest of my life,” says Appleton, a retired teacher.
Appleton was athletic as a girl, playing basketball, field hockey, and other sports. After graduating from Sargent, she taught physical education at American University, earned a master’s at BU’s School of Education, and stayed on to teach physical education for four years. She spent the rest of her career teaching physical education and later, geography, in the Winthrop, Massachusetts, public schools. “I loved it,” she says. At forty-six, she married Daniel Appleton (CAS’32, GRS’33), a fellow Winthrop teacher. After the couple retired, they split their time between Florida and a summer cottage on Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire. Daniel Appleton died in 2003.
Today, Appleton lives in The Villages, Florida, with her Australian terrier, Cleo. She remains athletic, playing golf and bocci. She’s eighty, but folks tell her she looks fifteen years younger. “Most of my class has kept active,” she says, adding that she recently purchased a new bicycle.
Appleton made her gift during the 125th anniversary year of Sargent’s founding. “A nice coincidence,” she says, and Dean Gloria Waters agrees. “This is a wonderful way to say thank you for the education that Midge received at Sargent,” Waters says. “In meeting Sargent alums over the past year, I have been so impressed by the long-lasting influence that Sargent has had on shaping their lives. One of my goals as dean is to create an endowment for Sargent that will ensure that BU Sargent College will have a lasting influence on its students for years to come. Midge’s gift is a wonderful start to fulfilling that goal.”
— Cynthia K. Buccini
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