The emeriti – dozens of retired faculty members of Simmons College – were festively garbed in their academic robes for the occasion. As their names were read, they came from their seats on the stage of Jordan Hall, one by one to be greeted by the audience’s applause and to receive a large commemorative medal.

With their names came a citation tailored especially for each. With grace and wit, a group of current faculty and an alumna had crafted a statement for each emeritus and emerita, describing their special gifts. The large audience – students, faculty, alums, family, and friends – responded with enthusiastic ovations.

Incidentally, this gala event was held at the distinguished concert venue Jordan Hall for a reason. It was there that Simmons held its very first commencement back in 1906.

I found this convocation in honor of Simmons College’s 100th aniversary a moving tableau of graceful aging. Even among these retired women and men there was a surprisingly wide range of years. Some traveled the short distance to center stage with uncertain agility, but with obvious spirit.

Among those honored, one stood out in particular. Ruth Leonard, associate professor of library science, brought down the house when the year of her arrival as a freshman was announced.

After college graduation and later graduate studies, she served as a faculty member for 34 yearsa. But that was just the start of her service to Simmons. Even now, at age 96, she continues giving time and talent to the college.

Her citation reads as follows: “Alumna, library science professor, devoted volunteer and a vital part of the Simmons scene for decades, Ruth Leonard came here as a freshman 75 years ago this fall! To this day, she continues to volunteer for the College, and is currently at Simmons one day a week archiving Alumnae Association minutes.”

Small in physical stature, this dynamic nonagenarian thanked the college “for giving me this opportunity to be of service.” Back in 1994, the college had awarded her an honorary degree in recognition of her work and placed her in the college’s hall of fame, but the Simmons community never tires of honoring her.

When I talked with her later, Professor Leonard was sitting with Eleanor Gustafson, a retired librarian who expresses high regard for her former teacher. Asked how she herself feels about her long career, the most Ruth Leonard will claim is: “All I can say is I enjoyed teaching.”

I also asked her attitude about growing old. “I don’t think about it,” she replied. However, she does admit: “I’ve slowed up. I’m unsteady on my feet.”

Not that any of this stops her. Using the MBTA’s Ride program, she now commutes from Goddard House in Brookline to Simmons for her volunteer chores.

Though I have no official connection with Simmons College, another reason makes me feel  tied to the life of the place. First, my beloved aunt, Mary Barry, was a student there in 1905 and 1906. A future public schoolteacher, she was then enrolled in the School of  Secretarial Studies.

Since the very first students did not arrive until 1902, my aunt can be numbered among the pioneers. She was the kind of student envisioned by the founder, John Simmons, who left money to start a college for women planning to enter the world of work, a novel idea at the time.

Secondly, my wife has been a Simmons faculty member since 1964. Now a veteran with almost unrivaled seniority, she continues to teach with relish, and to serve the college in other ways as well.

At the convocation, what held my attention most was the spectacle of generation succeeding generation. I reflected on the way each group of faculty comes along, people who build upon the work of those who have served and later stepped aside.

To me, recognizing the women and men who contributed their working years to the teaching enterprise is one of the most meaningful action an educational institution can take. This kind of event gives former teachers a sense that their service did make a difference, that they did in fact touch the lives of others.

It is true that former students will sometimes pay tribute to former teachers. But, often, retired teachers must believe in themselves without this kind of external support. That’s why the Jordan Hall ceremony was so heartwarming – it showed that, though the people who once taught at Simmons no longer frequent the classrooms, they are not forgotten and still count.

Perhaps the students who attended the convocation profited from seeing, in the honors accorded the retired professors, a model of how people who have served an institution well should be treated. They might have realized how it’s good for the community to recognize later life as a time appropriate for honoring dignity, merit, and service.

Richard Griffin