In 1941, E. Maxine Moose graduated with honors from Bridgeport High School, and received a scholarship to West Virginia Wesleyan College. Below is a picture of her from the 1942 Murmurmontis. She was even a cheerleader!
Then, on December 7, 1941, her life took a dramatic turn. When Pearl Harbor was bombed, and the United States was plunged into World War II, Maxine answered the call for the home front war effort and went to work working on B-52 bombers. She was one of the women known as “Rosie the Riveters.”
After the war, Maxine went to Ohio State University where she studied Philosophy and Psychology, but even more important to the trajectory of her life, she met and married Fred C. Bruhns. A German student, Fred had worked hard to thwart and defeat the Nazis, even being imprisoned for those efforts. He spent the rest of his life working to make life better for refugees including Austrian, Palestinian, and North Vietnamese.
The two of them traveled to more than 80 countries, where she met everyone from the Dalai Lama to Albert Schweitzer.
All of this prepared her well to become the second director of the Nationality Rooms at the University of Pittsburgh in 1965. This was not just a job for her for the 54 years that she held the position. It was a passion, a calling, a love.She celebrated all of the cultures of the world, and gave many students the opportunity to experience things beyond their own experiences.
This is the top of the webpage for the Nationality Rooms at Pitt. There is a lot of great information here that will tell you a lot about Maxine Moose Bruhns as well. When she arrived, there were 19 Rooms and they provided 8 scholarships for summer study abroad. When she retired, there were 31 Rooms, and 54 Pitt Students had studied in 35 countries in the summer of that year. Click here to see video tours of all of the rooms.
But, this girl from West Virginia never forgot where she came from. She was a true Dreamer who also spent a lifetime helping to make the Dreams of others come true. And inspiring new dreams.
She remained a supporter of the Mother’s Day Shrine in her native Grafton.
She stayed active in the alumni association at her high school Alma Mater, Bridgeport High School in Bridgeport, WV.
Since 2007, Bruhns Scholarships have been given to Wesleyan Students to help them to experience the world. These scholarships have enabled many students to stretch their comfort zones, as Maxine encouraged them to go to non-English speaking countries with cultures very different from their own.
I am collecting a list of all of these recipients and their stories of inspiration. If you are one of these, or you know one, please contact me at historian@wvwc.edu. So far, I know of:
The world lost a great traveler on July 17, 2020. Maxine Moose Bruhns died at the age of 96. She leaves a legacy of world understanding and a host of students who have had their lives transformed.
The following are some items about E. Maxine Moose Bruhns that have appeared in WVWC publications as well as some news stories and obituaries.
Bruhns, Maxine Moose
(1947) Eleanor Maxine Moose, x’45, became the bride of Fred Charles Bruhns of New York City, on December 21, in the North Broadway Methodist church at Columbus, OH. The young couple will make their home in New York City. [West Virginia Wesleyan College Bulletin, 1947-05, p.4]
(1950) Mr. and Mrs. Fred C. Bruhns, (Maxine Moose, ‘45) have completed a two-year stay in Europe where Mr. Bruhns was employed by the International Refugee Organization in Austria. They are now visiting Mrs. Bruhns’ parents in Bridgeport, WV. [Pharos 1950-12-15, p.4]
(1992) Maxine Moose Bruhns, ‘45, director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs, recently received the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh’s Glick Award for leadership and service in intercultural exchange and understanding. In her position, she directs activities of more than 30 nationality and ethnic groups, including ethnic studies, workshops, concerts, exhibits, and observance of national and traditional holidays. She also supervises committees to raise funds to provide grants for students and faculty to study abroad, and to subsidie university courses in language studies. [Sundial 1992, Fall, p.19]
(2007) E. Maxine Bruhns is the director of the University of Pittsburgh Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs. Born in Grafton, WV, she attended West Virginia Wesleyan College for a short time before transferring to Ohio State University, where she earned a bachelor of arts degree in psychology and philosophy. Upon graduation, she married Fred C. Bruhns, a refugee specialist who through his lifetime worked for several international organizations including the United Nations. During their extensive travels, Ms. Bruhns worked with CARE, a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty, and taught English to Africans, Cambodians, Iranians, and Vietnamese, among others. She earned a master’s degree in education from the American University of Beirut. Since 1965, she has provided leadership and vision for the University of Pittsburgh Nationality Rooms, housed in the Cathedral of Learning. She and her husband established 34 international study scholarships providing summer study abroad funding to over 800 students. Ms. Bruhns received the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh 2004 Tribute to Women award in recognition of her commitment to international education. Her vision of opening educational doors now includes West Virginia Wesleyan College with the establishment of three scholarship programs. [Commencement Program, May 6, 2007]
(2018) Maxine Bruhns, the last living relative of Anna Jarvis (founder of Mother’s Day) spoke at the Mother’s Day Shrine anniversary celebration. [Mountain Statesman, 2018-05-15]
(2019) Maxine Bruhns was attending West Virginia Wesleyan when Pearl Harbor was attacked. This changed her life, as she left school to serve her country by working in an aircraft factory making wings for B-52 Bombers. [Trina Runner in Connect Bridgeport 2019-02-26]
(2020) E. Maxine Bruhns officially retired on January 1, 2020. She served as director of the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs at the University of Pittsburgh for more than 50 years. She died July 17, 2020 at the age of 96.[The Pitt News, July 18, 2020]
Once upon a time, in a land far far away, a baby girl named Daw-Say was born. Her father had died before her birth, and her mother was desparately disappointed that she did not turn out to be a son.
In another small village in the mountains in the Fukien province of China there was a small boy named Joo-mook. His family was living in poverty, and his parents both died by the time he was five years old.
Each of them encountered Christian Missionaries who changed their lives by making it possible for them to have an education and to come to the United States for more advanced studies. It was two chance encounters – one in Chicago and one in Moundsville, West Virginia – that brought the two together.
Each receieved new names in America. He became James Cheng and she became Dorothy Lee.
The full stories of their early lives are written in a book called Life Has No Ceiling, by Dr. Frank T. Cutright. Although written as fiction, all of the stories and details have been vouched for by both Dorothy and James and by major people in their lives.
1940, Friendship Press
This book includes a great story in the Prologue which takes place in Agnes Howard Hall.
Prologue
If I don’t get a letter by tomorrow night, I am going to call Detroit by long distance and ask him what is the matter — and the charges will be reversed. I’ll teach him to economize on postage stamps!
A group of amused and interested seniors gathered around Dorothy Lee, their Chinese classmate, as she made her spirited threat. The whole student body of West Virginia Wesleyan College had been enjoying their occasional glimpses of this developing Oriental romance. Many of them had seen photographs of the slender, sober-faced Chinese man who was now being threatened with mild revenge. Dorothy’s naive descriptions of him and her comments about him had whetted their appetite for more intimate knowledge.
At supper time that night one of the girs asked, “Has your letter come from Detroit, Dorothy?”
“No, it hasn’t,” she replied indignantly, her usually merry face assuming sterner lines.
“Are you going to telephone him, then?”
“Why, of course. I said I would, didn’t I?”
“We’ll be listening in,” threatened another senior gaily. “I wouldn’t miss the dressing down you’re going to give him for any amount of money!”
“Neither would I!” exclaimed a dozen voices, as the dean arose, signaling that it was time to leave the dining room.
Dorothy tried to escape her tormenters, but they escorted her relentlessly to the telephone booth, insisting that she must leave the door open for ventilation, and then settled themselves comfortably on the stairway outside to await the fun.
Dorothy, seeing that she could not shake off the laughing group, put in her number. She heard the calls along the way–“Long distance…” “Route for Detroit, Michigan…” “Thank you…” “Pittsburgh calling Cleveland…” “Thank you…” –each call punctuated by the buzz or click of connecteions made or broken. And at last the voice of the operator–“Here’s you party. He says he will take the charges.”
“Is that you, James? she said, and at the sound of her voice the huddled girls crowded forward eagerly. They were about to hear the “dressing down.” Then, with a mischievous gleam in her eye, Dorothy went on, “James, I want to know–nu sie-noh-iong-go ci sioh la-bai mo sia pie gie nguai.” And the flow of Chinese was halted only when the operator told her that her three minutes were up! As she walked out of the booth with a demurely innocent face, her disappointed audience eyed her in chagrin.
“We might have known you would fool us,” one girl declared ruefully. “But, what did you tell him?”
Dorothy giggled at their discomfiture and disappeared up the stairs in tantalizing silence. And they never did find out what Miss Lee said to her fiance, Mr. Cheng.
Married on Graduation Day
The couple returned to China to fulfill their childhood dreams of teaching and of helping to reduce suffering among people there. James became a very influential physician – and at one point treated Chiang Kai-Shek, the leader of the Republic of China from 1928-1975. Dorothy and James were invited to his home with a small group of about 18 people to celebrate Chiang Kai-Shek’s return from being held hostage during a regional uprising.
Mary Ellen (born in 1932), Thomas Clement (born in 1930) and Julia B. (Born in 1928)
The Dorothy Lee Scholarship Fund for Overseas Students
As conditions grew difficult through the Japanese occupation of China and the Second World War, the Cheng family lost nearly everything. A group of people from West Virginia Wesleyan College and the West Virginia Methodist Conference Women’s Society for Chrisitan Service went into action to help bring Julia B. (by then ready for college) to West Virginia Wesleyan. The group included such Giants as:
Roy McCuskey (S1905, 1908, College President 1931-1941)
Wallace B. Fleming (College President 1915-22; College Vice President 1938-44)
Edna Jenkins (S1902; Trustee 1943-56)
Lewis H. Chrisman (Faculty 1919-56)
Dr. Thomas M. Zumbrunnen (1919; Trustee 1931-59)
Julia Bonafield (the Missionary who had been the Champion for Dorothy)
Mary Scott (at whose home Dorothy and James had started their courtship)
and Dorothy’s college friend Laura Rector Hedrick (1930 – who became Julia B.’s American Mother).
Julia B. 1946
Julia graduated cum laude from WVWC in May, 1950 and went on to receive her Master’s degree in social work from Columbia University. She became a generous contributor to the Dorothy Lee Fund in order to help other students have the same opportunity that she had been given.
Dorothy and James
The dreams of Daw-Say and Joo-mook came true thanks to the Missionaries who were there when they were most needed, and to the love and generosity of caring Christians from far away. Their dreams were not for themselves, but rather to prepare themselves to help others.
Many other students have benefitted from the Dorothy Lee Fund for Overseas Students since its beginning in 1946. Nearly 100 of them from countries all over the world.
UPDATE: A special edition of the Emeritus Club Newsletter in February 1983 provided information about Dorothy Lee Cheng as well as requested more information. Word had reached WVWC, through Julia Cheng Kurz, that Dorothy died the week after Thanksgiving 1982 in a nursing home in Los Angeles, CA. Here is a link to that newsletter.
