Donor profiles

Posted: 2/28/08

Not long after Elizabeth “Libbo” Williams retired from the National Security Agency in 1979, Dorothy Goodman, her fellow Bryn Mawr alumna, contacted her about helping out at a school that emphasized the importance of language learning and internationalism. The idea appealed to Williams who had always had a love of languages. She joined Goodman and WIS co-founder Cathya Stephenson in the Farmhouse on the Tregaron property. She was one of the “Bryn Mawr Mafia” at WIS, an august group that also included teacher Elaine Greenstone. For the next several years, Williams volunteered her time researching language learning and language programs, helping Goodman promote the ideals of WIS. For a short time, she took a paid position as the school’s bookkeeper before leaving WIS in 1985.

Even after she left WIS, she continued to support WIS financially. She was a major contributor to the school’s first capital campaign that helped finance the Arts & Athletic Center. She then renewed her pledge to the current Gateway Capital Campaign, literally building on the foundation that will result in the new Academic, Arts, & Athletics Complex at Tregaron this year. For more than 20 years, Williams has also been a generous supporter of the daily life of the school through her contributions to the Annual Fund, supporting faculty salaries and instructional resources—the very building stones of her original association with the school.