Alice Price originally thought it would be a great idea for her 95-year-old mother, Frances Montini, to carry the torch during Geneva College’s 160th anniversary celebration. Then Cheryl Johnston, director of marketing and public relations, suggested that three generations of Geneva women participate. So Frances, Alice, and her daughter, Jennifer, all agreed. It was fitting they should carry the torch. For three generations, nearly everyone in Alice’s family has gone to Geneva College.

Family Tradition

When Alice’s mother, Frances Montini (then McCready), came to Geneva in the 1930s, Dr. McLeod M. Pearce was president. To raise money for tuition, Frances worked as a chauffeur and a live-in cook. She had grown up in the Associate Presbyterian Church, which merged with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America in the 1960s. Frances is a member of the First RP Church of Beaver Falls, Pa., and was a member of the Geneva RP Church—where her husband also served as an elder—before the churches merged in 2004.

Frances and her three siblings—Mabel (McCready ’31) Hemphill, Stewart McCready ’33, and Sallie (McCready ’38) Emery—took turns going to college and helping to support each other. Two of the siblings had spouses who graduated from Geneva and had children and grandchildren who also attended.

Frances met her husband, John Montini, at Geneva. A college education was a big deal for John, as he was not from a highly educated family. His family had immigrated to the United States when he was 3 years old. His parents had only an 8th grade education. At the encouragement of a teacher, Lena (Tomasson ’20) Jannuzi, John ended up at Geneva on a scholarship. In the beginning, he took the train in from Aliquippa to campus every day. Later, he lived with the C. Brainerd Metheny ’11 family (of Metheny Fieldhouse fame). It was at that time that John became a Christian.

John and Frances both graduated from Geneva in 1936. Frances taught in a one-room schoolhouse. There she was “the janitor, mail carrier…had to stoke the fire,” Alice said. On days when the weather was bad, Frances had to park her car and walk to the school. It was on those days that she would bring mail to people as she walked. During her child-rearing years, she worked at Geneva College in the bookstore and the registrar’s office.

John worked as a junior high school teacher prior to being drafted into the Navy during World War II. He served his time at the Naval Hospital in Newport, R.I. Upon returning from the service, he earned a master’s degree in administration from the University of Pittsburgh. At that time he became a school principal, serving in Aliquippa and Center Township, Pa. When he retired from that, he worked for Geneva College as its first financial aid officer and later worked with student teachers.

Of John and Frances’ four children (Sylvia, Bob ’66, Virginia ’68, and Alice ’72), three decided to go to Geneva. At the time Alice decided on Geneva, her family lived on College Avenue, just up the street from the college. “I wanted a Christian education, and I never really thought about going anywhere else,” she said. Because her father worked at the college, she was able to receive the extra blessing of free tuition, the only one of her siblings to do so.

Alice graduated in 1972 with a B.S. in elementary education. Edwin C. Clarke was president at the time. Alice also met her husband, Tom Price, at college. He had grown up in the Newburgh, N.Y., RP Church and graduated in 1973. Tom’s brother Steve Price ’76, and his wife, Elsie (Kyriakidou ’77), and youngest brother Rick ’79 are Geneva grads as well.

Alice and Tom had four children. Three went to Geneva. Jonathan graduated in 1998. He is now a PCA pastor in Murrysville, Pa., working with youth and children. Stephanie went to Geneva for her master’s degree in counseling, which she received in 2004. She lived with her grandmother while attending. She now works with at-risk youth outside of Washington, D.C. Matt graduated from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Jennifer transferred to and will graduate from Geneva in 2009 with a B.S. in business administration. Alice said that during a family reunion in Michigan last summer, the family had to tell something about themselves. “Jennifer said, ‘I never thought I’d be at Geneva [not wanting to follow in the family tradition], and now I am, and I really like it!” God’s ways are unfathomable.

Alice now works at Geneva College in their degree completion program as an educational outreach specialist. Her sister, Ginny Caldwell ’68, is director of alumni relations and married to Jim Caldwell ’71.

Passing the Torch

So, it really was fitting that Frances Montini, Alice Price, and Jennifer Price participated in the anniversary celebration, but they had no idea how providential it would be.

On College Hill, each torchbearer carried the torch for about a block. “We had originally been assigned to carry the torch on Wallace Run Road,” Alice said. She was concerned about the slope of the road and her mother’s age, so she asked if they could change places. It wasn’t until the last minute that Alice found out that they would carry the torch on 4th Avenue. Alice would carry the torch first and then pass it on to Frances and Jennifer, who would be walking together.

It just “so happened” that “I passed the torch to them in front of the house that her [Frances’] grandfather had built,” Alice said.

Fitting indeed.

Heidi Filbert is a member of First RPC of Beaver Falls, Pa., and is a freelance staffer for the RP Witness.