One of UCLA’s oldest alumnae passed away on Feb. 9. Ann Sumner, who graduated in 1926, was 103 years old.
Sumner received her bachelor’s degree in history from the original UCLA campus, which was located on Vermont Avenue. After graduating, she went to work for the Los Angeles Evening Express and “within two years became the youngest woman’s page editor of a daily metropolitan newspaper in the United States,” said Mary Knudson, Sumner’s niece.
Knudson said Sumner took up writing romance novels while at the newspaper, portions of which were published in the Express.
“She wrote eight novels, which were syndicated in over 100 newspapers in the US,” Knudson said.
While at UCLA, Sumner met Edward Dickson, one of the first people to promote having a University of California campus in Southern California and a very influential figure in the university’s history. The two forged a close relationship over the years. In a 2004 Daily Bruin article celebrating her 100th birthday, Sumner described herself as the daughter Dickson never had.
By 1932, Sumner had returned to her true love: the university, now located in Westwood. She became a publicist for UCLA Extension. One of her crowning lifetime achievements would come a few years later, in 1939.
“She was a founding member of Gold Shield, which is the major support group for female alums,” said John Sandbrook, the executive officer to the administrative vice chancellor.
According to the group’s Web site, initial members “assisted with university functions and presented salons to introduce outstanding faculty to the community.” Since then, the group has expanded to offering scholarships to underprivileged women at UCLA and awarding the annual Gold Shield Faculty Prize. Sumner established an endowment in her name for Gold Shield scholarship recipients.
“The endowment that Ann established allowed them to purchase a lifetime membership in the alumni association,” Sandbrook said.
But Sumner did not stop there. From 1938 to 1939, she was the vice president of the UCLA Alumni Association. In 1949, she was the president of UCLA Affiliates, a committee that selects students for scholarships. She went on to become an honorary lifetime member of the group.
Sumner was also involved in founding the Friends of UCLA Library, UCLA Art Council and UCLA Faculty Center. She won the Women’s Press Award in 1957, and served as president of the UCLA Faculty Women’s Club from 1958 to 1959.
In 1962, Sumner became the first woman to receive the Alumni Distinguished Service Award. She retired in 1966, but her great-nephew, Gary Knudson, said her love for the university never diminished.
“She was there from the very beginning, so she had her hand in shaping what the university is today. She had a vision for what the university was, what it could be. … That’s where her love for the university came from. Because she was there from the genesis,” Knudson said.
He said Sumner lived across the street from the campus after she retired, and loved to go to campus to watch the basketball games ““ which she attended up to her hundreds ““ or just to go for walks.
“She just walked over on campus with her white gloves and red lipstick,” Knudson said.
He added that her style of dress was one of her trademarks.
“She was very elegant, even to the end. Always the white gloves, always the red lipstick, always put on nicely and dressed to the T’s,” Knudson said.
Mary Knudson said her aunt’s whole life was dedicated to UCLA.
“It was the love of her life, it was her child. Her whole life was dedicated to raising money for different organizations,” she said.