
Grave of Pearl L. Rees and her sister Ada Rees.
Photo courtesy of Evangeline. Source: Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/154356386/pearl-l-rees
Rees, Pearl Lane (1878–1966)
By Sabrina Riley
Sabrina Riley was born in Auburn, New York and raised in Dowagiac, Michigan. She received a B.A. in history from Andrews University and an M.A. in information and libraries studies from the University of Michigan. Riley was a member of Andrews University’s library staff from 1998 to 2003, library director and college archivist at Union College from 2003 to 2016, and is presently a freelance researcher, author, and information professional.
First Published: January 29, 2020
Pearl Lane Rees, an Adventist educator and editor, was dean of women at Union College and Atlantic Union College for more than 25 years.
Early Life
Pearl Lane Rees was born in Indiana in 1878, the daughter of an Adventist minister, Joseph Madison Rees (1844–1909), and his wife, Melvina Seward (1844–1909). A Civil War veteran, Joseph Rees joined the Adventist Church through the influence of his wife, whom he married in 1866. Melvina Seward had joined the Adventist Church around 1858. Thus, Pearl Rees and her three older siblings, Edith (1867–1884), Ada (1869–1966), and David Dee (1871–1949), were raised in an Adventist home. Joseph Rees was president of the West Virginia Conference in 1909 when he was struck by an automobile on a visit to Washington, D.C. He died of his injuries. Pearl Rees’s brother, David Rees, was an Adventist teacher, school administrator, editor, and author.1
Education and Career
Following graduation from the normal (teacher) course at Union College in 1898, Pearl Rees moved to Denver, Colorado, where she organized and taught the first Adventist school in the city.2 Apparently her time as an elementary school teacher was short. By 1903, working under the leadership of her father, who was the Southern Illinois Conference president, Rees served the same conference as secretary/treasurer of the Tract and Missionary Society. She also edited the conference’s publication, the Southern Illinois Herald.3 From 1908 to early 1910 she held the same positions in West Virginia, again working with her father.4 In between her years in Illinois and West Virginia Rees held a missionary license in Indiana, where she lived in her family’s hometown of Kokomo, although it is unclear what she did for the Indiana Conference.5
In February 1910 Rees became secretary of the Atlantic Union Conference in South Lancaster, Massachusetts. She also edited the Atlantic Union Gleaner, which she continued to do until she left Massachusetts in June 1920.6 In 1917 Rees was called upon to serve South Lancaster Academy as interim preceptor (girls dean) when the full-time preceptor suddenly became ill. This was the beginning of the career for which she was best known.7
Rees returned to Union College in 1920 as dean of women, a position she held for most of the rest of her life. At Union College Rees also taught in the Home Economics Department and edited the alumni publication, the Alumnus. She briefly returned to Massachusetts from 1937 to 1941 to serve as dean of women at Atlantic Union College. Rees also spent two years as preceptor in at Glendale Sanitarium’s Nurses Home in California.8
Later Life and Legacy
In 1950 Rees retired, although she continued to be active in the profession she loved.9 She returned to North Hall, the women’s residence at Union College, briefly in 1952–1953 as interim dean.10As long as she was physically able to teach, she taught a class on residence hall administration and wrote a textbook on the subject.11 She also edited the Dean’s Window, a newsletter for Seventh-day Adventist residence hall deans.12 Remaining in Lincoln, Nebraska, during her retirement years, Rees died on January 11, 1966.13
Pearl Rees was loved and respected by both the young women under her supervision and her colleagues. A mother figure to many alumni, she was also a mentor to other residence hall deans, and was known as the “Dean’s Dean.” Union College bestowed the title of dean emeritus upon her, and the women’s residence hall built in 1958 was named in her honor.14
Sources
“David Dee Rees obituary.” ARH, December 29, 1949.
“Death of Pearl L. Rees.” ARH, January 27, 1966.
“Future Women’s Residence Will Be Pearl L. Rees Hall.” Central Union Reaper, December 7, 1954.
Gardiner, Jim. “Pearl Rees, Dean of Women Emeritus, a Woman Who Has and Does Love Life.” Clocktower, May 2, 1963.
“J. M. Rees Obituary.” ARH, April 15, 1909.
“Melvina Rees obituary.” ARH, April 21, 1910.
“Notice.” Atlantic Union Gleaner, February 9, 1910.
“Pearl Lane Rees obituary.” Atlantic Union Gleaner, March 28, 1966.
Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review Herald Publishing Association, 1904–1966.
Vande Vere, Emmett K. “The Heart of the Lake Union.” Lake Union Herald, June 22, 1976.
Notes
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“Pearl Lane Rees obituary,” Atlantic Union Gleaner, March 28, 1966, 11; “J. M. Rees obituary,” ARH, April 15, 1909, 24; “Melvina Rees obituary,” ARH, April 21, 1910, 23; “David Dee Rees obituary,” ARH, December 29, 1949, 20.↩
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“Pearl Lane Rees obituary.”↩
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“Southern Illinois Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1904), 34.↩
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“West Virginia Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1909), 43.↩
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“Indiana Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1906), 36.↩
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“Notice,” Atlantic Union Gleaner, February 9, 1910, 8; “Atlantic Union Gleaner,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1910), 171.↩
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“Pearl Lane Rees obituary”; Jim Gardiner, “Pearl Rees, Dean of Women Emeritus, a Woman Who Has and Does Love Life,” Clocktower, May 2, 1963, 2.↩
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“Pearl Lane Rees obituary.”↩
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Ibid.↩
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Gardiner, 2.↩
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Rees’s obituary mentions the textbook. This author was unable to locate a citation for it.↩
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“Future Women’s Residence Will Be Pearl L. Rees Hall,” Central Union Reaper, December 7, 1954, 5.↩
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“Pearl Lane Rees obituary.”↩
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Ibid.; Gardiner, 2; “Future Women’s Residence Will Be Pearl L. Rees Hall.”↩