Constance “Gay” Morenus Hammerman was a freshman at Woman’s College of University of North Carolina (WC) in 1943, and a member of what would become the graduating class of 1947. After just one year at WC, she transferred to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received a BA in history. Subsequently, she earned an MA at Radcliffe College (now the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University) in 1949.
Although only at WC for a short time, Gay Morenus left her mark on the institution and vice versa. She was photographed in 1943-1944 with her fellow freshmen dorm mates of Gray Hall. She was also captured in a photograph of the staff of the student arts and literature publication Coraddi, where she served as both a section editor and a contributor of her poetry.
On November 10, 1944, her column “The Arts and Us” appeared in the student newspaper The Carolinian. In the article, Morenus reviewed the previous week’s performance of the play “Stage Door.” She wrote both eloquently and honestly in her review, not afraid to convey an accurate critique as well as give praise where it was due. As a college freshman, she demonstrated her confidence and class when she even provided a bit of critique to the audience members. She wrote, “Though it’s getting rather boring to hear about our collective public manners, just a word on the subject. Those girls deserve their curtain calls. Next time let’s let them be the only ones standing up when they take them.” This article served as foreshadowing of where Morenus’s career was to lead her.
Writing and editing continued to be part of Morenus’s life as she transferred to UNC Chapel Hill, as well as in her future career as a writer, historian, researcher, and editor. Likewise, she pursued performing arts and teaching. Whether as a young college student or as a careerwoman, Morenus consistently demonstrated a keen interest in the world around her.
Although Gay Morenus did not graduate from WC, she continued to be counted among the Class of 1947. In the Class of ’47 50th Anniversary Reunion Booklet, she described her journey since leaving WC and graduating from UNC Chapel Hill. “After two years’ teaching, I gradually and somewhat accidentally became a military historian, first taking a job with the US Army editing volumes on WWII and later working for a private research organization. There I coauthored several books on subjects including American Revolution land battles, arms control efforts throughout history, and WWI trench warfare; I also directed, researched, and wrote reports for numerous studies on topics like nuclear deterrence theory, military leadership and morale, and chemical warfare. I had a parallel career/avocation in dance and acting, studying acting in the 1970s, performing in several small professional Washington theaters, and teaching spoken voice production for actors.”
In addition to her robust career, in 1955, Gay Morenus married Herbert Hammerman, a labor economist at the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Hammermans had two sons, Joseph and Daniel, and the family eventually settled in northern Virginia close to Washington, D.C.
In her retirement, Gay Morenus Hammerman reported that she and her husband enjoyed Elderhostels (now known as the Road Scholar program), which are international educational adventures designed for adults over 55. (Wikimedia) She and her husband had attended around 20 Elderhostels as of her 50th reunion report in 1997. Likewise, she volunteered teaching English to immigrants and refugees from over 35 countries. Consistently throughout her life, Morenus Hammerman has been interested and concerned about the world and global community. In fact, it was her lifelong civic engagement that put Morenus Hammerman back in touch with UNCG after so many years away.
As previously mentioned, Morenus Hammerman was only a student at WC for a short time, but it was her experience in her freshman English class that made a lasting impression. It was a memory of that class that prompted Gay Morenus Hammerman to phone UNCG’s Special Collections and University Archives reference desk in fall of 2025.
At 99 years old, Gay Morenus Hammerman had been thinking about the fragile nature of democracy in America, and it had reminded her of some reading she completed in her freshman year of college—reading that she wanted to revisit. Despite failing eyesight, she was curious to know if SCUA had a copy of her freshman textbook, yet she did not recall the title. She was able to provide the names of the textbook editors as at least one of them had been her instructor at Woman’s College.
Archivists and librarians love receiving calls just like the one from Gay Morenus Hammerman. We enjoy the hunt—finding resources for researchers, answering a burning question, uncovering the history of someone or something, or simply sharing information. Obscure references are a particularly interesting challenge as they become a fun puzzle to solve. Gay Morenus Hammerman’s question was just that – an interesting puzzle to solve. In this case though, it turned out Morenus Hammerman herself was just as interesting as her question. What could this textbook be that a 99-year-old former student remembered it from 82 years ago and wanted to revisit it? And who is this eloquent, sharp, kind woman reaching out to SCUA?
After a bit of digging in University Archives’ biography files, we located a copy of an early 1940s English syllabus. The title of Morenus Hammerman’s textbook is Explorations in Living: A Record of the Democratic Spirit. SCUA did not have a copy of the book, and it was no longer in print. We were happy to find the answer to her question and to phone her with the information, but it was disappointing that we didn’t have a copy of the book.
After speaking with Morenus Hammerman and continuing to think about this remarkable woman, we were able to discover that there was a copy of Explorations in Living: A Record of the Democratic Spirit, edited by Winfield Rogers, Ruby Redinger, and Hiram Haydn and published in 1941, in the collection of Princeton University. With the help of UNCG’s Inter-Library Loan office, we were able to get a scan of the table of contents listing all the readings and their respective authors. We mailed a copy to Morenus Hammerman in northern Virginia.
A few weeks later, Morenus Hammerman phoned again to let us know that her nephew had found a copy of Explorations in Living: A Record of the Democratic Spirit online and ordered it for her. Her nephew had read her the preface, and she wanted to thank us again for our help as she was beginning to reexamine those readings that had left such an impression from so many years ago. We are grateful to Gay Morenus Hammerman for reaching out to us at the age of 99 and reminding us that WC (now UNCG) has impacted thousands of students over the years who have proceeded to live extraordinary, interesting, impactful lives contributing in countless ways to their communities.
Written by Suzanne Helms, March 2026.
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Resources:
Gay M(orenus) Hammerman (1926-). (1976). In K. Hile (Ed.), Something About the Author (Vol. 9, p. 92). Gale. https://link-gale-com.proxy180.nclive.org/apps/doc/VANCTM024771618/SATA?u=gree35277&sid=bookmark-SATA&pg=104&xid=86e2a1b9
Wikimedia Foundation. (2025, July 14). Road scholar. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Scholar
Images courtesy of Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries, Greensboro, North Carolina
