Five consecutive generations of one family have earned Transylvania degrees
When psychology major Caitlin McGuire walked across the stage in front of Old Morrison on Saturday, she was the ninth member of her family to graduate from Transylvania University. Five consecutive generations of her family, touching three different centuries, have included a Transy graduate. Caitlin’s great great grandfather William Smallwood Gamboe began the tradition when he graduated in 1896 from Kentucky University, the name Transylvania used from 1865-1908 before reclaiming its historic name. William and his wife Tacie Pharis Gamboe had a son, Homer Pharis Gamboe, who was born while the family was living in a boarding house on Upper Street across from the Transy campus. This structure is now the Row House, restored in 1996 as part of the John R. Hall Athletic Field. Homer also attended Transy and after graduating in 1918, he went on, like his father, to graduate from the College of the Bible, then located on Transy’s campus. Homer and his wife had two daughters, Alice who graduated from Transylvania in 1946, and Rachael Gamboe McGuire. Rachael and her sister grew up in India, where their father was a missionary. After attending Woodstock, an American boarding school in the Himalayas, they came back to the United States to attend college. For Rachael, attending Transylvania was a dream come true, as she had heard tales of it her whole life. While there, she met Franklin McGuire. The two became sweethearts and were married in 1947. In
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