Richard Bland College of William & Mary: Local couple donates special gift to alma mater

Kristi K. Higgins, The Progress-Index
Updated ·2 min read
Brenda Gunn Harrup of Chesterfield presents a framed portrait of Richard Bland College of William & Mary's first graduating class [1963] to Timothy Hurley, RBC head librarian. Harrup is pictured in white on the right.
Brenda Gunn Harrup of Chesterfield presents a framed portrait of Richard Bland College of William & Mary's first graduating class [1963] to Timothy Hurley, RBC head librarian. Harrup is pictured in white on the right.

PRINCE GEORGE — A local couple recently donated a framed portrait of Richard Bland College of William & Mary's first graduating class taken on June 5, 1963. Timothy Hurley, RBC head librarian, reached out to The Progress-Index to share Dennis and Brenda Harrup's act of kindness with our readers.

The Harrups of Chesterfield both attended RBC its opening year. I reached out to Brenda Gunn Harrup, featured in the nostalgic image, to find out the path she traveled after RBC.

"I graduated with an Associate of Arts degree," Harrup said. "I was hired by Chesterfield County to teach in the fall of 1963 with the AA degree, plus classes in Education that I had taken during the summers at RPI [Richmond Professional Institute]."

Harrup devoted 13 years of her life to teach children in Chesterfield. She taught at the following elementary schools: Henning, Harrowgate, Curtis and Salem.

From right to left, Dennis Harrup and Brenda Gunn spend time together in the cafeteria at Richard Bland College of William & Mary in the 60s The Chesterfield couple who met at Thomas Dale High School have been married since 1964.
From right to left, Dennis Harrup and Brenda Gunn spend time together in the cafeteria at Richard Bland College of William & Mary in the 60s The Chesterfield couple who met at Thomas Dale High School have been married since 1964.

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"Dennis and I met at Thomas Dale High School and married in June of 1964 while I continued to teach and work on my BS at RPI," Harrup said. "My last class was in the summer of 1968, the year RPI became VCU [Virginia Commonwealth University], so my degree is actually from VCU. I later earned my Master of Education from VCU."

While Harrup taught, her husband pursued a successful career in insurance. He worked for Southwestern Life Insurance in Petersburg for nine years before switching to State Farm. She left teaching to work as his secretary at State Farm in 1979.

Dennis and Brenda Harrup of Chesterfield, Va.
Dennis and Brenda Harrup of Chesterfield, Va.

"I think working together gave us common goals and a team approach to marriage. Dennis retired after 30 years in 2005, and we've been traveling ever since," Harrup shared. "He is an avid Coca-Cola collector, so antique shopping is high on our list of things to do."

The couple of 59 years recently hosted their joint 80th birthday celebration where they displayed the RBC class of 1963 image. The Harrups have a lot of fond memories at RBC and happily donated it for others to enjoy.

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— Kristi K. Higgins aka The Social Butterfly, an award-winning columnist, is the trending topics and food Q&A reporter at The Progress-Index voted the 2022 Tri-Cities Best of the Best Social Media Personality. Have a news tip on local trends or businesses? Contact Kristi (she, her) at khiggins@progress-index.com, follow @KHiggins_PI on Twitter @socialbutterflykristi on Instagram.

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This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Richard Bland College: Local couple donates special gift to alma mater