Barbara H. Denson ’63 (Submitted by Cherise Brewer Edwards ’03, Sophia Brewer ’04, Leisa Brewer ’08)

Question: How has Mrs. Denson made an an impact on you?

“Mrs. Denson made an impact on our entire family by welcoming our young parents who had just moved to Georgia—a city where we had no family. Mrs. Denson really went above and beyond and made our entire family feel like we were her family. She provided us with resources they could use that would help them become more familiar with the community and the school system. She also personally taught me to be resourceful and self-reliant by always telling me to look up the definition for a word I didn’t know in the yearbook (although I didn’t know how to spell the word). ” -Sophia Brewer ’04

“As my second grade teacher, Mrs. Denson always cared so much about her students that she maintained relationships with us beyond the grades she taught. She was a mentor for me from kindergarten all the way through college and she was invested in my well-being throughout my entire childhood. I could always count on her to encourage me no matter what stage of life I was in and I’m so proud to call her my F.L. Stanton Mom, a fellow Washington Bulldog, and my Spelman Sister.” -Cherise Brewer Edwards ’03

“Mrs. Denson taught me early on to not only embrace my beautiful blackness but to also step into and claim my space in this world with the highest of standards. Whenever I think about my upbringing, I always think of Mrs. Denson
playing “I Am A Promise” and “Young, Gifted, and Black” on the piano—songs we were required to sing at every event and songs that taught us the beauty and power of self.
Her active involvement in and passion for all things BTW has always instilled a sense of school pride in me and I can primarily attribute my love for the school’s history to her. It’s no coincidence we lived in the same college dorm room at Spelman about forty years apart—Oh, Manleyyy!!!)” -Leisa Brewer ’08