Three Syracuse University alumni to receive Melvin A. Eggers Senior Alumni Award at the University’s Half-Century Dinner

Three Syracuse University alumni to receive Melvin A. Eggers Senior Alumni Award at the University’s Half-Century DinnerMay 25, 2001Judy Holmesjlholmes@syr.edu

Three longtime friends of Syracuse University will receive the 2001 Melvin A. Eggers Senior Alumni Award during the University’s annual Half-Century Dinner beginning at 6 p.m. June 1 in the Schine Student Center’s Goldstein Auditorium. The recipients are Miriam Decker Alsever ’37, Yvonne Miller Phillips ’41, G’70 and George Stafford ’48, G’72.  Established in 1988 by former SU Chancellor William Pearson Tolley in honor of then-Chancellor Melvin A. Eggers, the award recognizes senior alumni for their loyalty and service to the University.  Miriam Decker Alsever  A Syracuse native, Alsever is the great-granddaughter of one of the University’s founding fathers, David Decker, and a 1937 graduate of The College of Arts and Sciences, earning a degree in sociology. After graduation, Alsever was secretary for Dean William Powers of Hendricks Chapel and studied music at the University, playing violin in the University Orchestra and in various string quartets. Over the years, she continued to perform and volunteer as an amateur musician educating youth on the value of music.  Alsever has a long tradition of involvement with the University. She is among a lengthy line of Decker family descendants to graduate from SU. She married Dr. William Alsever, who served in the University’s health services for many years. She is a member of her class reunion committee and has remained an active alumna of her sorority, Alpha Phi. Alsever has also traveled with the University’s Alumni Tours program.  A member of Eta Pi Upsilon, a women’s honorary sorority, and a patron of Sigma Alpha Iota, a musical honorary society, Alsever has also been heavily involved in the Syracuse community, serving as president of the Syracuse Boys Club (now the Syracuse Boys and Girls Club), area coordinator for the Campfire Girls and member of the board of the Syracuse Symphony Auxiliary and the Cerebral Palsy Association. She also served as president of the Portfolio Club and remains an associate member. She resides in Jamesville. 

Yvonne Miller Phillips  Phillips earned a bachelor’s degree from The College of Arts and Sciences, graduating cum laude in 1941, and a master’s degree in elementary education from the School of Education in 1970. She taught in the Jamesville-DeWitt School District for 16 years.  While a student at SU, Phillips was a member of the University’s yearbook staff and of her sorority, Delta Delta Delta. She remains an active alumna of the sorority, serving as its historian and editor of the annual alumni newsletter. She is currently president of the Delta Delta Delta alumni organization. She also organized the sorority’s 100th anniversary celebration in 1996 and has attended numerous national conventions. She also managed a successful fund-raising campaign to restore the sorority’s house in Syracuse.  Phillips has also remained involved with the University in other ways. She is a past vice president of the SU Alumnae Club and travels with the University’s Alumni Tours program.  In addition to her alumni activities, Phillips is active in her Fayetteville community–as secretary of the Pro Art-Eltinge Guild, a music guild that meets monthly, and a member of the Suburban Garden Club.  George Stafford  Stafford graduated with a bachelor’s degree in management from the School of Management in 1948 and an M.B.A. in 1972. He retired as president of Rogers and Stafford Inc., a Syracuse insurance agency. He is second vice president of the Syracuse University Alumni Club of Central New York, a member of the Ganders Lecture Committee for the School of Education, former president of the SU Alumni Interfraternity Council and a member of the Varsity Club. He was an alumni advisor to the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity and chair of the chapter’s alumni and building associations.  Stafford is a member of the University’s Society of Fellows and is a longtime supporter of the Orange football, basketball and wrestling programs. He has carried on a tradition established by his late wife, Margaret Parker Stafford, a former faculty member and graduate of SU’s School of Education, of presenting lectures on the history of first ladies of the United States. Stafford presented one of the lectures to the Alumni Association at Minnowbrook in 1997.  Active in the Syracuse community, Stafford has been a member of the board of directors of Syracuse’s downtown YMCA and a regular driver for Meals on Wheels, and is an usher at St. Paul’s Cathedral.