FEATURE STORY: Alumna recalls days at Fresno State
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Roberta Sumner, at age 99 plus, hasn't forgotten her alma mater. As one of Fresno State's oldest alums, she still recalls with fondness her days at what was then Fresno Normal School.
Born in Coalinga in 1911 as Roberta Beebe, Sumner is a Valley girl through and through. She is a member of the Native Daughters of the Golden West, a community-service group for native-born Californians dedicated to preserving California history.
Sumner's parents met in a boarding house and moved their family to Fresno County while Sumner was only about six. They came by surrey, a horse-drawn carriage.
Sumner attended high school and made the decision to go to Fresno Normal School in 1929 because she wanted to become an elementary school teacher. Times were tough during the Depression. Since her family's resources were limited, Sumner chose to go to a college that was local and relatively inexpensive.
"My poor folks … we were really poor," Sumner says. "We just barely had enough. That’s the one reason why I didn’t go out of town or anything. I never asked them because I felt they couldn’t afford it."
Sumner completed her student teaching at Edison Tech School and graduated from Fresno Normal School in 1933 with a major in commerce. Fresno Normal School then became Fresno State College.
Worried about discipline problems if she taught high school, however, Sumner decided to take clerical jobs. Soon, she married and had her first son, but World War II broke out. Because of his delivery job, her husband was exempt from the draft, but after the war, jobs for women were scarce. Sumner focused on raising her family until she returned to what was then Fresno State College in the 1950s to earn a teaching credential. After completing the 9 units required, she taught in elementary schools for 20 years before she retired at age 65 because of a mandatory retirement rule.
Sumner fondly remembers her days at Fresno State. She said she never felt that she was treated any differently from the male students, but that the environment was as supportive as her high school had been. Other than some antics in which upper-classmen threw a freshman in the fish pond, her time at Fresno State was relatively tranquil. She packed a lunch to save on expenses and concentrated on her studies.
If she had anything she would have done differently with her education, Sumner says she would have tried for a career in elementary school teaching sooner. "I'd still be a teacher," she says.
Even as a kid, Sumner used to pretend she was a teacher. "I've spent my life teaching my pets and my dolls and everything else," she says. "That was how I entertained myself."
Sumner has passed on her Fresno State legacy to the next generation. Her daughter Kathryn and husband Loren Buller both graduated from Fresno State in 1971, Kathryn with a degree in social science (so she could become a teacher) and Loren with a degree in industrial technology.
Sumner's daughter and her husband have also passed on their legacy to their son, Randy Buller, who graduated in 2003 with a degree in computer engineering. His wife, Laura (Davidson), is also an alumn and graduated in 2002 with a degree in graphic design. While at Fresno State, Randy was a drum major in the Bulldog Marching Band and Laura was in the Bulldog Marching Band Color Guard.
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