Taylor-Slaughter Alumni Center

E. Marvin Slaughter Jr.
AB, East Carolina Teachers College, 1950

Luther M. Taylor
AB, East Carolina College, 1957

Through the generosity of Luther M. Taylor of the class of 1957 and E. Marvin Slaughter Jr. of the class of 1950, East Carolina University was able to acquire the property located at 901 East Fifth Street, which originally belonged to Paul and Rose H. Fitzgerald. On August 28, 1944, Mrs. Helen Forbes White Hawes bought the property from the Fitzgeralds and had a house built in 1955 by Roy G. Smith, a local building contractor. Mrs. Hawes lived in the house until her death on January 18, 1979.

Mr. Taylor and Mr. Slaughter, both East Carolina alumni, served on the University’s Board of Trustees and played an increasingly influential role in the institution’s development. Through their gifts of time, enthusiasm, loyalty, and financial support, they demonstrated a genuine commitment to establishing a permanent headquarters for the Alumni Association.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the alumni rolls grew rapidly, and alumni activities expanded significantly. With strong alumni engagement, East Carolina earned two U.S. Steel Foundation Alumni Giving Awards in 1980 and 1981. During this period, the number of donors rose from 1,670 to nearly 6,000, and contributions totaled half a million dollars.

In 1980, through the dedicated support of Luther Taylor and Marvin Slaughter, the Alumni Center became a reality when the University acquired the Hawes property. The house offered generous space for alumni offices and the Division of Institutional Advancement. Today, it continues to serve as the home of the ECU Alumni Association.

The façade of this late Georgian-style brick house is well-proportioned, and classic portico’s and Corinthian columns emphasize the front door. The graceful fanlight and sidelights are features typical of the Georgian style. The front interior of the house is a setting for a large gilded pier mirror which hangs in a small lateral hall framed by an arch at the rear of the foyer. Its shelf is made of marble and located so the mirror is visible from the foyer and rooms on either side of the hall. (The mirror is about 350 years old.) Two black Italian marble fireplaces with classic mantels are located in the two rooms left of the foyer.

Because of the generous financial assistance of Mr. Taylor and Mr. Slaughter, the Alumni Association was able to purchase the house on December 10, 1979. It was most appropriate to name this beautiful property the Taylor-Slaughter Alumni Center.

Strickland Conference Room

Audrey Harris Strickland ’88
1946-1992
Campbell University
BS, East Carolina University

Audrey Harris Strickland was a native of the Belvoir community in Pitt County and attended the local schools. After graduation from Belvoir-Falkland High School, she enrolled in Campbell University for additional work. She transferred to East Carolina University where she graduated with a specialty in business.

Mrs. Strickland was assistant director of Alumni Affairs for Special Events and Constituent Relations at East Carolina. She was president-elect of the ECU Club and a member of the East Carolina Alumni Association and the SEANC at the time of her death. She was also a member of Memorial Baptist Church and the Baptist Women’s Society.

Mrs. Strickland was married to Robert R. “Bobby” Strickland. They were the parents of Bobbie Jo “B.J.” Strickland, a 1990 graduate of D.H. Conley High School, who had completed her sophomore year at Meredith College and planned to attend North Carolina State University for her degree. Bobby Strickland, husband and father, was a native of Martin County but lived most of his life in Pitt County in the Eastern Pines community. He was a member of the Eastern Pines Men’s Club and Memorial Baptist Church choir.

The Strickland family had planned to fly out of Greenville for a vacation. However, shortly after take-off the plane encountered trouble and crashed, killing all three members of the family: Audrey, 46; Bobbie Jo, 20; and Bobby, 50. Funeral services were held at the Wilkerson Funeral Chapel with burial in Pinewood Memorial Park. The family was survived by Mrs. Strickland’s mother and brother, Jessie Eakes Harris and William B. Harris, and by Mr. Strickland’s brothers, Ralph, Jerry and Charles, and sisters Marcelene, Betty, and Peggy.

By official action of the board of trustees on December 11, 1992, the conference room in the Taylor-Slaughter Alumni Center was named the Audrey Harris Strickland Conference Room in her memory for untiring service and contributions to East Carolina.

Other Items of Interest

Painted Pirate Statue

During the 2007 Inaugural PirateFest, the ECU Alumni Association and the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with the ECU Office of Centennial Events, kicked-off an exciting new public arts project.

With the support of local businesses, citizens and ECU alumni, numerous “life-sized” Pirate statues donned the streets and business properties of Pitt County’s cities and towns. This project celebrated our community’s pirate heritage through an impressive public art display of pirate statues for the benefit of ECU and all of Greenville and Pitt County. The original design for the pirate was created by Artist Glenn Eure ‘75, an ECU alumnus who resides along North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

The statue that currently resides inside of the Taylor-Slaughter Alumni Center “Fortune of Heritage” was painted by Mike Litwin ’01.