Alumnae Association Awards

Tyler was a 13-year girl. The 1977 Quair lists her pursuits in various sports and organizations, including the mysteriously named “Lounge Club” in her senior year.  Lounging is not something anyone who knows her would say was in Tyler’s DNA. An inveterate walker, she has by now worn holes in the sidewalks of Grove Avenue and Virginia Beach, always impeccably dressed and coiffed as if she is headed to a cocktail party. A self-taught artist, she has quietly given of her talents to family and friends and even painted, at the School’s request, a watercolor of Ellett, Bacot, and Washington Halls that was sent to boarding alumnae following the School’s decision to end the boarding program in 2008.   

Tyler is that most precious and rare of “Birds” — a dream volunteer and one whose actions are always louder than her soft spoken words. She joined the Richmond Alumnae Board in 1989 and served as its president in 1990-1992. She has worked countless reunions and phonathons, served on reunion committees and hosted her class reunion. Upon the retirement of School Archivist Virginia Jones in 2000, Tyler was a shoo-in successor. Like her predecessor, Tyler is organized, detail-oriented, conscientious to a fault, and devoted to St. Catherine’s. To clinch the deal, she also possesses perfect, distinctive handwriting like Virginia. The Archives grew, flourished and became infinitely more accessible under Tyler’s watch. It was to the School’s everlasting benefit that Tyler remained in this role for 12 years, even jumping in to assume the duties of Alumnae Director for several months in 2002.

While St. Catherine’s has claimed the large preponderance of Tyler’s time, talent, and treasure, she has also blessed other organizations with her attention, including St. James’s Episcopal Church, where she has been a vestry member and supporter of Children’s Christian Education. Following the death of her beloved son Buck in 2012, Tyler, her husband Ray, and their daughter Margaret ’07 became very involved with the American Society for Suicide Prevention, “with hope that they can honor Buck's life by heightening public awareness of depression and suicide, eliminating the stigmas attached, researching causes and cures, helping other families in their bereavement, and saving the precious lives of countless others.” It says everything about Tyler that she took an unimaginable heartbreak and turned it into service to others. Throughout her life, Tyler has remained a stalwart supporter of our School. 

Tyler is the epitome of "What we keep we lose; only what we give remains our own,” and the very deserving recipient of the 2022 Outstanding Service Award.