“Dear Mr. Ellamae” book signing Wesleyan Alumna Cheryl Dennis ’68
Thursday, January 27 / 10am Wesleyan College, Burden Parlor, Olive Swann Porter Building
Ellamae Ellis League, Wesleyan Class of 1920, was a Macon native and, according to family history, the first female to join the ranks of six generations of architects. In her 50-plus-year career, League designed original buildings and renovation plans for dozens of structures. In 1975, the year she retired, League became the first Macon architect to receive the AIA-Georgia Association’s Bronze Medal for service to the profession.
Ellamae was an architect, true, but also a mother and grandmother. It’s this Ellamae you’ll meet and love in granddaughter Cheryl League Dennis’s new book Dear Mr. Ellamae.
“My book is about my grandmother, Ellamae Ellis League, and it tells of her little known personal journey to become an architect in a time that it was a man’s profession. I hope it inspires women to break barriers and to be the best they can be.”
Dennis grew up in Macon, Georgia, and attended Wesleyan College, Class of 1968. Her major was art, and she worked as a graphic artist in Augusta, Atlanta, and Baltimore as she accompanied her husband during his medical training. When their first daughter was born in 1976, she became a full-time mom to what would later be three girls. Since an early age, she always dreamed of writing. As she grew older, learning more about her family’s history became a passion. This book was an opportunity to combine the two interests.
Dear Mr. Ellamae was released on November 30, 2021 by Austin Macauley Publishers, and already has a five-star rating on Amazon.
Click here to read “Always an architect,” first published in Wesleyan College’s alumnae magazine in 2013.