For Hugh Normile ’65, Guilford College is more than just a school he attended. Guilford is where his story began, where he stumbled into philosophy, learned values that still guide him today, and, most importantly, where he met Lynn — his late wife and the love of his life.
That’s why Hugh’s recent $10,000 gift to Guilford, in Lynn’s memory, feels less like a donation and more like a love letter back to the college he says gave him so much.”Guilford means more to me than I think I can say in words – and I’m a lawyer,” he says, jokingly.
Hugh was in town last weekend for his 60th class reunion on Guilford’s Homecoming & Family Weekend. He smiles remembering all the friends he made here, the professors who not only taught him but inspired him. But most of all, he loves talking about his first and only love, Lynn Morris Normile.
“How can you not love a place that introduced me to such a wonderful and amazing woman?” he says.
They met in the fall of 1963. Picture this: dinner, family-style, in Founders Hall. Everyone squeezed in around big tables, passing food, trading stories. That’s where Hugh first sat across from Lynn, who was a first-year student. He admits he didn’t notice her right away — too busy philosophizing with classmates — until a roommate nudged him later that night and said, “Did you see that girl?”
Then came Convocation in Dana Auditorium, where alphabetical fate placed “Normile” right behind “Morris.” Hugh laughs remembering it now: “I corralled her and she couldn’t resist me, but, really, it was the other way around.”
Soon the two were inseparable: eating meals together, studying in the library, hanging out on the Quad. Their love blossomed quickly and strong. At a small college like Guilford, everyone knew Hugh and Lynn were more than just boyfriend and girlfriend.
Sure enough, they got married in the Moon Room of Dana Auditorium Hugh’s senior year. By the time of his graduation, they were ready to take their next step together. Hugh and Lynn said “I do” right in the Moon Room of Dana Auditorium, with beloved Religion and Natural Science Professor Frederic Crownfield officiating and then-President Clyde Milner in attendance. The newlyweds drove straight to Gainesville, Fla., so Hugh could begin law school at the University of Florida — the next chapter of their adventure – and Lynn could attend Rollins College..
This year, Normile chose to honor Lynn — who died in 2022 — by supporting the expenses of Homecoming & Family Weekend with a gift.
“When you think about it, Lynn and I met at Guilford, went to classes together, even married on campus,” he says. “Guilford was always central to our story.”
Ask Hugh what Guilford means to him, and you’ll get a thoughtful pause, then a heartfelt answer.
“Value,” he says simply. “The social awareness of the Society of Friends, the professors, the student body. I have a much stronger relationship to Guilford than even my law school. The questions I learned here — Who am I? How do I know it? What should I do? — they guide me every day in life and as a lawyer.”
From the civil rights sit-ins that touched his time on campus to the Quaker values that still echo in Guilford’s mission, Normile says the themes of justice, learning and love remain alive today at Guilford.
“And that,” he says, “is exactly why I wanted to give back.”