Twila Yates Papay

Twila Yates Papay, age 70, passed away peacefully in hospice care on Friday morning, March 24, 2017. Twila was born in Greensburg, PA, on October 13, 1946, and was the daughter of Ralph and Mary Yates. A resident of Altamonte Springs, FL, Twila moved to Windsor Place, an Assisted Living Facility at Orlando Lutheran Towers, after becoming ill in May of 2013 while on European sabbatical. Twila earned her advanced degrees, masters and doctorate, at Purdue University, and taught English and Writing for 45 years. She began her career as an educator in 1969, when she accepted a position as Teaching Assistant, and later, Graduate Instructor, while still at Purdue. In 1973, Twila joined the faculty of St. Peter’s College in Jersey City, New Jersey, and was soon promoted to Assistant Professor. It was at St. Peter’s where Twila met her husband-to-be, fellow faculty member and philosophy professor, Joseph Papay. They were married on May 16, 1976. By 1984, Twila was recognized nationally as an “extraordinary educator” when she was profiled in the book 20 Teachers for the creative and collaborative methods by which she taught English as a second language. And just one year later, in the Fall of 1985, she was named Director of Writing Programs and the Writing Center at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. While at Rollins, Twila was granted tenure and promoted to full professor. She taught there for 30 years until her retirement in May of 2014. Her innovative English Department courses and programs included Star Trek’s World of Diversity, Visions of Harry Potter, Gender Images in Science Fiction, and Writing Across the Curriculum — which Twila developed in campus-wide collaboration with faculty and students. The methods she instituted at the Writing Center were modeled at other college and university writing centers nationwide, based on presentations given at national conferences by more than 200 of Twila’s personally-trained Peer Writing Consultants. Under Twila’s guidance, the Rollins Writing Center was the recipient of an Extraordinary Achievement Award from the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing, and then received international recognition, over the course of several sabbaticals, when Twila served as visiting professor at writing centers in South Africa and Australia. Twila also served as faculty advisor to nontraditional teams and clubs that rounded out the college experience with laughter and play. She was the first faculty advisor to both the Rollins Laughing Club, covered by the New York Times in 2012, and the Rollins Quidditch Team, which traveled to New York City just a year after its founding to participate in the 2011 Muggle Quidditch World Cup. Based on the game from the Harry Potter movies, Muggle Quidditch is one of the fastest-growing intramural and club sports in America, and Twila played a big part in bringing it to Rollins. When Twila wasn’t writing, teaching, or advising, she was traveling — and writing about it. She was a published travel writer who, together with her husband, Joe, traversed the globe several times over, spent time on six of the seven continents, and only missed out on Antarctica when their tour ship ran into rough waters and had to turn back. It only seems fitting that Twila’s last work for Rollins was not on campus, but on the European continent, while on the last sabbatical of her 45-year teaching career. Twila’s educational legacy will continue with the donation of her personal and professional libraries to the Olin Library at Rollins College, and Better World Books, a global nonprofit working to promote literacy in developing countries around the world. Its partners include Books for Africa, committed to putting books in the hands of children who have never held a book before; and Room to Read, which is transforming the lives of millions of children in the developing world by focusing on literacy and working to ensure that girls are given the skills and support they need to complete their secondary education. Twila is survived by her loving husband of 40 years, Joseph L. Papay; her sister and brother-in-law, Ruth and Donald Cummings, of Paris PA; her nephew and his wife, Bruce and Amy Cummings, of Summerville, SC; and their sons, Xander and Matthew Cummings. In respect of Twila’s last wishes, the family has planned a private memorial service on Sanibel Island and requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Twila's name be made to the Alzheimer's & Dementia Resource Center, 1506 Lake Highland Dr, Orlando, FL 32803. http://adrccares.org.

Twila Yates Papay

October 13, 1946 - March 24, 2017