Grace Paul, class of 1924, was born in Sri Lanka to a family of country parsons. She was raised in an area with no schools for her to attend, so she and her siblings learned from their mother, who had been educated at Uduvil Seminary, where Susan Reid Howland, class of 1870, was principal. Under Howland’s influence, the school’s song and colors were the same as Mount Holyoke’s. Over a decade later, when Howland was close to death, she left Uduvil and gave Paul her Mount Holyoke diploma, which was still in her possession when she earned the opportunity to study in the United States. As a child, Paul was frustrated by the absence of women in any powerful positions in her country and was supported by her family to seek an education. Ranee S. Satthianadhan, Paul’s sister, who was the principal of the Methodist College of Colombo, the oldest girl’s school in Sri Lanka, described Paul as a “stately figure of dignity” who “disapproved of sloppiness in speech.”
Paul graduated from Uduvil Seminary. She then graduated from Women’s Christian College in Madras, India as a first honors girl. In 1920, she began attending Mount Holyoke and struggled with culture shock and cold temperatures. After graduating in 1924, she worked at Uduvil Seminary as a science teacher. At Uduvil she helped students continue to learn in their native language, running a bilingual section of the school at a time when English education was favored. Paul moved to Kandy Girls’ High School, in Kandy, Sri Lanka where she became principal in 1949 and helped them reverse their financial debt. Paul emphasized Sri Lankan culture in the school by adding Kandyan dancing and helping to organize a ballet. Paul remained there until 1955. She wrote several articles on education including, “Women’s Hostels in Residential Universities” and “Freedom of the School Child.”
