Purchasing the cap, gown and hood before her Commencement ceremony nearly 50 years ago was no small outlay for Kay Hall Lewis, who earned her PhD from Stanford Graduate School of Education in 1972. “It was a major expense early in my career,” says Lewis. “But it was one I never regretted.” She continued wearing her Stanford regalia throughout a long career at Brown University, where she worked in various roles including university registrar, associate dean of the undergraduate college and director of institutional research. “I wore it twice a year, at Convocation and Commencement, for over 30 years until I retired in 2004.” 

Now living on Block Island, a small island off the coast of Rhode Island, she and her husband volunteer for various causes—including, for the past two years, serving as proctors for a local student attending Stanford Online High School, an accredited school that draws students from around the world.

Thinking about how her regalia has been in storage for the past 15 years, she recently decided to give it new life by sending it back to the GSE to pass along to a newly minted PhD. “I realized what a shame it is for a beautiful Stanford robe and hood to sit in an attic when someone beginning his or her career could be making good use of it,” says Lewis, pictured here in her backyard wearing the regalia. “I hope it goes to someone who will wear it often.”