Matriarch Claudia Wells Hamilton led the way for two generations of Belles.
When Interdisciplinary Studies major Bhali Johnson received her diploma during the 2025 commencement ceremony, she did so in the presence of a great aunt who walked across Bennett’s stage 75 years prior.
Dr. Claudia Wells Hamilton, a 1950 graduate, returned to Bennett to celebrate her great niece’s commencement and participate in Reunion Weekend activities. At 95, she is vibrant and full of stories about her time at the college and the rich life she lived beyond.
Family
Dr. Hamilton is the oldest daughter of Bishop Wyoming. N. Wells, who was the pastor of Wells Memorial Church for more than three decades, and one of the original members of the General Board of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC).
As the eldest daughter of an influential minister, Claudia would have been expected to be the epitome of propriety. So when she decided to marry in her junior year at Bennett College, she caused a bit of an uproar.
“You weren’t supposed to be married,” she says. At the time, a young woman who married would be expected to drop out of school. In her case, the rules were adjusted.
President David Dallas Jones called her father to come to the school, and they agreed on a plan that would allow her to stay.
“The doctor had to send a note saying that I didn’t have to get married, if you know what I mean,” she chuckled. Then her father had to have printed announcements made and posted around the campus about the marriage.
She and her husband Edmond Scott Hamilton, married, and eventually settled in West Bloomfield, Michigan, a Detroit suburb. She went on to have an important career as an educator—serving as classroom teacher, department head, assistant principal, and secondary-school principal in the Detroit Public Schools. She wrote two inspirational, autobiographical books, Cookies Do Crumble (2013) and In His Name (2018).
Family Influencer
Her upbringing and influence—and her love for Bennett—trickled down to other women in the family. Bhali’s sister, Falon is also a Bennett College graduate, as is their cousin Dr. Patricia J. Wells.
“Every summer we would go to Aunt Claudia’s house for two weeks,” Bhali recalls. “In the morning, she would wake us up with classical music.” Beds had to be made a certain way. Meals were eaten at tables set according to proper etiquette. “Of course, our parents taught us, but she really instilled that every time we came to the house,” Bhali says.
Dr. Hamilton became a cosmopolitan, well-traveled woman–and brought back some of that international flair to her home in Michigan. For example, Bhali says there is a huge gong near the front door of her house. “Every time you come into the house, she would bang the gong and announce visitors like, ‘The Johnsons are in the house.’”
Hats and gloves
Some Bennett influences never faded for Claudia Wells Hamilton. “I wear a hat every day of my life,” she says. She has more than 300 hats in her closet and the Detroit newspaper has written features about her hat collection. And she still wears gloves.
“I buy all my gloves in England. I have gloves in every color,” she says.
She is an inspiration to her family, including her adult children and the others in the family. “She’s very unique in her own way, but very, very fun,” say Bhali. “You would never think she is 95. She gets around and travels like she’s nothing close to that age.”
Dr. Goldie Wells, a Greensboro City Council representative and a Bennett College trustee, married Dr. Hamilton’s brother. She says, “Claudia is definitely a unique person.”
The admiration of the people around her is something she has cultivated. “I know that my persona is determined by my choices of personal appearance and my hygiene, my diet, my style, my deportment, my communication skills, my honesty, and my integrity, including the reputation that I personally establish, and my contribution to my society and respect of my fellowman. I work on my identity for twenty-four seven,” she has said.
