About the diary writer
- Barbara McDowell Whitt
- Kansas City, Missouri, Alexandria, Virginia, United States
- ~ About: A 1961-65 Park College Diary ~ As a high school girl and then a college coed in the first half of the 1960s, I wrote nightly entries on the pages of one-year diaries. In January 2010 I began transcribing the entries into a blog and gave each one a title. I grew up on three farms within 30 miles of Iowa City and the University of Iowa with its Iowa Writers' Workshop. As the oldest of four daughters, in my diaries I sometimes referred to my sisters as "the kids" or "the girls." We helped our parents, but we also had good, wholesome fun - a characteristic I took with me to Park. Park is 300 miles southwest of West Chester, Iowa, in Parkville, Missouri, on the Missouri River 10 miles northwest of Kansas City, Missouri, and across the river from Kansas City, Kansas. In 2000 Park College became Park University. Today Park's flagship campus is in Parkville and there are an additional 41 campus centers across the nation. Park was one of the first educational institutions in the United States to offer online learning. My last post was on May 22, 2018. I may be followed on Twitter @BarbaraMcDWhitt.
890 Letters From 43 Pen Pals Since 1953 - Thursday, July 13, 1961
Tonight scattered about my room are stacks of letters from 43 pen pals that I've had since 1953 for a total of 890 letters. That isn't counting every one I've received but most of them. We went to the club ice cream social at Duvalls in town tonight. Connie, Dorothy, Phyllis and I were walking past our church when the Dusenberry and Lampe boys jumped out from a bush and yelled. I was so scared I "wet my pants". Dorothy had thought she saw someone so at least we had some warning. The trees down in the draw that I always saw from my windows are gone. They were my landmark.
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4 comments:
That is so impressive. You must have loved to write letters. Any chance yo saved the letters?
I loved ice cream socials; one of those summer pleasures I had sort of forgotten about.
These letters must bring back so many memories of friendships and sharing. What a wonderful experience to reflect on and share here. Some of the letters I've received and treasured mean more to me than I can say, and are stored in with the special things like family photos.
Ron, among the contents of my storage boxes (which thankfully are all up here now and not in a basement storage room), I hope to find a few of those letters.
I still remember the album (with cut - out - by - me) construction paper letters (of the alphabet) for the album's title page, and a collection of a few sample letters from different parts of the world, starting with some from Mrs. Cowan,that I put together for a school fair.
The fair was at West Chester School,and I remember its placement on the table (done by someone else) and the tables being up against the school gym's south wall.
Jennifer, I agree with your words in your comment, "so many memories of friendship and sharing," and I love your phrase, "the special things."
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