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.
Senior Play was "Come Out of the Closet" - Thursday, April 21, 1960
Tonight was the senior class play. It was good. That was West Chester High School's last play. It was "Come Out of the Closet," a mystery-comedy. We junior girls ushered. It was fun after we got used to it. I wore my Easter dress. I typed up the duplicator copies for the prom programs.
April Fools Day Story Reprinted - Wednesday, April 20, 1960
Tonight we had choir practice. On the way home the lights on Mrs. Janecek's pickup went out. They left it in our driveway and I took them and Vicki home. Consequently, I've still got geometry to do. The St. Ansgar school paper (I send a copy of ours to Mrs. Wuerffell from the journalism workshop) used Jerolyn's and my April Fools story on their front page. Jerolyn will be thrilled!
Elementary Science Fair - Tuesday, April 19, 1960
The elementary science fair was today and tonight. Phyl and I stayed home tonight. I wrote about the science fair first in my column even though it is usually only high school news. Juddy Hall--whom I thought is a girl but is a boy - had some baby chicks hatching. We're having proportions in geometry.
"Kick Ball" Softball - Monday, April 18, 1960
The senior class dress rehearsal was tonight. The play will be Thursday night. In P. E. we played "kick ball" softball. I started my column. I'm going to have to be careful or I will get behind on Moby Dick for English. We're supposed to get a school paper out a week from Friday. It was colder again. Ann is getting her rock collection ready for the science fair tomorrow night.
Hail and Snow on Easter - Sunday, April 17, 1960
We had a nice Easter although the weather was about the worst we've ever seen for Easter. It was cold, windy, rainy, and it even hailed and snowed! We had dinner at Grandma's. Parcells couldn't come because Sonja was sick. Phyl and I played our horns and Virginia accompanied us for the 9:00 o'clock service.
A Ton of Feed in a Week - Saturday, April 16, 1960
The urge to play basketball, practicing our horns for tomorrow, and coloring Easter eggs kept me from getting any homework done except geometry. I hemmed up my Easter dress. We had a close thunder storm during chores. Several times I thought it had me. Daddy won an Easter ham at Porter's for buying a ton of feed in a week.
Ham Radio in Physics Class - Friday, April 15, 1960
School was dismissed at 1:30 for Good Friday. We went in to town to do the wash. I got a $4.00 value Sheaffer cartridge pen and ten cartridges for $1.00 and a new pair of white tennis shoes. With Jim Orr's ham radio today we heard a Keota-Batavia conversation mentioning "the West Chester physics class." We went to Grace Hill to church tonight.
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