**nightly entries written by a coming-of-age girl who became a woman from Washington County Iowa**
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.
Mom Campaigns - Saturday, October 8, 1960
Just one month till the presidential election. Mom did her part for the Republican party by going to about six houses with and about information. Nixon himself said last summer that his party would cover every house in the country. I only slept till about 9:00 this morning, but I've been too lazy to get much (and I haven't got much) work done. I wrote my English speech to gain action on "How to Write Checks."
Float Wins First Prize - Friday, October 7, 1960
For me, a highlight of Mid-Prairie's first homecoming was the fact that our senior float, "Let's Feather Our Nest," won first prize. I did enough as chairman of the committee! Also, after a year of waiting, our new dyed black band uniforms arrived just in time for homecoming. We beat Camanche 49-6. In English class we gave impromtu speeches, but they didn't get around to me. Some of them were hilarious.
Homecoming King and Queen - Thursday, October 6, 1960
The only reason I'm not working on the float tonight is that I forgot my purse (and driver's license) after school so couldn't drive to Wellman tonight. We went with Peters to the pep rally. Ross Rhodes is homecoming king and Judy Johnson is queen. Everyone got big black and gold Mid-Prairie High School homecoming buttons. They must have decided we deserved presents for the way we've all cooperated at Mid-Prairie.
Float Shapes Up Fast - Wednesday, October 5, 1960
I hadn't planned to work on our float tonight but ended up going over with Mom as one of our chaperones. It really shaped up fast tonight, and there weren't too many people working. Mrs. Frazier postponed our French test a day and Mr.Jones let our government test go until Monday. I have found my chemistry workbook. I have to get busy in that now.
Progress on Float is Slow - Tuesday, October 4, 1960
I went over to work on our float again and took Lillian and Irene Hole along for driving company. Our float is progressing slowly but surely (?). Some boy broke one of the cans of gold paint. Thank heavens the kids are going ahead on their own. I got my three pocket books, one a French dictionary. Phyllis went to the movie Psycho with Linda Pence.
District Teachers Convention - Monday, October 3, 1960
The teachers (including Mom) went to the district teachers convention at Burlington, so we didn't have school. We went to town this morning to wash. I got a red handkerchief in with the white stuff, so we'll have pink socks for a week. I got the chicken wire, some paint and cardboard for our float. We got going pretty good on it tonight. (Holding my breath.) I at least got my government paper on city government written.
50-Star Flag for Church - Sunday, October 2, 1960
We had youth fellowship. We're going to start having our meetings on Wednesday night for a while. We went up to Peters afterwards for popcorn. I can just see my grades (and the senior float) about Friday. I'm going to have to buckle down before all my French gets away from me! We had Communion today. The church has a new 50-star and a new Christian flag.
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