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.
We Saw "To Kill a Mocking Bird" - Tuesday, May 21, 1963
We all went in to see "To Kill a Mocking Bird" tonight. It was good. Gregory Peck got the Best Actor Academy Award for it. The three little kids did well with their parts, too. I finally got a letter written to Nancy. Have some others to write, too! I've been out of school a month now. At least my job is keeping me occupied, but lately I haven't been getting much else done.
Charles and Dave Liked My Feature Story - Monday, May 20, 1963
Virginia cut my hair for me tonight. I wrote to the business office to notify them of my acceptance of the financial aid the college is giving me for next year - $500 ($200 grant-in-aid and $300 student employment) and to ask them about the money I never got for my 18 hours of yearbook work. Charles and Dave both said they liked my feature story. Now to think of some other ones to do. I have the nicest job. I'm lucky to have it. Charley was asking me today if I'd had a quiet weekend and saying if I had he and Bob would take off for a few days and let me take over.
Marilyn Has a Red MG Convertible - Sunday, May 19, 1963
By the time I left at 3:10, I doubt if Marilyn got much more done than if she'd come up here. Hope she gets her tests studied for and papers written. She's changed her major from biology to elementary education. We went to the Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian Church this morning. I drove and Marilyn's nice roommate Sue Brown and another girl went along. Marilyn's folks probably won't let her come back up here to school next year. But they bought her a red MG convertible with spoke wheels! It must be the life!
Spent Night at Iowa Wesleyan - Saturday, May 18, 1963
I drove down to Iowa Wesleyan after work to visit Marilyn. It took an hour to get to Mt. Pleasant. They're on daylight time. Marilyn thought she better not take the time to come up to our house, so I'm staying down here for the night. Tonight a nice blind date, Tom Morrasen and I, Marilyn and her present boyfriend, and another couple tripled. We took Tom's car to Fairfield for pizza. Iowa Wesleyan kids are quite a lot like Park's. In some respects they're different. They have marvelous Saturday night suppers - steaks! (Delicious ones, too!) It feels good to be back in college life! My feature article was on the Journal front page.
West Chester's 1961 Mid-Prairie Graduates - Friday, May 17, 1963
I called Marilyn at Iowa Wesleyan tonight. I'm going to drive down after work tomorrow and either bring her back for Saturday night and part of Sunday or stay down there, whichever works out. Journal work went fine today. I should have a nice Saturday review page this week. Jim Young was at the root beer stand today so we were talking some. (He's married to Phyllis Crone.) Mrs. Stewart saw me in Bridges and wanted me to make a list tonight of all the West Chester kids who graduated from Mid-Prairie in 1961. I guess they want to invite us to the alumni banquet, though I'm not that keen on going. Marion probably heard me say something about "If I'd just graduated from West Chester I could be going to the alumni banquet," one time.
Cooper's Splashdown Was Flawless - Thursday, May 16, 1963
Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper's splashdown in the Pacific at 5:20 a.m., 115 miles southeast of Midway Island was perfectly flawless following his 22 orbits of the earth. There was some concern when the automatic re-entry device was lost on the last orbit, but he brought it in manually "right on the money," as John Glenn said. It was a wonderful climax. This afternoon at 4:00 I went out to North 5th to interview Henry Kiene, a retired farmer, who made three "mosaic" pictures entirely from different kinds of seeds. Two of them are on display at Gevock's. Bob had already taken a picture of one of them.
Astronaut Cooper's Liftoff Was Perfect - Wednesday, May 15, 1963
Cooper's liftoff at 7:00 this morning was perfect. He's supposed to "sleep" in space tonight. No wonder some people would never think of keeping a diary. It can be rather hard to think of anything different to write when you do practically the same thing every day - I suppose some people's lives are that way - they never "do" anything. It's interesting to have the experience of spending entire days doing only one thing. Until this time, nearly every day I ever spent was more "varied," rather than "concentrated."
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