September 1944: no place for a woman

“I arrived [at Southwestern College] in the spring of 1944, to find a student body of about 150, including 13 men.  They were either deferred as ministerial students, as farmers, or 4-F.  They included one retarded student, Bob Hill, who had been my classmate all through grade school in Winfield.

“I do not recall enrolling in forensics [debate] in my first year.  Actually, I had been enamored of chemistry in high school and thought of a career in physical chemistry.  Because of the war, most of the professors had gone into service, and Professor Oncley, near retirement, was teaching Physics, although that was not his major field.  Prof. Oncley made it clear to me that the field of physical chemistry was no place for a woman.  The physical conditions in the labs were pitiful as well, and the combination of those factors discouraged me.”

--From brief memoir written by my mother about her college years, written around 2001.  She graduated college in January 1948.  (According to my mother's transcripts from Southwestern College, she matriculated into the college on September 5, 1944 and not the spring, although she may have visited earlier.)