“I
had enjoyed debate in high school; where my coach was Ward Henderson, a
forensics star at Southwestern in 1936.
Accordingly, I enrolled in debate at Southwestern in the fall of
1945. Dr. Allen the debate coach, was
the father of my best friend from grade school days. I had often visited his home, but whenever I
took classes from him at Southwestern, he always addressed me formally, as was
the custom in those far-off times. It
was always ‘Miss Murray.’ Another
student was Bob Hill, whom I had known in grade school. His intellectual abilities were entirely
inadequate to the demands of discussion and debate, or for that matter, the
demands of college work at all. But it
kept him out of mischief, and I assume that his father paid the tuition.
“Our
first discussion assignment was to be on the possible future of atomic energy
(this was just after the atomic bomb had been dropped on Japan). Dr. Allen insisted that we allow Bob to
participate in the discussion. There
were to be no snickers, and no unkind remarks directed at Bob. It became an intellectual challenge for us to
say anything sensible in response to what Bob said. It was a lesson to all of us to respect others
regardless of their limitations.
“During
that year, our participation in debates depended on Dr. Allen’s being able to
get gas for his car. We took as many as
his car would hold to tournaments at McPherson and Bethany Colleges in
Kansas. We also took longer trips to
Nebraska, to the Great Plains Tournament at Kearney; and to the University of
Nebraska at Lincoln. Theresa Knapp
always sat in the front seat because she was subject to carsickness. The rest of us crowded together in the back
seat. Highlights of the trips was a stop
in Oxford Kansas for Dr. Allen’s favorite pies.”
--Excerpt
from brief memoir by my mother, Ruth Murray Brown, written about 2001, about
her participation in debate in college.
