Sweet MUMories Oral History Project - Eva Louise Polley
Title
Sweet MUMories Oral History Project - Eva Louise Polley
Description
Date
August 26, 2016
Duration
17:37 minutes
Transcription
Sweet MUMories Oral History Project
Transcript: Eva Louise Polley, August 26, 2016
Donation record #Polley.E.8262016.1
Transcribed by Erika Nisbet 5/30/2017. Approved for deposit by Marsha R. Robinson 09/09/2018
MRR My name is Marsha Robinson and we are recording an oral history with Ms. Eva Louise Polley as part of the Sweet MUMories Oral History Project to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Miami University Middletown, Ohio, campus. This interview is taking place on August 26, 2016, at Johnston Hall. Mrs. Polley, do I have your permission and consent to proceed with this interview?
0.31 ELP Yes.
MRR Miss.
ELP Yes.
MRR Alright, thank you very much. When did you first try to get an education at Miami University?
ELP That was in the summer, early summer of 1947 when I was graduated from Franklin High School. And I didn’t have any aspirations for college but my friends decided I needed to go and so we went to Miami to sign me up for the fall term. And I remember standing in the Registrar’s Office an extremely long time. And that’s because my friend was trying to convince them that I should stay in a dorm but at that time we weren’t allowed to stay in the dorms. We weren’t welcome to stay in the dorms.
MRR Since we’re not on tape who is we? We’re not on video.
ELP The minority girls, African Americans.
MRR African Americans, thank you.
ELP Back in those days we were colored. And terms don’t bother me.
MRR OK.
ELP OK. So after a while of discussion the Registrar finally said, “Well you know we do have a room near the furnace room. We could quick fix that up nice for her.” And so then we decided that wasn’t for me so I didn’t go. So I call that my little lesson that I would keep in my mind without holding a grudge. We were, we were not supposed to hold grudges. So then in the early sixties before the campus was built, Miami held classes at Middletown High School and that’s when I came back. And I stayed at MUM. Then MUM was developed. And I just call that my big lesson in forgiveness because if I’d held a grudge against Miami, I may have never finished my education because coming to MUM allowed me to keep my day job and pursue my degree.
MRR At the high school location what kind of classes did you take? Do you recall?
ELP Mm-hmm. I remember we had English and I took, oh New Testament, I took a class in New Testament, English, Zoology and a Math course, I think.
MRR Do you remember the conversations about opening a campus in Middletown?
ELP I knew it was in offing but I wasn’t paying that much attention. I really wasn’t into further education that much at that point.
MRR So what changed your mind when the campus opened up? What?
ELP Well, I don’t remember but there was a ruling that a teacher could hold a position with the understanding that you complete, was it two quarters, two years, two-year certification, that’s what it was and so once you get into it then I continued.
MRR So prior to being at the Middletown campus you were already a professional educator?
ELP No, I was a, I did housework and I thought it was absolutely wonderful. I had benefits. I had tickets to Miami University lecture series and I had tickets to concerts and I thought that was quite a nice deal.
MRR OK, do you recall any of the performances or speakers that you went to see?
ELP There was a history series that was in Middletown. I don’t, do you remember that? [to friend who attended the interview with her] From the campus and it was a membership performance. I don’t remember any other things.
MRR OK.
ELP That was a long time ago.
MRR So, once you enrolled at the Middletown campus, what do you recall about being a student here?
ELP I loved it. It was, it was nice. I liked most of the professors. I remember I had one, I’m not an Art student, and I was taking an Art course and with, am I allowed to name the professor?
MRR Yes.
ELP With Mr. Dahota. Remember Peter Dahota? And so we were supposed to draw trees and I said to my neighbor, “I just can’t get this tree right. I just can’t get it right.” And his voice boomed out, “A true artist doesn’t talk while she’s painting.” That I remembered.
MRR Do you have other stories about student life here?
ELP Oh, yeah I have lots of stories. Oh, yes I have one. I think that I’m sitting in room with my, one of my music teachers and we were supposed, as students were supposed to teach an icebreaker for children. And so, some of the students had really cute games. But I decided that I would make up a game. So I divided the class into two teams facing one another. And then I gave, I explained that each member on the team would have the name of an animal. And I would use the same set of names for the opposite team. But in fact, and they were not to share the name of their animal with one another. But in fact I gave everyone the same name on both teams. And so I’m standing in the middle and I toss the ball and when I called out “rabbit,” the rabbit from this team and this team were to supposed to see who could get the ball. But since they were all rabbits, they all converged at one time in the middle. And I thought that was a great icebreaker. I thought it was kind of fun. And I think, and I think that, and oh I forgot one thing. The instructor always took the place of the student teaching the game. And that’s just a fun thing that I remember doing.
MRR I’d like to continue with your education track. So can you tell us what happened, your first class happened and then did you finish the two-year degree here or what path did you take?
ELP Oh yes I did. I was, I was, when I first began teaching in Franklin, I was, well it was actually Carlisle but it was not a state-approved class. So my friend invited me to come to Boston for the summer and I took some special ed up there. And while I was there, our supervisor in Warren County contacted me and told me I could have a state-approved class so that’s when that began, ’65.
MRR So you went on with a major in…
ELP Elementary Education?
MRR Elementary education.
ELP I choose not to do special ed because there were limits. And the limits were that in Ohio if you were a special ed major you didn’t have to take math and reading. But you don’t know, or I didn’t know that I wouldn’t someday have a student that needed to have some reading skills or who was capable so that’s why I stayed in elementary instead of special ed.
MRR OK. Did you at any time attend other universities beside the university in Boston?
ELP Oh yes. I spent my summers hop, skipping and jumping from campus to campus wherever a class was offered. So besides going to Boston University I went to what’s that, Salem State, Salem State and took reading there. And I was rather brave in those days because that reading course was only for graduate students and I certainly was far from that because I hadn’t received my degree yet. But I petitioned and got in. So I went there. And I’ve been to Mount Saint Joe and UC and University of Toledo, Akron U, Ohio U.
MRR Would you say that attending the Middletown campus was a gateway to a career to you?
ELP Oh indeed, indeed. Yes.
MRR My next question is about that teacher that you mentioned who’s in the room with us right now and that teacher’s name is?
ELP Christine Parker.
MRR And you’re still in the same room?[giggles from both]
ELP Yes, we’re still in the same room.
MRR So from the game about rabbit and the icebreaker to doing this recording, what has happened over these years?
ELP Now for you by any chance remember teaching that course?
CP I don’t particularly, no. There were a lots of things that went on in that room.
ELP Now, could you repeat that question please.
MRR Sure. So the voice we just heard was from Mrs. Christina Parker and we have another interview scheduled with her in just a few moments so we can continue under that other recording. The question is, how is it that the two of you are still in the same room so many years later?
ELP Oh, I think as a liaisons, Lois because Lois was, yeah
MRR And that would be Lois Jestice who we also have an interview with so we can cross reference to that.
ELP And she was on campus and that’s how Lois and I met.
MRR OK. And so there’s this friendship that’s been continuing over the years. OK thank you. Now what I’d like to talk about is you were working full-time, taking classes at MUM. Were you unique in that situation when you were in school here at Middletown as far as working and going to school?
ELP No, that was the norm. I would say more than half of Franklin teachers were on campus at that time completing requirements while teaching.
MRR So for those who are reading this transcript, at the time, what were the requirements to become a public school teacher?
ELP Well, Lois can address this more than I can because I only tutored in public school in Franklin. I did, when I was retiring, I went on sick leave for a few months and during that time I had friends at Franklin Junior High that did in school tutoring for a math teacher and an English teacher but Lois can tell you more about that.
MRR OK we’ll cross to that interview later. So where were you working?
ELP Warren County School for, oh it’s had so many names, Warren County School for the Mentally Retarded.
MRR And the developmentally disabled.
ELP The mentally disabled, MRDD, yes.
MRR And how many years did you work for Warren County?
ELP Twenty-eight.
MRR Twenty-eight years and that began after you started school here in the sixties?
ELP Here yes, yes. Sixty-three or sixty-four.
MRR OK. Are there other stories that you want to share with us?
ELP No, I can’t get started because…I, well I think that the music book I brought with me played music activities I think I had it in one of the special classes that I took. But when I was a youngster I had no music aspirations, musical aspirations. And so I had an aunt who was trying to get me ready to take piano lessons because that was a thing in the family and I didn’t want to. But we had a piano out in our barn because it had been in, that piano had been in the 1913 flood and water had gotten up to the keys, so they moved that piano out. So then when I came along like a ten or eleven year old, my friends, my brother’s friends would play in the barn and the kids all played “Chopsticks” but my fingers never touched the keys because I figured if I played chopsticks or even anything else on the piano in the barn, I would have to take piano lessons in the house. So I didn’t touch the piano. So then I came to Miami University and had to take six hours of music to teach elementary. And this was one of the books we had and “chopsticks” is in the book. So l learned it. And I couldn’t read any music. So when I learned in class to read the key of c then I learned to play “Chopsticks.”
MRR And that book is being deposited with the archives?
ELP I don’t think I can give that up yet.
MRR Or a copy of it. Maybe, ok that would be fine. [see Polley.L.8262016.2, a book, African American Life in Franklin, OH]
ELP Now why am I keeping it? [giggles among friends]
MRR We can make a digital copy so that there’s a, since it was a university textbook and we can make a computer copy but the original stays with you. But we can talk about that after the interview.
MRR Alright. Are there any other professors or student stories that you would like to recall with us?
ELP No, except Dr. Edwards taught art. I had to take two art classes. One was with Dahota, and one with Dr. Edwards and Dr. Edwards was quite nice. But I didn’t know at that time that I had allergies and I had a hacking cough. And one day in class I coughed so much that Dr. Edwards said, “Would you please either do something to quell your cough or excuse yourself from the class?” And so I had to excuse myself from the class.
MRR But even then professors could see students as human?
ELP Yes, indeed and I couldn’t get mad at that, yeah.
MRR OK. Alright if there’s nothing else you want to record at this time?
ELP No.
MRR Alright do we have your permission to discontinue the interview?
ELP Yes.
MRR Thank you very much.
Indexing terms for the finding aid:
African Americans
Akron University
Artist and Lecture Series
Boston University
Carlisle Local School District
Colored people
Dahota, Peter
Domestic worker/Housework
Education major
Education, Elementary
Education, Special
Educator
Edwards, unknown first name, Art Professor
Elementary Education
Franklin High School
Jestice, Lois
Miami University Extension at Middletown High School
Miami University Oxford
Middletown High School
Mount Saint Joseph University
Ohio University
Parker, Christine
Salem State University
Segregation at Miami University
Special Education
Special Education
University of Cincinnati
University of Toledo
Warren County
Transcript: Eva Louise Polley, August 26, 2016
Donation record #Polley.E.8262016.1
Transcribed by Erika Nisbet 5/30/2017. Approved for deposit by Marsha R. Robinson 09/09/2018
MRR My name is Marsha Robinson and we are recording an oral history with Ms. Eva Louise Polley as part of the Sweet MUMories Oral History Project to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Miami University Middletown, Ohio, campus. This interview is taking place on August 26, 2016, at Johnston Hall. Mrs. Polley, do I have your permission and consent to proceed with this interview?
0.31 ELP Yes.
MRR Miss.
ELP Yes.
MRR Alright, thank you very much. When did you first try to get an education at Miami University?
ELP That was in the summer, early summer of 1947 when I was graduated from Franklin High School. And I didn’t have any aspirations for college but my friends decided I needed to go and so we went to Miami to sign me up for the fall term. And I remember standing in the Registrar’s Office an extremely long time. And that’s because my friend was trying to convince them that I should stay in a dorm but at that time we weren’t allowed to stay in the dorms. We weren’t welcome to stay in the dorms.
MRR Since we’re not on tape who is we? We’re not on video.
ELP The minority girls, African Americans.
MRR African Americans, thank you.
ELP Back in those days we were colored. And terms don’t bother me.
MRR OK.
ELP OK. So after a while of discussion the Registrar finally said, “Well you know we do have a room near the furnace room. We could quick fix that up nice for her.” And so then we decided that wasn’t for me so I didn’t go. So I call that my little lesson that I would keep in my mind without holding a grudge. We were, we were not supposed to hold grudges. So then in the early sixties before the campus was built, Miami held classes at Middletown High School and that’s when I came back. And I stayed at MUM. Then MUM was developed. And I just call that my big lesson in forgiveness because if I’d held a grudge against Miami, I may have never finished my education because coming to MUM allowed me to keep my day job and pursue my degree.
MRR At the high school location what kind of classes did you take? Do you recall?
ELP Mm-hmm. I remember we had English and I took, oh New Testament, I took a class in New Testament, English, Zoology and a Math course, I think.
MRR Do you remember the conversations about opening a campus in Middletown?
ELP I knew it was in offing but I wasn’t paying that much attention. I really wasn’t into further education that much at that point.
MRR So what changed your mind when the campus opened up? What?
ELP Well, I don’t remember but there was a ruling that a teacher could hold a position with the understanding that you complete, was it two quarters, two years, two-year certification, that’s what it was and so once you get into it then I continued.
MRR So prior to being at the Middletown campus you were already a professional educator?
ELP No, I was a, I did housework and I thought it was absolutely wonderful. I had benefits. I had tickets to Miami University lecture series and I had tickets to concerts and I thought that was quite a nice deal.
MRR OK, do you recall any of the performances or speakers that you went to see?
ELP There was a history series that was in Middletown. I don’t, do you remember that? [to friend who attended the interview with her] From the campus and it was a membership performance. I don’t remember any other things.
MRR OK.
ELP That was a long time ago.
MRR So, once you enrolled at the Middletown campus, what do you recall about being a student here?
ELP I loved it. It was, it was nice. I liked most of the professors. I remember I had one, I’m not an Art student, and I was taking an Art course and with, am I allowed to name the professor?
MRR Yes.
ELP With Mr. Dahota. Remember Peter Dahota? And so we were supposed to draw trees and I said to my neighbor, “I just can’t get this tree right. I just can’t get it right.” And his voice boomed out, “A true artist doesn’t talk while she’s painting.” That I remembered.
MRR Do you have other stories about student life here?
ELP Oh, yeah I have lots of stories. Oh, yes I have one. I think that I’m sitting in room with my, one of my music teachers and we were supposed, as students were supposed to teach an icebreaker for children. And so, some of the students had really cute games. But I decided that I would make up a game. So I divided the class into two teams facing one another. And then I gave, I explained that each member on the team would have the name of an animal. And I would use the same set of names for the opposite team. But in fact, and they were not to share the name of their animal with one another. But in fact I gave everyone the same name on both teams. And so I’m standing in the middle and I toss the ball and when I called out “rabbit,” the rabbit from this team and this team were to supposed to see who could get the ball. But since they were all rabbits, they all converged at one time in the middle. And I thought that was a great icebreaker. I thought it was kind of fun. And I think, and I think that, and oh I forgot one thing. The instructor always took the place of the student teaching the game. And that’s just a fun thing that I remember doing.
MRR I’d like to continue with your education track. So can you tell us what happened, your first class happened and then did you finish the two-year degree here or what path did you take?
ELP Oh yes I did. I was, I was, when I first began teaching in Franklin, I was, well it was actually Carlisle but it was not a state-approved class. So my friend invited me to come to Boston for the summer and I took some special ed up there. And while I was there, our supervisor in Warren County contacted me and told me I could have a state-approved class so that’s when that began, ’65.
MRR So you went on with a major in…
ELP Elementary Education?
MRR Elementary education.
ELP I choose not to do special ed because there were limits. And the limits were that in Ohio if you were a special ed major you didn’t have to take math and reading. But you don’t know, or I didn’t know that I wouldn’t someday have a student that needed to have some reading skills or who was capable so that’s why I stayed in elementary instead of special ed.
MRR OK. Did you at any time attend other universities beside the university in Boston?
ELP Oh yes. I spent my summers hop, skipping and jumping from campus to campus wherever a class was offered. So besides going to Boston University I went to what’s that, Salem State, Salem State and took reading there. And I was rather brave in those days because that reading course was only for graduate students and I certainly was far from that because I hadn’t received my degree yet. But I petitioned and got in. So I went there. And I’ve been to Mount Saint Joe and UC and University of Toledo, Akron U, Ohio U.
MRR Would you say that attending the Middletown campus was a gateway to a career to you?
ELP Oh indeed, indeed. Yes.
MRR My next question is about that teacher that you mentioned who’s in the room with us right now and that teacher’s name is?
ELP Christine Parker.
MRR And you’re still in the same room?[giggles from both]
ELP Yes, we’re still in the same room.
MRR So from the game about rabbit and the icebreaker to doing this recording, what has happened over these years?
ELP Now for you by any chance remember teaching that course?
CP I don’t particularly, no. There were a lots of things that went on in that room.
ELP Now, could you repeat that question please.
MRR Sure. So the voice we just heard was from Mrs. Christina Parker and we have another interview scheduled with her in just a few moments so we can continue under that other recording. The question is, how is it that the two of you are still in the same room so many years later?
ELP Oh, I think as a liaisons, Lois because Lois was, yeah
MRR And that would be Lois Jestice who we also have an interview with so we can cross reference to that.
ELP And she was on campus and that’s how Lois and I met.
MRR OK. And so there’s this friendship that’s been continuing over the years. OK thank you. Now what I’d like to talk about is you were working full-time, taking classes at MUM. Were you unique in that situation when you were in school here at Middletown as far as working and going to school?
ELP No, that was the norm. I would say more than half of Franklin teachers were on campus at that time completing requirements while teaching.
MRR So for those who are reading this transcript, at the time, what were the requirements to become a public school teacher?
ELP Well, Lois can address this more than I can because I only tutored in public school in Franklin. I did, when I was retiring, I went on sick leave for a few months and during that time I had friends at Franklin Junior High that did in school tutoring for a math teacher and an English teacher but Lois can tell you more about that.
MRR OK we’ll cross to that interview later. So where were you working?
ELP Warren County School for, oh it’s had so many names, Warren County School for the Mentally Retarded.
MRR And the developmentally disabled.
ELP The mentally disabled, MRDD, yes.
MRR And how many years did you work for Warren County?
ELP Twenty-eight.
MRR Twenty-eight years and that began after you started school here in the sixties?
ELP Here yes, yes. Sixty-three or sixty-four.
MRR OK. Are there other stories that you want to share with us?
ELP No, I can’t get started because…I, well I think that the music book I brought with me played music activities I think I had it in one of the special classes that I took. But when I was a youngster I had no music aspirations, musical aspirations. And so I had an aunt who was trying to get me ready to take piano lessons because that was a thing in the family and I didn’t want to. But we had a piano out in our barn because it had been in, that piano had been in the 1913 flood and water had gotten up to the keys, so they moved that piano out. So then when I came along like a ten or eleven year old, my friends, my brother’s friends would play in the barn and the kids all played “Chopsticks” but my fingers never touched the keys because I figured if I played chopsticks or even anything else on the piano in the barn, I would have to take piano lessons in the house. So I didn’t touch the piano. So then I came to Miami University and had to take six hours of music to teach elementary. And this was one of the books we had and “chopsticks” is in the book. So l learned it. And I couldn’t read any music. So when I learned in class to read the key of c then I learned to play “Chopsticks.”
MRR And that book is being deposited with the archives?
ELP I don’t think I can give that up yet.
MRR Or a copy of it. Maybe, ok that would be fine. [see Polley.L.8262016.2, a book, African American Life in Franklin, OH]
ELP Now why am I keeping it? [giggles among friends]
MRR We can make a digital copy so that there’s a, since it was a university textbook and we can make a computer copy but the original stays with you. But we can talk about that after the interview.
MRR Alright. Are there any other professors or student stories that you would like to recall with us?
ELP No, except Dr. Edwards taught art. I had to take two art classes. One was with Dahota, and one with Dr. Edwards and Dr. Edwards was quite nice. But I didn’t know at that time that I had allergies and I had a hacking cough. And one day in class I coughed so much that Dr. Edwards said, “Would you please either do something to quell your cough or excuse yourself from the class?” And so I had to excuse myself from the class.
MRR But even then professors could see students as human?
ELP Yes, indeed and I couldn’t get mad at that, yeah.
MRR OK. Alright if there’s nothing else you want to record at this time?
ELP No.
MRR Alright do we have your permission to discontinue the interview?
ELP Yes.
MRR Thank you very much.
Indexing terms for the finding aid:
African Americans
Akron University
Artist and Lecture Series
Boston University
Carlisle Local School District
Colored people
Dahota, Peter
Domestic worker/Housework
Education major
Education, Elementary
Education, Special
Educator
Edwards, unknown first name, Art Professor
Elementary Education
Franklin High School
Jestice, Lois
Miami University Extension at Middletown High School
Miami University Oxford
Middletown High School
Mount Saint Joseph University
Ohio University
Parker, Christine
Salem State University
Segregation at Miami University
Special Education
Special Education
University of Cincinnati
University of Toledo
Warren County
Interviewer
Marsha Robinson
Interviewee
Eva Louise Polley
Location
Johnston Hall, Miami University Middletown
Collection
Citation
“Sweet MUMories Oral History Project - Eva Louise Polley,” First to 50 - Miami University Middletown Digital Archive, accessed April 29, 2024, https://mum50.omeka.net/items/show/1068.