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Mrs. Marshall Sweet, second-quarter junior 5n teacher education
at SOC, attends classes, does her housework and teaches fifth grade
in the junior department of First Presbyterian church. One son, Phillip,
is a graduate student at Whitworth college, Spokane, and Stanley is a
student at Hedrick Junior High school. Mrs. Sweetwho has taken all
her college work at the Ash land. school,may teach after graduation
since there is a critical shortage of teachers. '
Mrs. David Baker, junior in elementary teacher education at SOC,
entered the school after passing an examination which earned her
high school diploma, which she lacked. Mrs. Baker keeps house for
her husband and daughter, Sylvia, student at McLoughlin Junior High
school; their son, David, 13, is a student at Canyonville Bible academy.
Already a graduate practical nurse with several years experience,
Mrs. Baker plans to seek a teaching position after graduation.
Mrs. G. A. Dierdorff, mother of three children and wife of a
Medford, osteopathic physician, is a sophomore in general studies. In
addition to her home duties and studies, Mrs. Dierdorff is a district
officer of the auxiliary to the American Osteopathic association and
also served as the national seal sale chairman ' last year. The Dier
dorffs' children' are Larry, 9; Todd, 7, and Gay, 5. Mrs. Dierdorff en
rolled at the Ashland college lost year as a freshman.
By Olive Starcher .
More and more American women are attend
ing college. Some of these women students are
just out of Jiigh school, some are young married
women with small children and some are older
women whose children are also in school, or
married and living away from the family home.
In Jackson county many married women wish
ing to complete their education, or to take special
courses, enroll at Southern Oregon college, Ash
land. The school can be reached easily by car from
almostany-part-of the county, and its ever-expanding
curricula affords varied educational op
portunities. The reasons why married women begin col-'
lege, or return to school to complete their educa
tion, are as varied as the students themselves.
Many desire training in order-that they may enter
the employment field, some feel at a disadvantage
in a home where husband and children are college
educated and they are not; some are impelled by
a sense of civic duty to enter or return to a field,
MEDFOBDvlilWrRIMJltl
SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, 1956
MomemaUers - Students
Another Medford woman enrolled at Southern Oregon college this
quarter is Mrs. Duane Richardson. Mrs. Richardson, a senior, is a. transfer
from the University of Oregon at Eugene and is now practice teaching at
McLoughlin Junior High school. Her practice class is ninth grade English.
such as nursing or teaching,where there is a lack
of trained workers. These women are not neces
sarily those with time to spare, for most do their
housework and keep up a program of civic activi
ties while attending classes. At least one holds
down a full-time job while taking a full schedule
of classes.
Many women wish to widen their intellectual
horizons and, even though they do not wish to
enroll in full-time classes, take one or two courses
in such fields as literature, foreign languages,
. history or religion.. Sometimes a group of. three
or four housewives make up car pools" and drive
to Ashland two or three times a week for classes
which provide intellectual diversion, if not college -credit.
Last quarter records at Southern Oregon col
lege showed about 25 married women liying in
the Medford area were enrolled at the school, and
today The Mail Tribune presents a representative
number of these married women s'tudents.
(Brainerd photos)
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'Mrs. Robert R. Miller is another young mother and homemaker enrolled at Southern Oregon college. A senior
in secondary education, she attended the University of Oregon before her marriage. Mrs. Miller is pictured here
with her son. Kit, 3, who occupies himself with a .coloring, book while his mother studies. Mr. Miller is .an artist
and the Millers spent a year in Europe after his graduation from the university's school of art. Mrs. Miller, whose
family lives in Medford, attended Medford High school before entering the university. . ; .
Mrs. A. Erin Merkel, a former teacher" who already had a college degree, is enrolled at SOC to work for a
bachelor of science degree. A graduate of Union college, Lincoln, Neb., Mrs. Merkel attended the same school
where her husband, Dr. Merkel, head of the Jackson-County Public Health department, took his pre-medical studies.
Their daughter, Sharon. Jean, is a sophomore at La Sierra college, Arlington, Calif. Mrs. Merkel's hobbies are
raising orchids, music and doll collecting; she also is a Seventh Day Adventist church worker.
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