CHARLIE AND JOYCE WHITAKER Correspondence Set 3

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Staff, 1956 – 1965
Community School
Charlie and Joyce Whitaker

CHARLIE AND JOYCE WHITAKER Correspondence Set 3

“Whitaker Is New Dean At Alice Lloyd,” Harlan (KY) Daily Enterprise newspaper clipping. [whitaker_c_a_corresp_1957_127]

CHARLIE AND JOYCE WHITAKER Correspondence Set 3
May 25, 1966 – May 29, 1971


TAGS: Charlie Whitaker, Joyce Whitaker, Alice Lloyd College, swimming pool, Mildred Mahoney, Courier-Journal clipping, Reed Scearse, Logan and Vernon Burns, Harlan Daily Enterprise clipping, American Internship Award, Kentucky Regional Folk Dance Association, flu epidemic, Dayton Church Camp, MS degree in Community Development, University of Louisville, Upward Bound, environmental education


CONTENTS: CHARLIE AND JOYCE WHITAKER Correspondence Set 3

[Note: Office letters and memos in the PMSS Archives are typewritten carbon copies intended for the office files. Letters from the Whitakers are either handwritten or typewritten originals. The following list of contents is in chronological order and not necessarily in the order of the image numbers.]

1966

106 May 25, 1966. To Joyce and Charlie Whitaker, Pippa Passes, KY,  from Burton Rogers, responding to Joyce’s May 24th letter, concerning Patty’s illness, John Campbell’s recital, Charlie’s new appointment.

107-107b June 27, 1966. Two-page letter to Rogers from Joyce on Alice Lloyd College stationery, [107] arranging for her and her daughters to visit Pine Mountain for a week in July. She hopes to stay at West Wind and will “pay our way.” Charlie may join for some of the time. [107a] She describes Charlie’s responsibilities. [107b] Envelope with Roger and Joyce’s addresses. A notation was added asking if Joyce received a copy of Roger’s reply.

108 June 28, 1966. To Joyce from Rogers, who will be delighted to have her and the girls, and possibly Charlie, vacation at PMSS. Fred Haley has offered to give a recital. The swimming pool has warmed up to 80 degrees.

109 September 10, 1966. Memo to Rogers from Rogers, concerning Joyce’s call, asking if PMSS could house visitors in October in connection with their Founders Day. He agreed to have PMSS added to the list of possible places.

110 September 30, 1966. Memo to Rogers from [unsigned, apparently Rogers], stating that Joyce will not need extra space for Homecoming guests on October 15 weekend.
111 September 30, 1966. Note to Joyce from [unsigned], about a request from Joseph Firszt of the Berea College Music Department to give a trio recital at PMSS, in case she is interested if she cannot get the Louisville String Quartet.

114 October 5 1966. Note to Rogers from Milly [Mahoney], offering her apartment if the Duffs visit.

112-113 October 6, 1966. Two-page letter to Joyce at Alice Lloyd College from Rogers, with a copy to Milly Mahoney. [112] He declines Joyce’s request to accommodate Mrs. Parker’s visit to PMSS during October 15 weekend, due to lack of space. Current reservations include Berea College Faculty on their East Kentucky Study Tour, Southeast Community College visiting artists, and Berea Country Dancers, totaling 60 people in West Wind and Laurel House. [113] He has not heard from Firszt.

1967

115 March 9, 1967. To Charlie at Alice Lloyd College from Rogers who is proud to read in the Courier-Journal about the ALC team’s success “without money” with much credit to Charlie as their coach. 

116 March 9, 1967. Newspaper clipping from the Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY, with headline, “Alice Lloyd Team Succeeds Without Money: Junior College Has Winning Basketball Team.”

117-118 April 20, 1967. Two-page letter to Burton and Mary [Rogers] from Joyce, [117] who tells of obstacles the basketball team has overcome to play competitively. Next is the Brown Jug Tournament in Prestonsburg. The Berea Country Dancers will be performing at ALC’s art festival. [118] Joyce invites PMSS folks to the dance and a Council meeting in May. The Whitakers vacationed at the Continental Inn, Lexington, and visited Anges Furner and the Reddys.

119 April 24, 1967. To Joyce at ALC from Rogers, who declines her invitations due to visitors to PMSS and his plans to meet with Friends in the Southern Appalachian area at Crossville, TN. Tells of Jerry Workman’s injury to his hand in the woodwork shop.

120 May 8, 1967. To Charlie from Rogers, asking questions about an application to ALC from Reed Scearse (Frank Scearse’s son).

121 May 9, 1967. To Rogers from Joyce, who will come early to PMSS on May 16, to help Reed complete his application.
121a May 9, 1967 (timestamp). Address side of envelope to Rogers from Pippa Passes, KY.

123 May 19, 1967. To Rogers from Joyce, asking which date is best for a family vacation at PMSS. They would like a furnished apartment or house.

122-122a May 22, 1967. Two-page letter to Joyce from Rogers, agreeing to help her find a furnished apartment or house to rent this summer. The only apartment with a kitchen is downstairs in Far House. Jubilee House is possible but the road construction may be a problem.  

1968

124-124a February 12, 1968. Two-page letter to Charlie Whitaker, Dean, ALC, from Rogers, asking about ALC’s admission policies. “To what extent do you limit your consideration of applicants to those who live in the so-called mountain countries of Kentucky or other states?” He explains that this concerns Logan Burns (actually a Pace) who was a Bledsoe native and now a senior in Dayton, KY. His half-brother, Vernon Burns, a former PMSS student who is leaving for Vietnam upon graduation from the Army Flight School, has asked him to help Logan. He asks for ALC information. [124a] He congratulates Charlie “on your recent honor…. You have done a tremendous job with totally new opportunities and we are all the more impressed and proud that you have achieved these accomplishments in such a quiet but very effective manner….”

125, 126 MISSING IMAGES?

127 [No date, c. February 1968] Newspaper clipping from the Harlan Daily Enterprise. “Whitaker Is New Dean At Alice Lloyd” with a photograph of Charles L. Whitaker.

128-128a [No date]. A handwritten condolence note to Charlie from Rogers, concerning his “loss.”

129 May 23, 1968. To Charlie from Rogers, congratulating him on hearing that he was “one of 60 people in the United States to receive…an American Internship Award for study in the next academic year.”

1969

130 March 24, 1969. To Joyce from Rogers, congratulating her on her “election as president of the Kentucky Regional Folk Dance Association….You have gone into this field with genuine enthusiasm and appreciation and have done so much to interest many others that you have certainly earned this office….” Mentions the flu epidemic of a “very severe variety” at PMSS.

132-132a April 27, 1969. Two-page church bulletin from the Community Church, Gahanna, OH, John W. Selvey, Minister. Joyce adds notations to indicate which hymns the ALC Choir sang.

131-131b May 11, 1969. Three-page letter to Rogers from Joyce on ALC stationery, [131] telling him of chaperoning their choir which performed at the Community Church in Gohanna, OH. The minister there, an acquaintance of Roger’s, had enjoyed his summers at PMSS as part of the Dayton Church Camp group. [131a] Joyce describes the choir’s tour to various cities. [131b] Met up with Mary [Rogers] and Milly [Mahoney] in Decoy, KY. Joyce and Charlie hope for a summer visit to PMSS. “Charlie wants to work some with Gid Lewis (on making hearth brooms and caning chairs)….”

133 [No date] IMAGE IS TOO LIGHT TO READ.
134-134a September 15, 1969. Two-page letter to Rogers from Joyce, [134] describing the new studies that she and Charlie have begun. “It’s a two-year course leading to the MS degree in Community Development” which the University of Louisville is conducting at ALC. She asks Rogers to send letters of recommendation [134a] for them to the Office of Admissions at the University. The family will stop at PMSS on Friday en route to a Harlan doctor for Charlie.

135 through 140 MISSING IMAGES?
141-141a September 22, 1969. To Burton and Mary, with an update on Charlie’s doctor visit where he had a cast replaced on his leg. Joyce encloses a clipping about Jean Ritchie’s appearance at ALC in October.

142 MISSING IMAGE?
144 October 22, 1969. To the Office of Admissions, University of Louisville (UL), from Rogers. He provides a letter of reference for Mr. and Mrs. Charlie L. Whitaker, as they enroll in the MS Degree course in Community Development on the ALC campus. He gives “the highest possible endorsement. …They displayed a wide range of teaching skills, dedication to their tasks and to their students, and a wise understanding approach to the community and its people … [at ALC] they have exercised considerable initiative in creating new programs and opportunities with sensitivity and imagination.”

143 November 20, 1969. To “Friends” from Joyce, inviting them to a pot-luck supper at ALC. 

145 December 15, 1969. To Joyce and Charlie from Rogers, who assures them that he visited Tommy Huff to encourage him to attend ALC (although Tommy had a “negative reaction” to the idea); and his brother Vernon followed up. 

146 December 15, 1969. To the Office of Admissions, UL, from Rogers, sending another copy of the October 22, 1969, letter of reference for the Whitakers in order to ensure that one goes to Mrs. Whitaker’s file.

1971

147-147c May 3, 1971. Four-page letter to Rogers from Joyce. Regrets missing the Rogers who were at PMSS earlier for Rebecca Ayars’ talk. The Whitakers are finishing their UL classes at ALC and will graduate with a MS. “Charlie will be full-time for Upward Bound in crafts and recreation while I’ll be teaching one class for the college.” She describes a camper-trailer that they purchased. “…[W]e’re sorry things couldn’t work out for us to join you at PM. We do hope things shape up for you who are there now.”

148 May 28, 1971. To Joyce and Charlie from Rogers. 

Our Board meeting took a sudden turn in favor of environmental education, with developments at the very end which leave me still a bit uncertain just what the new program director is supposed to cover. Maybe it is just as well you are staying put for another year. It leaves me feeling there is much yet to explore, with further possibilities another year. We will keep in touch. 

Thank you for all your interest and concern and confidence. I cannot do justice to this now, or to what it means to have your warm friendship.

GALLERY: CHARLIE AND JOYCE WHITAKER Correspondence Set 3

 


See Also: 

CHARLIE AND JOYCE WHITAKER Correspondence Set 1 – August 28, 1956, & January 11, 1957, to November 24, 1959
CHARLIE AND JOYCE WHITAKER Correspondence Set 2 – November 30, 1959 – May 24, 1966

CHARLIE AND JOYCE WHITAKER Staff – Biographies

EDUCATION Community Cooperative School