STELLA TAYLOR Correspondence I

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Series 19: STUDENTS
Stella Taylor, Student 1934-1938
Correspondence I: Application to PMSS,
Application to Berea College Hospital,
Progress Reports, 1934-1938

Stella Taylor, c. 1939. [taylor_stella_bio_006-1.jpg]

TAGS: Stella Taylor, PMSS students, Pine Mountain Settlement School, Grace M. Rood, Esther Weller, Arthur W. Dodd, Infirmary, application to PMSS, student progress reports, outside student employment, Berea College Hospital, WWII

STELLA TAYLOR Correspondence I, 1934-1938

In Stella Taylor’s first application to attend Pine Mountain, she requests admission for the 9th grade at Pine Mountain Settlement School, but by May 9, 1935, she requests to enter as a 10th grader. On her Pine Mountain application, she indicates that she finished the 8th grade at Big Laurel in 1934 and seeks to finish school at Pine Mountain and then follow that with college and two years of focused work in “nursing.” She declares, “I wish to work in a hospital.”

Stella met her target and exceeded it. Her record, long, and detailed, describes a focused and ambitious student who did not let her lack of early schooling keep her from her goal — to be a nurse. Grace M. Rood, a long-time nurse at Pine Mountain Settlement School was trained at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland and was a rigorous instructor. But, if she saw promise and dedication she became a fond cheerleader for the student. Stella showed promise and most of all the required dedication. Stella was one of Nurse Rood’s most admired students.

Her application is accompanied by a brief letter addressed to Glyn Morris, Director:

: 08 taylor_stella_008

: 09 taylor_stella_009

Stella’s origin was not unlike many of her classmates at the Settlement School, but she stood out in her focused ambition to be a nurse. By 1939 she was well on her way to meeting her goals. With the particular advocacy of Grace M. Rood, she entered her profession running — an energy she would need as the world went to war. WWII needed as many well-trained nurses as the country could muster.

[Note: Letters from PMSS staff in the PMSS Collections are carbon copies, typewritten, unsigned, and meant for the Office files. The original signed documents were sent to the correspondents. Letters from Stella Taylor are handwritten originals unless specified otherwise.]

Application to PMSS

001 February 14, 1934. STUDENT APPLICATION BLANK completed with name (Stella Taylor) address (Big Laurel, Kentucky), place of birth (Virginia), date of birth (May 16, 1919), school last attended (Big Laurel), date (1933), … grade ready to enter (9th), parents (Mr. and Mrs. R.L. Taylor) occupation of father (farmer)….

002 May 9, 1935. STUDENT APPLICATION BLANK completed with name (Stella Taylor), post office (Big Laurel, Kentucky), place of birth (Dongannon, Va.) on (May 16, 1919), school last attended (Pine Mountain S.S.) grade ready to enter (10th)….

003 MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY consisting of blanks for name, address, birth date and place and the following with Stella’s answers in parentheses: I live in (open country). This has been my home for (14 years…Big Laurel, Ky). My family lived in (Va) for (5) [years] before I was born. Father, (R.L. Taylor), is (57) years old; born in (Va)….completed (3) grades in the elementary school; occupation is farmer; has also been a (logger)…. Mother’s maiden name is (Louise Creech); (55) years old; born in (Kentucky); completed (2) grades in elementary school…..

004 I have (3) brothers and (1) sister: (John Taylor), age (26), (Stewart Taylor 19), (Frank Taylor 17), (Deala [sic, Delia] 11). John reached grade (8) and is an (engineer) and (married). Stewart reached grade (7); Frank reached grade (8). Delia is in grade (5) at (Big Laurel).

(We own) the home in which we live. We (own 75) acres of land. The chief crops on our farm are (corn and garden vegetables). We have (10) head of stock. I live a distance of (5) [miles] from school and reach it by (walking). Our home is (unpainted; logs). It is heated by (coal) and lighted by (kerosene). We have running water (no); We get water from a (well). We have (3) rooms. ….

005 We have about (915) books in our home. We take these…papers: (Harlan Daily Enterprise). My home duties: (cooking and household cleaning). … I have attended (Big Laurel), had (1) teacher, for (8) years, finished (1934). … I should like to stay in school through the (12) grade, and then take (4) years in (college)…then take (2) years in (nursing). My parents would like me to stay in school through the (12) grade, and then take (1) year in college.

006 My interests…(sew, read) I like best to read (biography); The studies I like best are (Industrial arts, Gen. Sciences, Math). …Occupational preferences: (nursing, booking, teacher)….

007 …When I finish school …(I wish to work in a hospital).

008-009 January 30, 1934. To Glyn Morris from Stella Taylor, Big Laurel, Kentucky, asking “to apply for a place in the Pine Mt. School” and offers to “work out my tuition.”

010 February 9, 1934. To Stella from Morris, enclosing an application blank. “We will let you know if there is a place next fall.”

Progress Reports to Parents, 011-016

011 December 28, 1934. To Mr. R.L. Taylor, Big Laurel, Kentucky, from Morris. In lieu of report cards, Morris provides a report about Stella. “Stella’s school work is fair and her industrial work is good. We think she has improved a great deal since she has been here.”

1935

012 May 29, 1935. To Mr. Taylor from Arthur Dodd, Principal, providing a report about Stella’s work and stating that she has been promoted to the 10th grade. “Stella has been a good influence in her dormitory….”

1936

013 January 7, 1936. To Mr. Bob Taylor from Morris, sending him a review of Stella’s progress at PMSS telling him of improvement in her work.

014 July 3, 1936. To Mr. Bob Taylor from Morris, sending him a review of Stella’s progress at PMSS. “She has shown improvement in her academic work, and is very highly thought of by her industrial work supervisors.”

015-016 December 24, 1936. Two-page letter to Mr. Bob Taylor from E. [Everett] K. Wilson, Student Counselor, sending a summary of the development of Stella and her sister, Delia, at PMSS. Morris quotes from several teacher evaluations of both Stella’s and Delia’s progress. Morris writes, “It might…be advisable if Stella were to participate more in social activities of the campus. However, Stella is doing very nicely and we are all pleased with her progress.” About her sister, he writes, “With a little more seriousness of purpose on Delia’s part we hope to be able to send you reports of even greater gains during the second semester.”

1937

017 August 4, 1937. To Stella and Delia, Big Laurel, Kentucky from Esther E. Weller, Student Counselor, welcoming them to PMSS in the coming school year and asking for their “arrangements for paying your entrance and breakage fee totalling $11.00.”

018-019 September 8, 1937. To “Madam” from Elizabeth J. Hubbard (Mrs. S.C. Hubbard), Freeport, Long Island, NY, offering to employ a PMSS student as a “maid” for her family. She describes her interest “in the girls of the Kentucky Mountains, the members of her family, and her home and town. Mrs. Hubbard would “pay for the transportation and a monthly salary of $25 with a raise at the end of six months….” [Notation in upper right, page 1: “Stella, June, Mabel, Ruth”]

020 [Notation in ink, upper right margin: “9/9/37”] Handwritten list of five sentences, apparently an exercise in English.
021 N.D. Handwritten report on “explorer Stenfans,” apparently written by a student.

022 December 16, 1937. To Mr. and Mrs. Taylor from [unsigned], Director, enclosing a self-evaluation letter from Stella. The director writes:

Stella has taken a very active part in the life of the school and is one of the leading citizens of our little community. She serves on the Citizenship Committee and has taken part in a play. Her spirit is fine and she is very understanding of the school and its larger purpose. We are looking forward to seeing her take up some work which will enable her to use her talent as a helper to others.

023-025 Three-page self-evaluation letter to “Parents” (Mr. and Mrs. Taylor) from Stella, who reports on her work in classes, such as chemistry, history, business (her “most interesting subject this semester”), English, and her writing for The Pine Cone (“I really enjoy writing”). She also enjoys Sociology and Home Management. “I have taken a greater part in the social activities of the school this year….” She mentions considering “applying for nurse training at Berea College next year.”

1938

Possible Outside Student Employment

026 February 14, 1938. To Morris from Victor M. Rhein, Minister, First Congregational Church, South Norwalk, CT, asking about the possibility of hiring a PMSS student to assist his wife with housework and a child. He cites the successful arrangement that their school friend, Allen Hacket of Stamford, has with Lela Christian.

027 February 25, 1938. To Rhein from [unsigned, apparently Morris], enclosing information and a photo of Stella Taylor and describing her background: “Stella comes from one of the finest families in the community. Her father is hard-working and industrious. Stella is one of our best girls….”

028 March 10, 1938. To Morris from Rhein. Due to his wife’s miscarriage, he must postpone his request for a student assistant.

029 March 18, 1938. To Rhein from Esther Weller, Student Counselor, expressing sympathy for him and his wife.

Application to Berea College Hospital

030 March 21, 1938. To Mrs. Nan Cox Hare, Superintendent, Berea College Hospital, from Esther Weller, asking if there is still time for Stella Taylor to apply. She relates Stella’s experience as one of the five members of the Community Group and a recommendation from PMSS nurse Grace Rood. “…[W]e are not an accredited school, but our records of each student are full and pictorial, and we will see to the giving of the entrance test.”

031 March 21, 1938. Two-page letter to Mrs. Bays from [unsigned], telling of Margaret Mitchell’s decision to attend her local high school instead of PMSS and then asking how to get summer work at the Kingsport Press for an 18-year-old PMSS boy. The writer also offers “to introduce you to some interesting industrious girls” for domestic service.

032 March 22, 1938. To Mrs. S.C. Hubbard, Freeport, Long Island, NY, from Esther Weller, Student Counselor. In response to Hubbard’s letter of last fall, she tells of a student she wishes to introduce to Mrs. Hubbard. She then describes the School’s program to give students experience outside the School. “We do this for several reasons, one is to better equip them to enter the cities leaving the overpopulated farms of submarginal land and the coal camps where they cannot get economic comfort.”

033-034 March 28, 1938. Two-page handwritten letter to Esther Weller from Mrs. Sheldon Crouter Hubbard, who thanks her but has already hired a local girl.

035-036 March 29, 1938. Two-page self-evaluation letter to “Parents” from Stella Taylor, for the semester. She describes her work in the Community Class. “This has given me a chance to decide whether or not I really wanted to go to nurse training and my answer is to the affirmative.” She also reports on her progress in sociology, practical nursing, and overcoming her “self-consciousness.”

037 March 29, 1938. To Mrs. Nan Cox Hare from Esther Weller, sending papers that indicate Stella’s qualifications. Weller asks if it is necessary that Stella take the entrance exams. “We stress here the practical use of knowledge, hence she may have missed some of the usual high school subjects.”

038-039 March 30, 1938 Two-page letter to Mrs. Hare from [unsigned, apparently Grace Rood], sending information about “two girls who are applying for admission to your training school.” First, the writer describes PMSS and community work.

Our girls have had their regular routes, visiting two days a week, checking up on patients I have seen, bringing in or referring…patients to me, helping in making arrangements for necessary medical care. They have helped organize tonsil and dental clinics, helped with the program for health work in the rural schools, and are carrying on a woodwork and recreational program… in some of the schools.

… They have walked up and down the creeks in all sorts of weather, visited in and tried to understand the people in all sorts of cabins.I feel that they have attained a sympathetic insight into and understanding of many of the people’s problems, economic, social, as well as personal.

The writer then provides detailed qualifications concerning Stella Taylor and Mable Weaver. About Stella, she writes:

…[A]s she comes from one of our mountain homes, I feel that she can better serve her own people than some of us outsiders. She has an insight into her people, a tolerance and appreciation of them. She has been very helpful in interpreting peoples, families, and customs to the rest of the group who were not brought up in creek homes…. Her parents are not educated, but are intelligent and have a broad vision….. Stella is…very dependable [and] gets things done thoroughly. She is very persevering…sincere, sympathetic but not too much so, works well with others, assuming her share of the work, going along steadily and quietly.

040 April 14, 1938. To Mrs. Hare, from Esther Weller, stating that, “Since your conversation with Mr. Dodd, Stella Taylor and Mabel (sic) Weaver withdraw their application to the School of Nursing until next year.”

041 April 20, 1938. To Esther Weller from Mrs. Hare, who will hold Stella and Mable’s applications until next year. She appreciates Grace Rood’s letter and invites her and Esther to visit Berea.