From the desk of Dr. Nora Pat Small:
In going through some files last night in search of something else, I came across some reminiscences that my father wrote in February 1997 at the age of 87. I offer them here, in these very trying times, by way of thanks to all those who have worked, and continue to work so hard on behalf of EIU; I offer them to honor those who have fought for reform; and I offer them to remind us all, especially our students, that we can and will prevail.
“In September 1929 I quit my job and enrolled at Creighton University, having saved enough money for tuition for two years and possibly three. I had put some money in a bank savings account, and about $50 in a stock that my sister, Doris, seemed to think was a winner. She was working for a stock broker at that time. Late in October, she came home with the news that the market had crashed and the stock I had invested in had crashed also. While that represented a substantial loss, I didn’t worry too much about it because I still had the bank savings account. But, as dozens of banks were doing in those days, my bank closed its doors in November, leaving me with no money for tuition. At Christmas time, I got a job in the shipping department of the Omaha Crockery, a retail company that sold chinaware. Normally, my job kept me in the shipping department in the back of the store, but on this particular day I had something to do in the retail section of the store, and ran into the man I had worked for at the Omaha News Co. He asked if I could arrange my schedule at Creighton so I could work in the afternoons at the Omaha News Co. The pay would be $10 a week for a half-day. I assured him I could, and when the new semester started in January, 1930, I would leave Creighton at noon, walk to the Omaha News Co., about a mile and a half away, eat the lunch my mother made for me, and go to work.
Kermit Dallas Small, High School Graduation 1928
“I continued to carry a full schedule at Creighton, and in September, 1932, left my job and hitch-hiked to Columbia, Mo., and enrolled in the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri. This was my senior year, and I wanted a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri.”
He graduated in 1933 with that journalism degree and went on to work for papers in Omaha and Chicago.
EIU History Department News 