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‘Presidential
Partners’ potpourri
While
every presidential wife seems to have carried out such expected
duties as hosting special events, helping raise money for the university,
and supporting her husband, some stories in "Presidential Partners"
also share other tidbits about the women.
•
Virginia Finlayson was the only first lady to have a baby while
at the university.
•
Alice Foght started the Dames, which recently was renamed the WSU
Women’s Association. She wrote a book with her husband called
"Unfathomed Japan," and once thwarted a young student’s
affections for her husband by sending the two on a long boat ride,
dominated by President Foght reciting extensive military history,
starting with the Greeks.
•
Effie Jardine served the longest tenure as first lady and had the
most political ties. She was a first lady at Kansas State University,
and then her husband was appointed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
and later minister to Egypt. She and her husband were frequent guests
of President Calvin and Grace Coolidge in the White House.
•
Sarah Corbin, granddaughter of the inventor of mentholatum, was
only 30 when she became first lady.
A number
of later first ladies had careers before becoming presidential partners
and some even had causes. Irma Lindquist was a nurse before becoming
a stay-at-home mom. Joan Armstrong was an elementary teacher and
an early public figure in Kansas to speak out on HIV/AIDS-related
issues. She also was an advocate for Kansas developmentally disabled
children and their parents. Current first lady Shirley Beggs also
was an elementary teacher and was a one-time entrepreneur, owning
a children’s clothing store for five years in Illinois.
-
Amy Geiszler-Jones
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