My mother [View all]
My mother attended Barnard College at age 16 after 3-1/2 years at Erasmus Hall in Brooklyn. She graduated in 1948. She then got her masters degree at Wellesley College, graduating in 1950.
She married at age 24 in 1952 and had me as her first child in 1957.
While Mom was proud of her education, it got buried under the responsibilities of wife of a doctor, mother of 3 children, and head housekeeper of a 14-room house. She wanted to work but Dad wouldn't let her.
I felt that Mom was robbed of her achievements because of the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies. I now feel it acutely.
I did a name search of my mother on newspapers.com. Dozens of articles about her achievements, her leadership, her awards at Barnard College. And she couldn't bask in it once she got married. Almost like it never happened.
My heart aches as I read one article after another and I feel humbled at my opportunities to choose to do with my life that were denied to her. I know, I know. She chose to get married. But I believe that she thought it would be different for her because she had as much (if not more) education than my father.
I'm reminded of the movie, Mona Lisa Smile. The setting was a Wellesley just two years after Mom got her masters. I'm shaking my head. I want to talk to her, but she's been gone since 2003.
= new reply since forum marked as read