Miss Nila McGinnis (Cont.)
Screen 2 of 3That first encounter with Miss McGinnis is still very clear in my mind. My mother had told me about her own earlier experience as a student of Miss Nina's, but until I actually met this remarkable woman in the fall of 1924, she was only a name--not a real person. But for the next four years, until I graduated from Bowling Green High School in June of 1928, Miss Nina McGinnis' influence on my life was probably greater than that of any other adult except my mother.
Later stories in this volume will describe more in detail some of the ways in which Miss Nina helped, chided, guided, punished, inspired, angered, encouraged, criticized, supported--and taught me during my high school years. But lest those stories never get written, or just in case I forget some aspects of Miss Nina's influence, I'll mention a few instances now.
Among other things, she taught me to know better and appreciate more deeply my own mother, who in better times, Miss Nina told me, had been an "A" student in mathematics at Potter College--a part of my mother's life I had known very little about. Miss Nina also made me realize more than ever before what hardships--financial, physical, and emotional--my mother was undergoing, in order to give my brother and me some of the privileges and opportunities we were enjoying during our high school years.
(Potter College was located in Bowling Green, this "college" was more of a finishing school for girls, including what would now be the last two years of high school and the first year or two of college work.)
What was it about Miss McGinnis that made her so remarkable? Until now I've never attempted to answer this question in writing, and even at this time I will not attempt to answer it fully. I will just list some of the things I remember about her.
I have already mentioned her size--tall, stalwart, erect and very impressive looking, although certainly not beautiful--at least, not as most persons use this term. Whereas, at first I saw these physical characteristics as threats, as things to fear, I later viewed them more with respect and admiration--as living symbols of the moral strength she stood for and personified. Here was a woman of great courage and unquestioned integrity who was always found on the side of right, honesty, and justice. All her students knew this and respected her for it, even though some of us were occasionally the subjects of her righteous indignation and recipients of the punishment she meted out. And speaking of punishment, I remember well she had no favorites--either among the boys or the girls. Whatever punishment she deemed proper (whether it was a tongue lashing or deprivation of privileges), she would administer quickly, fairly and without any vindictiveness. She would fearlessly face up to very big boys like Julien Scott and Sam Bradshaw--both football heroes-when they were in the wrong. And just as important, she never spared popular and highly talented girls like Grace Richeson and Sara Tyler when she was convinced they deserved criticism or punishment. As for me, she was always quick to find me out when I would try some prank. It was uncanny how she was able so often to identify the culprit when misbehavior occurred. And the fact that she had earlier taught and admired my mother never did cause her to overlook my wrongdoing or let it go by without the same penalty any other student would have received.
Miss Nina McGinnis was a strong moral leader, towering above most of the women and men of her time--not only in physical stature but also in character and sterling qualities.
Miss Nina McGinnis was a strong moral leader, towering above most of the women and men of her time--not only in physical stature but also in character and sterling qualities.
In addition, she was highly intelligent and well educated. Her knowledge of the field of mathematics was sound, and her skill in teaching that subject to both boys and girls was most unusual. She insisted that everyone of us in her algebra classes could and would learn to solve quadratic equations. She would not tolerate any such excuse as, "I've never been any good at math." Especially was she impatient with the girls who because they had been told earlier by someone that "girls are not as good in math as boys," claimed sympathy, immunity and protection from the rigorous requirements in Miss Nina's classes.
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