Bio, 2014: Lynn Roney Lawson
I have so enjoyed reading all the auto-biographies people have written that I have decided I better get mine in before we leave for Stillwater tomorrow. I have loved the pictures and all the stories. I have been only a little surprised to find I have resonance with a piece of each person’s story. It seems that we have a lot in common in spite of all our differences. Stillwater was the perfect little cocoon in the 50’s and 60’s in which to raise all the little butterflies that we have turned out to be. We have flown all over the United States and even the world. I can remember riding my bike all over town to visit my friends (who would allow their 10-14 year old girls to do that today?) I can remember when a big group of us would walk to the movies on Saturday afternoon. Well, our parents thought it was a group, actually we mostly paired off once we were out of their sight. It was our first foray into the dating world. We were maybe 13 and 14 and soooo innocent. I can remember summer afternoons at the old swimming pool out on E 6th street and the summer it was closed (1954?) all summer because of the Polio epidemic. I remember picnics and drives at Couch Park and the annual Payne County Fair, and tap dancing and ballet lessons and piano lessons and all the things that constituted childhood in the 1950’s. I can remember when milk was delivered to our back door in glass bottles! And eggs and cream, too.
While I was born and raised in Stillwater, my family had it’s sabbaticals. The first was when we went to Ethiopia (1951-53, I think). My father was on assignment for OSU with USAID working to rebuild Ethiopia which had been ravaged by Mussolini’s army during WWII. The second was when I was in grades 9-11 when we went to Washington D.C. while my father got his doctorate at the University of Maryland and worked for the US Dept. of Education. But other than that my formative years were all spent in Stillwater and as I look back now with the (great) wisdom of age and hindsight I can see that was a good thing.
One of my most vivid memories, however, is of November 22, 1963. I was in Mrs. Meacham’s English class after lunch and heard John Matlock talking about someone shooting President Kennedy and I remember yelling at him and telling him that was a terrible thing to joke about. Of course, I had to apologize 5 minutes later when the principal came on the intercom and told us it was true. If my memory serves, I had Biology next and we had to dissect frogs that day. (Does anyone else remember it that way or have I made that up?) I think that was the beginning of the end of our Innocence and our country’s too.
After high school, I attended OSU and graduated in 1968 and then got an MA in English there in 1970. Those were turbulent years but exciting, too. So many new perspectives and so much information to integrate into my little world view. I finally left the cocoon in 1970 and moved to Austin, Texas to work on my PhD. In English. After doing that for two years, I realized I didn’t want a Ph.D. in English so I dropped out and worked around Austin for a couple of years, as a waitress, secretary and other odd jobs. Just long enough to realize I needed to finish my education. I went back to school at UT and completed a PhD. in Counseling Psychology . I loved Austin and would have stayed there forever if I could have.(I envy Beverly Voss that she gets to live there.) Then I went to the University of Iowa to work in the Counseling center for two years and to Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY as the founding director of the Counseling Center there.
After four years in Ithaca, which is a beautiful place but very cold, and four years of administrivia, I realized I needed to get back to the Southwest. I returned to Texas, Houston this time, to go into private practice with some friends of mine from graduate school. I met my husband when I had been here about 3 months and we married two years later and now have been married for 26 years. We joined our practices and worked together in the practice of psychotherapy for several years until my parents became ill. Trying to manage young children and elderly ill parents who lived 150 miles away was more than I could do and still manage a full-time practice so I quit the practice. After my parents died, I went back to teaching rather than re-open my practice. I have two daughters and one step-daughter. We have a grandson who is almost one and are having a second grandchild this summer. Emily lives in Portland, Oregon and Rachael and Abby, who is still in college, live here. I am looking forward to having a grandchild nearby. About 5 years ago, we built our dream house in the country. It is a very energy efficient house with excellent insulation, and geo thermal heat and air conditioning. We have plans to convert to solar power in another year or two also. We have a pond with a few fish and some cows and lots of dogs and cats. People seem to feel that they can drop animals off in the country and they will survive or that some nice country people will adopt them. I guess the latter is true!
As I read over this I can see that my journey has not been as exciting as some, but I can say it has been MY journey and while I have certainly made some mistakes and would like some do-overs on a few things, I am content to have reached this stage. In the last few years I have reconnected with several old friends that I have known from different parts of my life and realized how valuable each of them was to me. That goes for all of you and for Stillwater as that little cocoon. Thanks for sharing the journey with me!
I look forward to seeing you all soon.
©2009 Stillwater High School Class of 1964