Dossier f73 - Platt, Pauline, nee Vipond

File consists of a recording of Pauline Platt. Topics of the conversation include husband's supportive pleasure in subject's late decision to attend Queen's (alma mater of son, daughter, husband). Extracurricular coursework at University of Toronto before marriage; UTS upgrading courses following decision to at tend Queen's. Love of teaching career pursued before marriage, resumed after raising children. 'Exam nerves' in Queen's history course, 'brave fifty' in French coursework; encumbrance of early hearing aids while attending lectures. Husband's helpful lack of sympathy for failure, admonition to study harder. Husband's illness, sale of family home; lODE offer of free home; discontinuation of study considering husband's housebound infirmity, child's illness. Return to Queen's in late 1960s, following passive period after husband's death; acquisition of nine credits by 1970; temporary cessation of studies, reactivated by imagining husband's verdict, 'just unfinished business'. Completion of degree with seven Theology courses (taken with a grain of objectivity); special enjoyment of Judaism course, with two contentious Jewish students 'to give it a flavour'. Lifting of fees for senior citizens; uncomfortable reaction to not paying for tuition. Exam-writing as an exhausting experience; preference for homework, essay-writing. Happy relations with younger students; minor note of discord struck by professor who disapproved of tape recorder (used to assist deafness). Notetaking assistance from classmate-tutor-friend; solitary essay-writing endeavours, 'my pride and joy'. Possibility of using Queen's recreational facilities, not indulged in. Love of reading, attributed to English schooling: transfer to England during WWI with chaplain father, attendance Peterborough Cathedral school (rising at 5:00am to sound of choirboys' practise, 'I thought surely it was the angels'; blowing mouthful of rice in face of girl who insulted Canada), 'Wordsworth country' Church School for Clergy Daughters (bomb-ridden despite assurances of safety; customary search for Wordsworthian 'Michael's stone; arts-oriented curriculum, lacking science or maths instruction). Return by ship to Canada (1918) with 5000 soldiers; fear of submarine attack. Armistice Day 'talcum powder madness' celebrations in Toronto. Failure of math tests for entrance to Riverdale Collegiate; eventual entrance, matriculation, employment as one-room schoolteacher.//Resignation from teaching upon marriage ('the husbands were to blame for that'); schoolboard's application to husband for permission for wife to supply-teach during bad epidemic ('she can go, but she isn't to be given any money'); subject's acceptance of work for pay. Happy spell as rural schoolteacher in Ernestown. Student beginnings at Queen's (Dept.of Extension); increasing deafness; refusal of work learning to teach the perceptually handicapped. Social frustrations of life as a doctor's wife; husband as lieutenant-colonel with Queen's Medical Corps No.7 during WWII; father-in-law as doctor, short-term Liberal MP; husband's rejection of faculty position at Queen's, preferred work as prison doctor. Inequality of personal suffering during Depression, feeling that Canada escaped lightly compared with United States; subject's naive, insensitive personal behaviour throughout Depression; advancement of religious skepticism by social crises since WWI. Husband's support of subject's volunteer interests ('I think some people thought I shouldn't be out of the house so much'); motivation as do-gooder (Historical Society, Girl Guides, local Council of Women, etc.). Ambivalent attitude to women's movement: non-sympathy with aggressive liberation; admiration for Flora MacDonald, Agnes MacPhail; belief in natural distinctions between abilities of sexes; implied belief in women's domestic responsibilities, support for women who are 'free' for non-traditional roles, 'capable' of them; superiority of Florence Nightingale who was 'revered and loved'. RespectfuI admiration for fellow senior citizen Queen's graduate Helen Campbell.