Marion Elizabeth Skewis was the first in her family to go to college…and she had to pay for every dime on her own. Marion dated in high school…there was Bill Hall (son of the town doctor), and Roland Sloane (who came to visit every summer), and Bill Nutter (a farm hand on a neighboring farm). Marion did not want to be a farmer’s wife. Marion wanted to go to college.
Marion’s parents (John and Sabina Stark Skewis) could not pay for extras like college. Very few girls attended college in 1916, but Marion said her parents believed in her and that she could go…as long as she could figure out how to pay for it on her own.
After Marion graduated from high school in 1916, she applied for and got a job teaching at the one-room Millwood schoolhouse in Milford, Delaware. She was 18 years old and it was her first job. At Millwood, she earned $40 a month, paid her parents $10 room and board every month, and saved the rest for college.
Marion had 32 students in her first classroom ages 1st-8th grade (including her own little sister). Some of the 8th grade boys were taller and not much younger than she was. Marion said she learned quickly and loved to teach, but that it wasn’t always easy. By the end of her first year at Millwood, Marion had saved up enough money to go to summer school at the University of Delaware. She took classes in Education, History, and Fine Arts.
For the next four years Marion worked as a teacher during the year, and went to summer school every summer. After her first year, she got a job teaching 2nd grade at the town school in Milford. By 1921, Marion had saved enough to attend college full time. She moved to Newark, Delaware to study at the University of Delaware and graduated with her Elementary Teacher’s Diploma in 1923. Marion said, “Once I left and went to college, I never lived at home again except on vacations. I was very independent. I had to be that way. I had no other income. I had to be on my own. I couldn’t expect any financial help from my family.”
After she graduated, The University of Delaware promised Marion a job as a dietitian if she took a course and was trained. During the 1920’s, people became very interested in food as a science and colleges were creating programs to train people in the new theories. In 1923, Marion transferred to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York to attend its dietetics program.
This program was only one year long, but Marion was out of money. To fund this final year of college, Marion joined a sorority (Tri Delta) so she could live in the sorority house and work as a waitress to help pay for her room and board. Every day she served breakfast, lunch and dinner to the other students and then cleaned up afterwards. In between, she attended classes and studied.
During her final year of school, Marion had to take out a loan from the town banker back home in Milford. Mr. Kirby, the banker, believed in Marion and thought she was a good risk. Even with her jobs and her loan, though, Marion said one day she woke up and didn’t have a single penny left. Her parents couldn’t help…Marion’s father was sick and they were having to sell parts of the farm to survive. She decided there was nothing to do but drop out of school until she could earn more money. That week she got an unexpected letter from a friend in Delaware. Natalie wrote that she had a feeling Marion needed help. She enclosed a blank check and instructed Marion to write the check for whatever amount she needed. Thanks to Natalie, Marion was able to stay and finish her last year of school.
In 1924, Marion graduated from Cornell University. It took her Her parents traveled all the way from Delaware to watch her graduate. It took eight years of hard work and she said it was the proudest day of her life.
Marion Elizabeth Skewis Merrick – Skewis Tree #1
Sources:
Merrick, Marion Elizabeth Skewis and McDermott, LeeAnne; When I Was A Little Girl; Self Published; Palo Alto, CA