Interview with Virginia B. Cox, October 19, 1988

Interview Summary

Virginia B. Cox was born in Madison, Indiana, in January of 1908. Her father taught math at Hanover College in Madison. Her father moved the family to Ithaca, New York to work on his Ph.D. at Cornell University. Her mother taught Greek and Latin at Park College in Parkville, Missouri. Her father came to the University of Kentucky as a math instructor, became head of the Math Department, and then was appointed Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, where he remained until his death. Cox was home-schooled until the age of eight when she attended Sayre School, a private Presbyterian school at the time, through the eighth grade. She notes that tuition at the city schools was more expensive than at the private schools. Cox graduated from the University Model High School, "when it was at Frazee Hall," and says it was a boarding school started by John Thomas Cotton Noe, on U.K.'s campus.

After high school, Cox attended the University of Kentucky. She states it was a "very small school," and notes that there were departments, not colleges, for each discipline during this time. Cox recalls she taught English at Sayre High School for two years, and during the same period, taught part-time for the University High School. She states that both high schools were college preparatory schools. She describes May Day at Sayre, a yearly event at the school, where they sometimes performed "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (William Shakespeare), on the front lawn. Cox worked in the Music Department during the 1930s. She had her first child in 1936, left Lexington in 1942, and returned around 1947 or 1948. She remembers her children attended the University School and how she worked out the tuition through her work with the school. The University School was seen as more permissive, but she says this was due to the behavior of a few wealthy students. Cox recalls University High School had long-term, cohesive faculty.

Interview Keyword

Sayre School University of Kentucky University Training School Kentucky Model High School of the University of Kentucky University High School Private education Public education Lexington (Ky.)

Interview LC Subject

Cox, Virginia B., 1908- Cox, Virginia B., 1908- --Interviews University of Kentucky University of Kentucky--History Education, Elementary Education, Secondary. Education--Kentucky Public schools Private schools Education. Teachers--Kentucky Teaching

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