My Grandma, Mildred Kinsey Adams, was the 5th of 6th children in her family. By the late 1920s, her eldest brother, Oswald, moved back and forth between working in factories in Flint, Michigan and clearing timber for his grandfather in Dunklin County Missouri. The other children, Maudie, Marvin, Ada, Mildred and Iva Lee were attending school in Campbell. Each of them were about two years apart in school. The following is my grandmother’s story about their efforts to attend college: “Not many people graduated from school because they were needed on the farm. Even fewer went to college. A man came from Jonesboro from the teachers college [Arkansas State University] and talked to Mama and Papa about having Maudie go to school. Maudie was college age and wanted to go. Papa just shook his head and said, ‘We can't afford to send her.’ In fact, it was all a moot point because Maudie left school after her junior year to help Grandma Mitchell. Another man came from a private school called William Mayfield College in Marble Hill, Missouri. Will Mayfield College was operated by the St. Francois Baptist Association. It was Marvin’s turn and he wanted to go to college. The recruiter said he would take produce and other goods for fees. So, in the fall of 1928, Marvin enrolled at the school. He went to school, worked and played on the Football team. In the meantime, Campbell High School burned down and classes had to be held in churches and above Brown’s Drug Store. The next year Ada, received a scholarship to Will Mayfield. Since it was teacher’s college, they operated a primary and secondary school. Our school burned down, so Iva Lee wanted to join them in Marble Hill. So, In September 1929, Marvin, Ada, Iva Lee and I went to Will Mayfield. We were all in the teacher’s school. Marvin found an old house that was cheaper than an apartment. Papa helped pay my way with some chickens. Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell helped send eggs a couple times to help us pay for books and fees. A month later the stock market crashed. Will Mayfield College lost their endowments. We were barely getting by. Sometimes Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell would send us a little extra for us. We often went hungry. Marvin had odd jobs that helped us get food. He was always so good at taking care of us. Close to the end of the school year in 1930, Will Mayfield College ran out of money and closed the school. Ada sent a message through a neighbor who was driving through Marble Hill to contact Mama to try to get a ride home for us because we didn’t have car or truck. Mama wrote a letter to Oswald (Tobe) to see if he could borrow a car or truck and come and get us. He was working clearing timber. Tobe hitchhiked to Campbell to borrow a car and then he came to get us. We did not know who was coming or when, we just knew someone was coming. We had run out of food a couple of days before he arrived. I don’t know what we would have done if it had been more days before he came.” Will Mayfield opened again in the fall of 1930 and then permanently closed in 1934 and never reopened. Graduates of Will Mayfield College generally became teachers and administrators, and the college consistently claimed that there were more teachers in Missouri with Will Mayfield diplomas than from any other state college. But, a devastating fire in 1926 and the Depression of the 1930s led to economic difficulties, and this college in Marble Hill, Missouri closed its doors for good in May of 1934. During the 1929-30 school year Marvin Kinsey was named as a co-captain of the football team. It is amazing that he stuck with the football team. In 1928, during his first year with the team, Will Mayfield played Murray State and lost 119-6. Marvin moved to Cape Girardeau and enrolled at Southeast State Teachers College (now Southeast Missouri State). Marvin recorded, "I had practically no cash, but I secured a job working in a cafe for room and board, and I signed a note for my tuition and books." Ada transferred to Jonesboro Baptist College in Jonesboro, Arkansas. She attended the remainder of 1930 and all of 1931 at the college. Jonesboro Baptist College closed its doors in 1932.
Mildred and Iva Lee returned to Campbell to complete High school.
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Kinsey FamilyEd Adams Archives
June 2014
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