Louise Proctor Allen

Class of 1936

Louise Proctor Allen was born in Bloomington, Illinois and moved to Chicago at the age of three.  Although neither of her parents attended college, they encouraged their children to attend school.  Louise was accepted to Northwestern, but "thought that was just a little too close to home."  "I had a cousin that had graduated from the University of Illinois...  My mother figured that if my cousin had come through unscathed, then it was all right for her little daughter to go.” 

“It was really a big change for me because I had really never gone away from home for any length of time except to visit relatives you know.  I thought this was a great time to get away and see what I could do on my own.”  Louise entered the University of Illinois  in 1932.    

Paying for College

The Depression did not hit the Proctor family as hard as it hit others.  Louise was able to go to college but did not live extravagantly during her four years.  Because her brother was four years younger than she, Louise knew that she must graduate in exactly four years, as her parents could not afford to keep two children in college at once. 

“When I was in college, my dad thought it would be a very good idea if I learned how to manage money.  So I had a little piece of paper or a notebook that I was supposed to enter all of the expenditures.  I received $5 a month, that was my allowance.  It wasn't much, but it was enough that I didn't get too rambunctious.  So I had this little notebook that I wrote down in every time I went to get a coke at Prehn’s or at Cameron’s, if I bought a little pair of hose, that went in.  If we had a party or anything that was over or above anything what we were paying to the sorority house then it came out of my money too.  It was a good idea I suppose, but it seemed like a pain in the neck when I was doing it.” 

The University also helped to provide for the students while they were in school.  “In those days when you paid your tuition…you also got your health insurance…" 

“When I was in my last semester in college I developed strep throat with a quinsy, and in those days there was no penicillin or streptomycin or any of those nice antibiotics that we have now so I ended up in the hospital on the campus there and spent almost four weeks in the hospital.  I had no visitors because at that time it was considered extremely contagious.  So when I got out of the hospital, I had almost four weeks of work to make up.  Some of my professors said that it wasn't possible so I might as well drop out and come back later.  Well, I couldn't do that.  My brother was coming up after meow weren't particularly pressed for money, but I couldn't not foresee that the family could keep me in for another year and send my brother in after me.  I was supposed to be in bed at 10 o'clock at night you know, but if I ever got to get to bed before two and three making up for all those hours that I was away, it was something.  But I finally made it, my grades my last semester were not so hot, but at least I didn't flunk.” 

"I don't know what my folks would have done if they would have had to pay for three or four weeks in the hospital for me, even back then.  I think that that insurance was an excellent idea.” 

Clothing

“My mother was a very excellent seamstress, she loved to sew.  In fact, she sewed for some charitable organization that her club was interested in.  She just did that as a charitable donation.  So I learned how to sew and my mother helped me and I sewed a lot of my own clothes that I took to college with me.  I don't think that I looked different than anybody else.  We tried to be style conscience even though it was on a limited budget.  So I imagine that there were a lot of other people in the same basket as we were, you know.  I never really felt that we were deprived, but I knew that when it came to getting my brother to school after me, we better get on the ball and get cutting so that's how it went.” 

Sorority Life

Louise was a member of Delta Delta Delta.  After moving into the sorority house her sophomore year, she recalls how grades were posted to keep the girls “in line”: 

“[Rush] was a lot of parties.  A lot of people, some that you knew, a lot that you didn’t…There wasn't too much that I didn't enjoy about school except when I got snowed under with class work.  The only [bad grade] I ever got was when I didn't finish a project on time—I wasn’t too proud of that because I wasn’t used to getting [bad grades]…It was [traumatic].  They put [the grade] up on the bulletin board in the sorority.  See, you had to maintain a high scholastic average in the sorority, so at least that was one of their prime motives and if you goofed, everyone knew about it." 

“I remember the cook and I got along really well.  At that time, I just really loved chicken livers, fried chicken livers you know.  We would come and sit in the living room of the Tri-Delt house, on Saturday afternoon, and listen to the broadcast of the opera.  She would give me a little plate with the chicken livers in it and we would sit there and munch chicken livers and listen to the opera.  Everybody thought we were crazy but that’s all right, we were having fun.” 

After University of Illinois

After graduating in 1936 with a Fine Arts degee,  Louise applied for a teaching positions but was told that she would have to attend a teachers college for another two years.  Because of her family's situation, she was forced to make a decision:  “‘I’m sorry, I just can’t do that because I don’t have the money to take another two years of school because my brother’s in college now for four years and I’m not going to take anything away from him.’  Instead of continuing teaching, I went to work, this is ridiculous, I went to work for an insurance company on Michigan Boulevard.”  She met and married her husband in Chicago.  They have three daughters.

The tapes and complete transcript of this interview, conducted Janurary 20, 2001,
are available for research use in the Student Life and Culture Archives.

 

 

 

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