Interview with Elizabeth D. Dickey, May 10, 1988

Interview Summary

Betty Dickey was born in St. Joseph, Missouri and says she is adopted. She came to Lexington, Kentucky with her family when she was fifteen and a half. Her father, Ira Drymon, was a manager for Dixiana Farm, then leased Gallaher Farm for his own purposes. Her mother was Ruth Newell Barnes. She recalls she left a wonderful girl's basketball team and came to a state that had just outlawed girl's basketball, "and nearly died". She finished high school at Bryan Station High School in Lexington. She met her husband, Frank G. Dickey, in high school, where he was a student teacher. Dickey enrolled at Transylvania University in 1939, where her husband was also an undergraduate student. She recalls her first impression of her future husband as "a neat package".

Dickey recalls her husband went into the Army during World War II and talks at length about these experiences, while she lived in Florida during his basic training. She moved back to Lexington to live with her parents, when her husband shipped to California. She says he earned his doctorate upon his return, and they both taught in public schools. The Dickeys also had a second child, Joseph, and a third child, Ann, and she talks about her experiences as a mother as well as a wife. She recalls her husband went to teach at U.K., eventually became Dean of the College of Education, and was asked to attend an "outside" university to do post-doctoral work. He was accepted at Harvard University, so they moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts for one year.

Dickey's husband was eventually appointed President of U.K., and she describes the move to Maxwell Place, improvements that needed to be made, the responsibilities of the position, and life on campus with the children. Dickey talks at length about the experiences of adjusting to the university lifestyle, becoming a focal point, and their social obligations. She reflects on her husband's tenure at U.K., and reminisces about the good times as well as the challenging ones. Dickey mentions Governors A. B. "Happy" Chandler and Bert T. Combs. She talks about the atmosphere of the Oswald, Kirwan, Singletary, and Roselle administrations.

Interview Keyword

Betty Dickey

Interview LC Subject

Dickey, Elizabeth D. Dickey, Elizabeth D.--Interviews University of Kentucky University of Kentucky--History

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