Dr Kent’s Blog

 

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~dalbino/women24/ione.html

 

My grandmother, Ione Griffin Kent, taught me about psychology.  I remember with great fondness the time I spent visiting her.  She would explain to me about relationships and the core concepts of psychology.  I am certain she would have told me more; however, the gender difference posed somewhat of an impasse as she was a real lady.  She would never cross such bounds indiscreetly.  I am certain my paternal grandmother would have spoken more freely had I been a granddaughter rather than her grandson.

 

Grandma Kent told me much about history and she knew a lot.  Considering few people had college educations in her day and in general during that era women were not college educated, she probably knew so much more than most folks, by the time I came around it seems she had stopped talking about such things as the international bankers.  Nonetheless, she explicitly said on at least one occasion that the world situation was entirely the fault and doing of the international bankers.

 

She married a man with a 6^th grade education, but before you think that was a horrible mismatch, remember that a 6^th grade education was far better than it is today.  In fact, I dare say that a 6^th grade graduate from their time would have been far better educated and more literate than today’s high school graduate and perhaps even superior to today’s college graduates!

 

Aside from Grandma Kent’s’ knowledge of psychology, her knowledge of history and what she had witnessed were even more profound!  She was a “Bloomer Girl” and the answer to the puzzle on the internet is “because you can hear her petticoats rustle whenever she is coming.”

 

Ione Griffin marched for women’s right to vote and was a devout Republican.  If there was one person I’d like to have lunch with today it would be her.  I’d love to hear what she’d have to say about society today and her efforts to secure women’s right to vote.  President Richard Nixon broke her heart.

 

She wore dresses almost every day of her life until my aunt badgered her into wearing a “modern” pant suit.  I must say it was hard for me to adjust the first time I saw her in one of those polyester pant suits—even if it was pink.

 

When the “free love revulsion” broke out (as compared and contrasted with “free love revolution”), I remember her comment, “Oh, dear…”  Upon hearing her voice trail off somewhat meekly, I asked why she was so worried.  She declared, “Because women are the backbone of our country’s morality . . .” She found it greatly disturbing.

 

She collected stamps and was a very involved member of the Daughter’s of the American Revolution (DAR) & the Piscataqua Pioneers.  She was so vested in genealogy that folks corresponded from afar to receive her advice.  When she passed away she had correspond so much and gave of herself so freely that folks came from miles away to the tiny town of Newmarket, New Hampshire.  Even though we moved her funeral from the Kent Funeral Home to the Newmarket Community Church downtown, even the church could not accommodate all of those who had traveled from afar paying their respects.

 

It was at that wake that I met the young man whose son is carrying on the Kent family name.  He had two sons but lost his youngest when his son broke through the ice on a lake during the winter.  By the way, that is the black side of the Kent family, the Negro branch.

 

Grandma Kent told me about significant events that occurred yet are not in our history books.  Perhaps the most important one was that the Democrats made it illegal for a married woman to work!

 

That’s right.  The Democrats!  Those famous “social engineers” decided to make it against the law for a married woman to work outside of the home!  It was the seventh plank of The New Deal and it was the law of the land for seven years until the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional! 

 

FDR’s New Deal was pretty raw for women.  Until Roosevelt’s New Deal my grandmother was a school teacher, but she had to give up that job.  And once away from it for such a long period of time (eight years), she found it impossible to return to teaching.

 

During World War II my grandmother worked in the factories making munitions and she lamented when they (the women) had to give up their jobs, good paying industrial jobs, when the men came home from war so that the men could have their jobs back.  I could detect a hint of pride as she recalled how hard the work was and how much the women took pride in their efforts to support the war.

 

When I published my doctoral dissertation, The Effects of Tempo in Programmed Environmental Music upon EMG Muscle Tension (1994), I dedicated it to the two deceased women who had made such a large impact on my life and who loved me:  My paternal & my maternal grandmothers, Mrs. Ione Griffin Kent & Mrs. Sophie Novak Charest.