Jean Wrenn Higgins Oral History
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Oral history interview with Jean Wrenn Higgins
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Primarily documents Jean Wrenn Higgins's education at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro) in the 1930s; her experiences in the WAVES from 1943 to 1945; and her post-war activities. Higgins discusses in some detail her time at the Woman's College. Topics include her memories of Dr. Benjamin Kendrick and Dr. Eugene Pfaff and other notable instructors; her financial difficulties; work with the National Youth Administration; visiting performers; and Greensboro in the late 1930s. She also describes her decision to join the WAVES in 1943; the tests she took; and the many difficulties of Officer Candidate School and basic training in Northampton, Massachusetts, including homesickness. Higgins recalls her duties in Glynco, Georgia, first as a supervisor of enlistees, and then as an aide to the commanding officer, as well as other work done on the base and the male soldiers attitudes toward WAVES. She describes her social activities while stationed there, including beach parties, trips to Jekyll Island; her experiences chaperoning the base basketball team; and memorable aspects of popular culture during World War II. Higgins also discusses her life following her discharge from the navy in 1945, including the months she and her husband lived in Washington, D.C., with the chairman of the Federal Commerce Commission. She comments on her husband's career and wounding in the 1st Marine Division while stationed in Guadalcanal; the impact of World War II on women's employment; her family; and her places of residence.
