A lot of strange events occurred during Eleanor Roosevelt’s February 13, 1959, lecture at Northwest Missouri, and Eleanor herself clarified items in her daily “My Day” column that reporters covering the event missed. And the Maryville High School newspaper “Hi Lights” scooped everybody with the only published photo of her (in her mink!) in Maryville.
Spoiler alert: The most amazing part centers on her being driven from the St. Joseph Union Train Depot to the event by Bob Owens, a senior from Grant City and the Northwest student president. Owens is better known as B.D. Owens was president of the college from 1977-1984 (the first and, I believe, only college president at the school to graduate from Northwest). Owens tenure is marked by the 1979 fire that destroyed the north theatre wing of the Administration Building where Mrs. Roosevelt spoke. Owens wife was a music teacher at Maryville High School (and hence the Hi-Lights exclusive).
Eleanor was on a Midwest college speaking tour. She flew into Kansas City Municipal Airport on Feb 12 on Continental Flight at 9:50 and immediately set out by car with 2 student from Washburn University for Topeka, where she had a Menninger clinic, where Mrs. Roosevelt spoke with professional psychiatric staff at the clinic, held a press conference at 3 o’clock, and spoke in the evening at Topeka’s municipal auditorium t0 more than 4,000 at an event sponsored by Delta Kappa Gamma, honorary teachers society for women educators. She spent the night in Topeka.
On Friday, Feb 13, Eleanor would embark on a nearly 400-mile overland trip. Before breakfast, she was driven back to Kansas City, where she caught a Burlington train at Union Station for a 2-hour trip to St. Joseph Union Depot (the trip time is specifically mentioned in Eleanor’s My Day account).
The St. Joseph News-Press had this account. The account also included a photo of her at the train station.
Union Passenger Station was jammed with wiggling, giggling school children… As the former First Lady of the land entered the station, a hushed awe swept over the building. Literally hundreds of schoolchildren turned in unison, as if controlled by a single cord, to look at the famous visitor. Whispers of “That’s Mrs. Roosevelt!” echoed across the waiting room. “Someday the United States will have a woman as its President,” Mrs Roosevelt speculated in an interview. “When? couldn’t say when, but in the foreseeable future.”… At her train, Mrs. Roosevelt was greeted first by Glen F. Bridges, division passenger agent for the Burlington Lines. State Representative Jerry Schellhorn also spoke briefly with her…the person with the most responsibility for Mrs. Roosevelt’s fleeting moment in St. Joseph was Bob [incorrectly reported as Bill] Owen, president of the student body. Northwest Missouri State College. This young man met the charming lady to drive her from St. Joseph to Maryville in time for a noon luncheon at that campus. The Grant City youth felt his role in today’s event most gravely…Always gracious, the 74-year-old Mrs. Roosevelt was dressed in typical modest elegance. She was wrapped warmly in a mink coat and wore a small brown hat set forward on her soft white hair. Her dress was of mauve wool. Traveling with Mrs. Roosevelt on her current lecture tour is. Maureen Corr, her secretary and companion. Mrs. Roosevelt uses no script for her lectures, speaking extemporaneously. She was to speak this afternoon at Northwest Missouri State College at Maryville. Tonight she will be in Columbia for a speech at the University of Missouri. Mrs. Roosevelt’s bright blue eyes belie her years. They sparkle in humor and wit.
Union Depot ceased to be a train station in July 1959, and demolition began in September 1959.
The animation below is an AI of the station. Steam trains would not be used in 1959.
Owens took Mrs. Roosevelt to the Thomas Gaunt college president’s residence at Northwest for a luncheon. Eleanor in her “My Day” column said that J.W. Jones, president of the college, was not at the luncheon and he was elsewhere (although media reports said he was present). Owens wife was invited to the luncheon and that’s where the snapped the photo of Eleanor with her and it was entitled. “First Ladies Meet.”
Eleanor’s speech at the Administration Building was attended by an estimated 1,200 and included a 25 minute question and answer. Its theme was the importance of young people to persuade people in neutral countries to steer away from the Communists.
Per Eleanor’s My Day column, she planned to fly from Maryville Municipal Airport to Columbia, Missouri, but thick fog forced the trip to be made by car; it is unclear who drove. She gave a speech to 2,000 people at Jesse Hall at Columbia, focusing on women in journalism.
On February 21, 1959, the school newspaper (published in the Forum) had this account and included the only published photo of Eleanor in Maryville:
FIRST LADIES MEET* Mrs. Bob Owens beams delightedly as she poses with Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, who spoke at Northwest Missouri State College on Feb. 13. Mrs. Owens, MHS Music Instructor, Is Inspired by the former First Lady. “One of the greatest thrills of my life,” commented Mrs. Bob Owens, MHS music instructor, “was being introduced to Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt.” Mrs. Owens, whose husband is president of the student body at Northwest Missouri State College, was among those present in the home of Dr. J. W. Jones, president of the college, to serve as a reception committee last week for Mrs. Roosevelt and her secretary, Miss Maureen Corr. In discussing her acquaintance with the former First Lady of the Land, Mrs. Owens stated that she was quite surprised to find that anyone so famous could be so humble and appreciative. “Instead of taking everything, such as the ride from St. Joseph and a reception luncheon served by college girls, for granted, Mrs. Roosevelt took special time to thank each individual who had had even the smallest part in making her visit to Maryville more enjoyable.” Mrs. Owens later added, “While being introduced to her, I was practically shaking for fear I couldn’t think of anything intelligent to say, but right away Mrs. Roosevelt was chatting about Maryville and the surrounding area, making everyone, including me, feel at ease. Her speech was so interesting because she seemed to have a talent for putting the topic on our level. You could tell she was really interested in what she was saying, too. “As Mrs. Roosevelt was departing, she spoke to each in such a friendly manner, as though we would be friends forever,” commented the NWSC student body first lady, Mrs. Owens summed up her entire visit by remarking, “That was one experience I will never forget!”
On February 17, 1959, Eleanor published this account of the day (her famous My Day column ran from from 1935 to 1962 in syndicated newspapers and her diary sometimes referred to events that occurred in the recent past.
NEW YORK.—February does not seem to be the best month in which to travel in the Middle West. We started our little trip a week ago Monday in a heavy New York fog and then ran into almost blizzard conditions in Wisconsin. And throughout the week we had a combination of fog and snow and rain and ice.
Friday was fairly mild but throughout the day, until we were nearly in Columbia, Mo., the fog was almost like a London fog. We had left Topeka at 7 o’clock in the morning and on our 61-mile drive into Kansas City we saw little of the countryside.
We did, however, make good time on the turnpike, and though we could not get breakfast before leaving Topeka we did get some in the railroad station before boarding our train in Kansas City. The train landed us in St. Joseph, Mo., about two hours later and we faced another 50-mile automobile drive to Maryville, home of Northwest Missouri State College.
At Maryville, though, Mrs. J. W. Jones, wife of the president of the college, entertained us at a delightful luncheon before we went to speak before the student body. Unfortunately, Mr. Jones was away, so I did not have the pleasure of meeting him. The auditorium was packed, and I was happy to find great interest and a number of interesting questions from my young audience.
We had hoped to fly from Maryville to Columbia, where the University of Missouri is located, but that proved impossible, and we again drove through dense fog for five and a half hours, arriving in Columbia at 9 p.m.
Our drive was made as pleasant as possible by our kindly hosts, but considering the fact that we had begun our day at 6 o’clock that morning, had attended a luncheon and made a speech and had three long automobile rides through thick fog, we decided we were a little too late to join a group of journalists in the evening.
It was an affair we should like to have attended, celebrating the anniversary of the oldest journalism school in America, at the University of Missouri. But because of the late hour we went to bed instead with a feeling of gratitude that we had covered so many miles successfully and without accident.
The opportunity to join with other American women journalists was heartwarming to me, however, for I have always had the greatest admiration and respect for women in the writing field. They have courage and integrity and they hold their own with the men in a field that gives short shrift to incompetence and timidity of any kind.
I am happy to pay tribute to all those women journalists whom I have known, and particularly to those who have never neglected their jobs but who have managed when they were off duty to be warm friends and delightful companions.
The FDR Library indicates they have photos from the visit but they are not available online. Below is a colorized image of B.D. Owens from The Tower Yearbook in 1959.
