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).
