Jennie Mildred Quint
March 12, 1884 - January 1, 1974
Story by Jennie (Quint) Dunwoody, February
15, 1968
Photo of Jennie, 1926
I was born the morning of March 16, 1884 at Stella,
Nebraska, the daughter of Louis Franklin and Isabell Flora Quint,
and the fifth child in the family of eleven children.
At the age of six months, the family moved i a covered wagon
to Mitchell County, Kansas where my father located a tract of
land on which to build. On the journey, I rode in the feed-box
of the wagon, father stopping the team occasionally to say,
"Belle, you better go back and see about Jennie," and mother
returning with, "She's still sleeping and doing fine."
After a few days camping, while father located a building
spot, we traveled twenty-six miles farther on into Lincoln Co.,
Kansas and lived for several months with Uncle John and Aunt Mary
Dale, (father's sister) while father built living quarters,
twelve miles from Beloit, Kansas where I grew to womanhood,
attending district school, graduating at sixteen, then enrolling
in Glen Elder High, securing a teaching certificate at seventeen.
I continued in the teaching field for half a century, regularly
attending Teacher's Institutes, serving on County Boards, doing
extension work and receiving a B.S. in Education in 1941.
In the spring of 1902, I moved with my parents to Graham
County, Kansas and in 1908, I was married to Frank Orion
Dunwoody. In 1919 we built a house on our farm site about five
miles northeast of Hill City, Kansas, where we continued farming
and stock raising through the dust bowl, hail, drought and good
years.
During the summer months, I kept a nice flock of turkeys and
dressed many a one to grace the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner
tables of my friendly neighbors. I Liked to live in the open
fields of nature "where the winds blow free and the doves
coo."
Photo with some brothers and sisters (1937) Back: Florence Morris, Elmer, Clarence
Front: (Mother) Isabell, (Father) Louis, Jennie Dunwoody
Since conditions are not conducive to my living on the farm,
I am retired and live in Hill City, Kansas (215 N. 5th.) and find
contentment and pleasure in the many social and church activities
and conveniences. So remember, "my latch string is always out",
and in the words of Edgar A. Guest:
"I'd like to think when life is done
That I had filled a needed post,
That here and there I'd paid my fare.
With more than idle talk and boast.
That I had taken gifts divine
The breath of life and womanhood fine,
And tried to use them now and then
In service for my fellowmen."
Note by Philip G. Parsons (February 27, 1968): I
would like to add a line to the beautiful story of Jennie Mildred
Dunwoody. Perhaps it is her Scotch ancestry stemming from the
Jackson pioneers which gave her such a splendid sense of true
value. The high value she placed in education was expressed so
freely in the ways she was able to help others gain an education.
She helped a neighbor girl, Laura Hollopeter, obtain a good
education. Our daughter, Neta Parsons, was so generously
assisted through Colorado State University by Aunt Jennie, Jennie
called it 'oil money', Neta and her parents knew it was Godsend,
just when most needed.
Perhaps the most unforgettable meeting I have ever been
privileged to attend occurred one morning in Jennie's home. She
had summoned all of her living brothers and sisters and as they
sat around her dining table, she distributed a fortune, a like
amount to each for she said "they are my folks, blood is the
greatest bond". And this had been planned for many years,
although Jennie never mentioned it, for the bonds distributed
that day had mostly reached maturity, and had been issued with
Jennie's name and the name of the recipient upon them. The room
was completely filled with a feeling o deep and abiding family
love.
SOME STORIES TOLD BY JENNIE DUNWOODY OF
HAPPENINGS DURING HER GROWING UP DAYS.
"As a teenager, I asked Mother if I could make a studio in
one corner of the upstairs bedroom and she said I could stretch a
sheet across one corner. So I improvised a desk with a chair
where I spent many leisure hours sketching pictures and designs
from the "Munsey Magazine" which Aunt Jennie Jackson-Logan always
renewed the subscription ever Christmas for many years."
"While attending Salina Normal University in Salina, Kansas
in the spring of 1903, at our door about 2 o'clock in the morning
came a pounding of the night watchman calling, "High water! Get
up!" My roommate, Anna Heller of Victor, (now Hunter) Kansas
jumped up as I asked, "What's happened?" She replied, "A
flood!"
Soon the whole household of girls were dressed and came
rushing into our room, since we had the downstairs front room on
Iron Avenue, in the home of George and Ina Cranshaw Vanpelt. He
proposed that he go to the next door neighbor who operated a hack
and take all of us out to higher ground, but being informed that
there would be danger since all culverts were washed out, we
dismissed the idea and decided that if the house floated away we
would climb atop and risk anchoring it. He and the neighbor
continued measuring the rising height along the porch post and at
4 o'clock noted a slight decrease which held for several hours.
As daylight dawned we viewed pigs with noses held above water,
hens, dog houses and debris floating down the avenue. The chilly
atmosphere and dampness caused many of us to take cold. Mrs.
Vanpelt got busy with hot lemonade and brought all of us out,
except on e who was threatened with pneumonia, had to be put to
bed but recovered within a couple of days. Many students were
seen the next day after the cloudburst, boating down the streets,
telegraph and telephone wires down, railroad tracks out, but
after a few days, mail came in and all students returned to their
homes, the college never to be rebuilt."
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