40- Year-Old Student From Webster County Shocked English Professor At The University Of Kentucky In 1940s
By Frank J. Blankenship 2009

In September 1941 a University of Kentucky English professor walked into his classroom and looked over all of the young smiling faces sitting there before him. Suddenly his gaze stopped at the front row where an older lady sat waiting. "What are you doing here in my freshman class?" he asked. "I'm a student,” the 40-year-old replied. The professor just shook his head in disbelief. In those days older people seldom went to college.

This is the story of my mother, Lorene Wilkey Blankenship, who was an unusual person all of her life. She began life in the community of Luzon (Little Zion) near Dixon, Webster County Kentucky, as the youngest daughter of two unusual parents, William J. Wilkey, born November 9, 1846; and his wife, Martha A. Clark, born December 13, 1860. Martha was William's student in the local one-room school. They were married September 9, 1925, when Martha was 15 years old.

Martha was a housewife and mother of 11 children, nine of which grew to maturity. One baby died at birth and little Fannie died at age four. William began his adult career as a schoolteacher, then later became a gentleman farmer. He was the first farmer in Webster County to experiment with fertilizers and crop rotation to increase yields. This early experimentation was in cooperation with the University of Kentucky Agriculture College.

Lorene Blankenship and her son, Frank, were making the grades together at the University of Kentucky during the early 1940s. Frank was called for active duty during WWII and Lorene receieved her Bachelor of Science degree in 1945.

The William J. Wilkey family began with the birth of Austin P., born March, 4, 1878, who lived most of his life in Mississippi working as a mail carrier. Next was Rufus L., born February 10, 1880, who became a farmer and later owned a hardware store in Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky. Next came Malcolm R., a long-time resident of Madisonville, Hopkins County, Kentucky, but later on moved to Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, after retirement. He was a very successful coal salesman for the Western Kentucky coal mines. Melvin E., born May 19, 1888, was a bachelor until age 45. As a single man he became a large property owner and holder of mineral rights on many acres of land in Webster County. He worked until his death as a railroad station agent for the Illinois Central Railroad.

Mabel was the first girl in the family to grow to maturity. She was born May, 9, 1890, and married William Terry. The Terry family lived in Oklahoma and New Mexico. Mabel died in New Mexico on May 28,1988. Mabel had no middle name. Her father always said, "Girls will get a middle name when they marry." The next child was Bertha, born May 10, 1892, who married Richard Graham. The Grahams lived alternately in Dawson Springs, Hopkins County, Kentucky, and Madisonville. Next in line was Lillian, born July 17, 1894. Lillian married Frank P. Giannini who was a Illinois Central Railroad engineer.
 
Clovis R. broke the girl string when he was born on March 22, 1897. He attended the University of Kentucky and later acquired his Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Arkansas, where he taught college in two of the state's colleges. After retirement from the academic world, Clovis worked for the U. S. State Department in Taipei, where he assisted in grain crop yields. He died at the ripe old age of 100 in his hometown of Little Rock.

My mother, Lorene, was born September 20, 1902. She graduated from Dixon High School and married my father , Frank E. Blankenship, a coal miner. They lived in Clay, Webster County, Kentucky, until the mines closed during the Great Depression. Dad worked in the coal mines most of his life, except for a few years during the Great Depression. He returned to the coal mines in 1939 and was killed in a mining accident in Providence, Kentucky, June 20, 1940. His death and limited estate of$500 was the motivation of Mother's search for a paying career.

Mother had been very active in the home demonstration work of the Webster County Extension Program (US Smith-Hughes Act) and believed that this was a career she would enjoy. The only problem was that she needed a college degree. The county agent gave her the name of the dean of the Home Economics Department at the University of Kentucky and suggested she give her a call. Mother explained to the dean her desire to get a degree, her lack of money, and that she had two kids in school. She asked for suggestions on how to proceed. The result was an offer of a job in the Home Economics Department setting up cooking labs, ordering food and supplies, and cleaning up after the classes.
 
At that time I had two jobs and was making it on my own. I started out the year before by hitchhiking to Lexington with $75 in my pocket. carrying an old beat-up leather bag with all my clothes. When Mother and my little brother, Bob, arrived in early September 1941, we rented a two-bedroom apartment near the University. Mother and I were close enough to school to walk, and Bob could walk to the elementary school. The owner of the house, who was about 65 years old, said she could look after Bob when he came home from school, until Mother and I returned in the late afternoon.

This unusual arrangement of a mother and two kids caught the attention of The Lexington Herald which did an artcle entitle “He Gets Her Grades and She Gets His.”

Then came the war, and as an advanced ROTC student I was soon called for active duty in the Army Signal Corp. The Signal Corp transferred me from Infantry ROTC program the newly-organized Signal ROTC program. I had learned radio broadcast work at the University Radio Studios, which was producing four to five programs that were aired over the NBC network. I had passed the FCC license exam and had been hired to work the 6:00 p.m. to sign-off shift at radio station WLAP. I also served as backup transmitter engineer and had to travel five miles out of Lexington by bicycle.

As I “went off to waah,” as our Southern-reared landlady said, Mother stayed and received her Bachelor of Science degree in 1945. She was immediately offered her choice of several counties in which to work and selected the vacancy in Elizabethtown, Hardin County. About five years later, Bob graduated from high school, and Mother got a call from the Dairymen’s League in New York City.

This was a real shocker, Mother was told that the President of Vasser College, who was the former Dean of Women at UK, told them that if they wanted a top-notch employee, Lorene Blankenship was the candidate. The Dairymen’s League appointed her as Director of Home Services, which entailed lots of travel through New York and other northeastern states where milk was produced. Mother’s job was mostly relationships with dairy farmer’s wives. The League controlled most of the raw milk flow into the city. The League’s plant processed some milk under their own brand and provided raw milk to Foremost and other dairy companies. Mother worked there as Director of Home Service where she enjoyed traveling “The Milk Shed” areas. She retired after ten years of living in the big city, for it was becoming more dangerous for a single woman. She returned to Kentucky and her old job of Home Demonstration Agent, where she worked in two other counties for extended periods before fully retiring at age of 67. She died October 20, 1996, at the age of 94.

     Upon her death, the University of kentucky flew thwe Administration building flag at half mast for the day of her funeral.