Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All USU Press Publications USU Press 2002 Leave the Dishes in the Sink: Adventures of an Activist in Conservative Utah Alison Comish Thorne Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs Part of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons Recommended Citation Thorne, A. C. (2002). Leave the dishes in the sink: Adventures of an activist in conservative Utah. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the USU Press at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All USU Press Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Leave the Dishes in the Sink Leave the Dishes in the Sink Adventures of an Activist in Conservative Utah Alison Comish Thorne Utah State University Press Logan, Utah ISBN 0-87421-462-9 (E-BOOK) Copyright © 2002 Utah State University Press All rights reserved Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322-7800 Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid-free paper 08070605040302 1234567 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Thorne, Alison Comish. Leave the dishes in the sink : adventures of an activist in conservative Utah / Alison Comish Thorne. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-87421-439-4 (acid-free paper) 1. Thorne, Alison Comish. 2. College teachers—Utah—Biography. 3. Women college teachers—Utah—Biography. 4. Feminism and education— Utah. I. Title. LA2317.T488 2002 378.1'2'092—dc21 2002006674 To Wynne Thorne Contents Foreword F. Ross Peterson x Introduction xiii 1. Growing Up in the 1920s 1 The Progressive movement 7 Our pattern of living 8 How faculty earn and spend 18 2. The Great Depression and College Years 21 Graduate study at Iowa State College 24 Graduate study at the University of Chicago 31 Finishing the degree and beginning a marriage 36 3. Producing Children and Books: The 1940s 43 The Second World War 46 Writing books 47 The shadow manuscript 50 What matters most 51 The imperfect housekeeper 52 They that wash on Monday 55 Making ends meet 57 Come to dinner 59 Time off 59 Mirror, mirror, tell me true 61 Home is where mother is 61 Just a housewife 64 Are you happy? 66 Educating our daughters 67 4. Search for Values 69 The quick pick-up 70 My life as a faculty wife 75 Women and higher education 77 The climate of the 1950s 79 Reading philosophy and discussing it 80 Turmoil and then a sabbatical 82 Travels 86 Political events 88 5. Conformity and Creativity 90 Some views on conformity 90 Women and the agricultural experiment station 91 My efforts to help others 93 Wynne’s trip to Iraq and the USSR 96 The Russians come to dinner 98 Inquiry into creativity 101 6. Social Justice: The 1960s 108 Liberal tendencies 108 Community Work 112 The Logan Board of Education 115 The War on Poverty 119 Other matters 126 7. Feminist Straws in the Wind 129 Feminist glimmerings in higher education 133 The woman question in the media 134 The Governor’s Committee on the Status of Women in Utah 136 Conferences in Washington D.C. 138 My view of women and higher education 140 Concern over women’s low pay 142 Our daughters and the women’s movement 143 8. Activism in the 1970s 147 The year 1970 147 Sandra’s environmental career 155 League of Women Voters of Cache County 157 Public library funding 160 9. The Women’s Movement at Utah State University 164 The Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of Women 164 The first women’s studies course 169 Creation of the Women’s Center 174 10. The Widening Reach of the Women’s Movement 177 The Equal Rights Amendment 177 Three significant women’s conferences in 1977 181 Hands Across the Valley 181 The Salt Palace meetings 184 The National IWY Women’s Conference, Houston 189 Sex and Gender in the Social Sciences 195 Wynne’s death 197 Sonia Johnson and the ERA 197 My Mormon connection 202 11. The University, Women, and History 203 Women and International Development (WID) 203 Historical papers and a promotion 206 Commencements 211 The USU centennial 215 12. Gathering up Loose Ends 222 The national government and concern for social justice 222 Second wave feminism and family work 225 The challenge of feminist economics 227 Commencement of 2000 228 Appendix: The Life and Career of Wynne Thorne 230 Wisconsin and Texas 233 Teaching and research at Utah State Agricultural College 233 Administration of university research 235 Consulting experience 240 Retirement and continuing professional work 243 Postscript: What Became of the Children? 245 Acknowledgments 246 Notes 248 Index 274 Illustrations Elaine and Alison in 1919. Three and five years old 14 Louise, Elaine, Alison, Newel H. Comish 15 Our family and new car, ca. 1930 15 333 N. 13th, Corvallis 16 Alison Comish, 1934 25 Wynne Thorne, 1933 25 Margaret Hall, Iowa State College 25 Graduate students Alison, Beulah Porter, and Elanor Parkhurst 39 Alison and Wynne Thorne and Texas A&M 39 Where Alison Thorne lived in Logan, Utah 44, 45 The big square house in Logan 73 Skating in the living room 73 In Knoxville, Tennessee 1953–54 84 The Russians had lunch at the Chase’s. (They came to dinner at our house.) 99 NUCAP officers. The pantsuit was a daring innovation 125 Our extended family in Santa Barbara with Elaine, August 1968 128 From the Salt Lake Tribune May 3, 1970 148 Alison leads a peace march 150 Logo for “Hands Across the Valley” conference, designed by Elki Powers 182 Title Page of the IWY report 186 Delores Bennett, Alison, and Ann Hatch prior to the national convention in Houston 190 Cover of Alison’s Faculty Honor Lecture 209 Alison on west steps of south wing of Old Main 210 Wynne and Venezuelans. Herald Journal September 22, 1963 236 Top administrators of USU, 1967 237 “Gireeps and Hool.” 239 Foreword F. Ross Peterson Alison Comish Thorne is literally one of Utah’s finest treasures. In the tradition of Esther Peterson, Alice Louise Reynolds, Ione S. Bennion, Lucybeth Cardon Rampton, Juanita Brooks, and many other liberal Utah women, Alison is a bundle of enthusiasm who has never lacked for causes. She decided to write her memoirs as a statement about how individuals can and do make a difference. Her story also chronicles how difficult it is to make positive change in a conservative culture that mixes religion, values, and politics. Another major contribution of this volume is Alison’s view of education in the twentieth century, espe- cially at land-grant colleges. Her professional educational career led her to many places, where she crossed paths with some of the finest minds in economics and sociology. In this memoir she successfully weaves local issues into national trends and creates a fantastically clear view of her expansive world. As the wife of a world-famous agrono- mist; a mother of five children, three of whom are also academics, a social activist and a scholar, Alison is delightfully ahead of her time. The daughter of a Utah State University graduate who became a professor at Oregon State University when it was presided over by a former Utah State University president, William Jasper Kerr, Alison has spent her entire life in a university environment. From Corvallis, Oregon, she moved to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, at a time when academic freedom was fiercely debated at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints–owned campus. Anxious to continue her education, she moved to Ames, Iowa, and obtained a master’s degree at Iowa State University. She then moved on to the University of Chicago for special training before completing a Ph.D. At Chicago, she enjoyed the numerous famous intellectuals who taught and visited the campus. Alison also enjoyed teaching Sunday school with a young English graduate student from the Ogden, Utah, area, Fawn McKay. After a sojourn in Chicago, she returned to Ames and finished her Ph.D. in economics. She is the first female awarded a doctorate in eco- nomics at Iowa State University. x xi Foreword She then married a fellow graduate student, Wynne Thorne, whom she had met at church. As they embarked on professional careers shortly before World War II, they discovered that most universities had nepo- tism laws that forbade both spouses being employed by the same uni- versity. So, although she had Ph.D. in hand, Alison did not really work in her discipline for over a quarter of a century. Although the Thornes even- tually taught at Texas A&M, Wisconsin, and finally Utah State University, Alison did not teach regularly until the late 1960s. While rais- ing five children, she had enough to do, but her head never left academia and her heart never abandoned liberal efforts toward inclusiveness. She became a champion for the oppressed and downtrodden. With her friends from university women’s groups, she sought to right wrongs. When they saw or felt injustice, they responded with action. She and her great friend Ione Bennion, who lost her job as dean of women at Utah State because of nepotism, fought battles in behalf of unwed mothers, the disabled, and the elderly. The story of Alison Thorne is a chronicle of how she chose to serve. She certainly was determined to do so, and her home, university, com- munity, and church became better because of her commitment. As an advocate of civil rights, an opponent of the Vietnam War, an avid sup- porter of the Equal Rights Amendment, and an elected school board member, Alison remained consistent to her ideals and values.