Mrs. Juanita Curry Boynton, the wife of SFA’s second president Dr. Paul L. Boynton, did an oral history interview in 1974 with Dr. Joy Reeves, Head of the Sociology Department. Thanks to the work of Dr. Reeves, Mrs. Boynton’s memories of her husband and their years at SFA can become part of the collective history of the university.

Mrs. Boynton, the former Jaunita Curry of Somerville, Texas, moved to Nacogdoches in 1942. At the time of moving to SFA, she had two children, Edwin Curry age 12 and Paulanna age 7. Mrs. Boynton continued to reside in Nacogdoches until her death.

On Boynton and the WAACs:

“There had been no provisions for any kind of service unit at SFA. Dr. Birdwell was the finest person in the whole world, but he was 72 years old then, and he didn't want the government to have anything to do with the college. He did not realize how--what a situation it was going to become when they took all of our boys... But he [Boynton] was able to obtain this WAAC unit and that was our salvation. You see they took all of our boys in less than a years time. They had taken over half of the students from the college. The way the appropriations were made in the state colleges the appropriations were made according to the number of people in college. If he had not been able to obtain the WAAC unit, well, I just don't know what would have happened. And so he did obtain the army unit. ... But he was refused the unit several times. He just stayed until he got it. So that was, I definitely feel, the college’s salvation. Because we could not have existed with out it."

On Women Faculty:

"He [Boynton] loved people, not institutions, but people."

[How did your husband feel toward female faculty? Did he actively recruit females?]

"Oh yes he certainly did [recruit females]. The thing was it was difficult to find women that were interested in coming to a college faculty. In other words, in continuing with their research, their graduate degrees. But, oh, he highly appreciated the women. June Irwin was one of his girls. Lucille Norton. So many of them he had thought highly of. I wouldn't say he was a women's lib [person], but he certainly would not ever have held a woman back. For instance me! He was the one who promoted me!"

"The faculty came first and the buildings second. He certainly wanted good buildings and all but the faculty, he felt like the faculty in a frame classroom would still be a lot more valuable than a million dollar building."

On buildings:

"He was proud of the buildings he was able to get. He was more or less, I would say, conservative. He didn't believe in building anything he didn't see getting paid for. He felt like he wanted the buildings, but he wanted to be able to pay for them. He was so thrilled with the fine arts building. It was his sixteen year dream. He had tried sixteen years to get that. We needed it so badly. The state does not appropriate money for things like that. He had gotten the money together, and thought that he had enough. The plans were all drawn and ready to go, and then all the prices went up. So, then they didn't have enough money. Then he had to start all over again, to almost double the amount he had.”

“He was so thrilled the morning that the city made a big deal of digging the first spade of dirt. ... Of course they had Mr. Boynton dig it with a gold shovel and all that. He was so thrilled that morning because he had planned every brick in it. And the pipe organ and all.”

“He had gone everywhere. He listened. He loved good music you know. So he had gone everywhere with Mr. Baumgartner [Music Chairman]. He was so fine. [They] went everywhere before they chose [that organ]. So, I always, of course, feel that is his building, and I had so hoped that would be the one to bare his name. It wasn't and I was so sorry because that was the appropriate one. He would have loved the way it has given so much pleasure to so many people."

On student behavior:

"I think that I simply don't see any difference between boys and girls now [1974] and what they've been in the past. There have always been some that wanted to jump the traces more or less. Maybe attract attention by having a negative attitude, but usually you don't find that person, if you can get to him, and interest him, he more or less comes along with the rest of the thinking.”

“In other words, I don't think you have a dominant revolutionary group in the classroom....I think they can sense right off if you [the teacher] are not with it....I think many times today when you find that a classroom and of course it is true that is unruly...if you get to the background of it you find that they don't have anything to which to listen."

“The problems with the students were caused by more broken homes now. No parents to give examples....Nobody to show them the right and wrong side of things."

On entertaining students:

"As I said before, he felt a large part of a boys and girls education...was to meet the faculty and meet the other students and come to the President's home and have ice cream and cake. Just to get to know the faculty and to have some of the towns people in to know them. He felt like that was as much a part of a boys and girls education as hat they learned in the books. So, we did it. It was real funny. Through the years every boy and every girl was invited into our home. ... During the war, it was a real complicated situation because ... everything was rationed; everything was rationed!. It seemed like when we had the WAACS here, we didn't have anywhere to take them, but our own home. I fed everybody in the state of Texas. The legislators, the governor, of course I didn't have a cook or anything....Even then we did have the students in for ice cream and cake....”

END OF TAPE