Oral history with Mrs. Irene (Ponder) Napier

              Oral history with Mrs. Irene ( Ponder) Napier
This oral history is provided through a cooperative project of University of Southern Mississippi Libraries and USM's Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage.
Funding provided by a National Leadership Grant for Libraries from the Institute for Museum and Library Services
The transcript is presented here for reference purposes only. Interviews in this collection are protected by copyright. PERMISSION TO PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED from the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. Please call ( 601) 266- 4574 for more information.
Biography
Mrs. Irene Ponder Napier taught for thirty- nine years in Mississippi, Florida, Texas and the District of Columbia. Thirty- one of these years were spent in Mississippi elementary and secondary public schools in Covington, Simpson, Jones and Greene counties. In this interview, Mrs. Napier discusses her experiences and observations as a teacher.
Mrs. Napier was born on December 21, 1917 at Mount Olive in Covington, Mississippi, as one of nine children of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur and Janie Rutland Ponder. She attended various schools in the Covington and Simpson county area and graduated from Mount Olive High School in 1936.
After having studied two years at Jones County Junior College, she began her teaching career in 1942 at Sand Hill School in Beaumont, Mississippi, teaching commercial work. In the summer of 1943, she entered Mississippi Southern Teachers' College, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in education in 1951, and did graduate work. Mrs. Napier received a good deal of her college education through night, summer and extension courses from Southern, as well as George Washington University in Washington, D. C., the University of Florida in Pensacola, Florida, and East Texas State Teacher's College in Commerce, Texas.
Mrs. Napier married Zeno Napier during the 1948- 49 school year, but was widowed in 1952. The Napiers had no children, but Mrs. Napier maintains close contact with her two surviving brothers, Robert and Fred, and her sister, Mrs. Ruth Hollingsworth of Hattiesburg.
Table of Contents
I. Overview of Mrs. Napier's Life and Teaching Career
A. Education
B. The Variety of Teaching Jobs and Subjects Taught over the Years
II. Mrs. Napier's Life Story
A. Birth and Experiences during the Depression
B. Her Family and its Background
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