Gene majored in Physical Education while at Mississippi State College for Women. While at the W, she was in charge of lighting for Miss Pohl's dance programs. A devout Baptist, she went across the street to the Baptist House for a short service each day. "I kept flowers on the altar every day by taking them off the table in the dining hall and bringing them back after the service," says Gene. She was also a member of Blacklist and Hottentots.
When she attended physical therapy school, she was pleased to find that her MSCW education had left her more prepared than her peers.
Following her years at the W, Gene spent three years in the Air Force as a physical therapist, taking care of men injured at war and on base. Polio made its periodic appearance while she was a physical therapist, so one of her jobs was teaching polio victims to walk again.
While she was in the Air Force, Gene tells us, "I was in a group that got scholarships for outstanding Korean students to come to the States." Gene also coached an all-Black enlisted women's basketball team and played with them. "Being an officer, I could check out an airplane with two pilots to take us to play games in other towns. We all had on parachutes, of course."
Doesn't Gene look great in that uniform? She told us, "We went to New York City and had our uniforms tailor-made so we had good-looking uniforms. We were the only girls in uniforms that we ever saw the two years we were at the University of Pa. We would wear the uniform to church and ladies would take us home with them for lunch. Then we would wear them to ball games and get in free and stand at attention and salute when the flag went up. We loved every minute of it."
Gene, we've loved every minute of this interview and thank you for your service to our country.
