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Patterson, Isabel (audio interview #1 of 1)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This single interview was conducted in Isabel Patterson's home and she expressed delight that the interviewer's child was enrolled in the Isabel Patterson Child Development center. The audio quality of this interview is good. 2/7/1979
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- 2021-08-31
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- SUBJECT BIO - Isabel Patterson was one of the earliest graduates of South Los Angeles Orange County State College and she later built a child development center on the campus. In this single, short interview, Patterson talks about beginning college at Texas Tech before she dropped out to work. After World War II, she came to enroll in Long Beach's new state college while it was still on its apartment house campus. She graduated with a teaching credential and found a teaching position in Long Beach. But she soon quit that job to sell and invest in real estate. She used some of her profit from that work to build the Isabel Patterson Child Development Center at CSULB. This interview was part of a project to document the history of California State University, Long Beach. TOPICS - living arrangements; economic status; campus facilities; the apartment house campus; student government; student clubs and activities; Forty-Niner Days; Roger Bryson; and Alumni Association;teaching; and Isabel Patterson Child Development Center;
- *** File: uhipatterson1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-2:51)... After working for the Navy, including a year in Saipan, Patterson moved to Long Beach and purchased a duplex. She lived with three other women and charged them each $30 a month in rent, which she used to cover her living expenses. She read about a new college opening in Long Beach and decided to enroll. She had previously attended Texas Tech for two years, but did not finish her education. When she went to investigate the new college, she found that the information desk was a fruit stand located on Anaheim Road and Pacific Coast Highway. For the first two years of its existence, classes were held in a 16-unit apartment building that was still under construction. Large classes were taught in living rooms, middle-sized classes in bedrooms, and smaller classes in kitchens. There were 161 students and the atmosphere was very friendly. She earned a bachelors degree in English and, after that, found a teaching job in the Long Beach Unified School District. (2:51-7:04)... There was a canteen that served donuts, coffee, coke, and "Miller sandwiches," which were two pieces of dry bread with a thin slice of meat between them, and they were wrapped in wax paper. The professors and the students ate together and the atmosphere was very close. The students were responsible for organizing student activities and clubs. They named themselves the "Forty-Niners." She was chairman of the first spring prom, which was held at the Lakewood Country Club. She also was assistant editor of the first yearbook, the The Prospector. During her second semester, Dr. Sam Wiley told her she was going to edit the campus newspaper. They made a deal with the Marina News to get it printed. She and others that worked on the paper told professors not to give pop quizzes because they had to get the paper out. (7:04-9:04)... Patterson barely had "2 nickels to rub together" but many other students were in the same boat In addition to collecting $30 a month from her roommates, all of the women who shared her apartment contributed $5 a week for food. Patterson had to take 3 buses to get to the campus and she later found a classmate with whom she could ride to campus for $5 a month. (9:04-12:36)... Some of the clubs that were organized on campus eventually became sororities. There was also a History Club, a Creative Writing Club, and an Art Club. Women students organized a Student Council and Roger Bryson became the first president. They also formed a club called Women Students Organized for Service with Virginia Taylor as president. That group didn't succeed, Patterson believed, because women were too busy in other groups to participate in a separate women's organization. They also organized the first Forty-Niner Days, and all of the student groups participated. (12:36-14:03)... During her second semester she saw the student population increase to more than 600. Some people predicted the student population would reach 10,000. After she graduated and worked for a while as a teacher in Long Beach, she quit and went into real estate to make more money. (14:03-15:49)... There were parties at a house a rented by a fraternity in Long Beach; sometimes they became noisy late at night and the police were called. Most of her friends were also students. There were no physical education facilities and other students sometimes gathered to watch teacher education students those who were practiced games to teach children. (15:49-17:51)... There is an interruption in this segment when Patterson answers the telephone. Students had to take science classes but there were no facilities or teaching supplies. So they often went on field trips to collect specimens. During one science course, students were required to spend 2 hours a week collecting seashells. When she received an A on a project identifying the shells she collected, she erased the grade and turned it in for another course. The college finally awarded her one unit of school credit for editing the school paper. This gave her the 120 units she needed to graduate. (17:51-20:39)... The new college had some excellent teachers. Dr. Irving Ahlquist was one the best professors anyone could have. Dr. Sam Wylie invited her to his house when they were working on the school paper. And Dr. Ross Hardy was very strict; he believed all educated people should know Latin and made the young women in his class hold a garter snake as preparation for becoming teachers. When she doing her student teaching, she had to take a course in Childhood Education. All of the other students, except Patterson, were parents, but she received the best score on the final examination by using common sense. (20:39-22:50)... Dean David Bryant had to approve all of the stories before they were printed in the campus newspaper so she worked closely with him. They seldom disagreed about what to put in the paper. Most of the students on campus were in their thirties and focused on their studies, not political matters. A Press Telegram reporter visited the campus every week and she provided him with the news about the college, like a press agent. (22:50-25:16)... She graduated from college in 1951 and remembers there was very little political activity on campus. There were 2 Black students and one of them, Roger Bryson, was president of the Student Council. The other was a woman who did well in college and later had a professional career. (25:16-27:27)... One part of the apartment building's garage was used as a canteen and the another part was used by the Art Department. There were no physical education facilities. There was a basketball team, but Patterson does not know where they practiced. There is a long pause in this segment as Patterson goes through paperwork. (27:27-29:00)... Patterson and other staff members from the school paper accompanied Wylie to a conference for school paper editors in San Luis Obispo. (29:00-30:55)... The student newspaper office was in an old tool shed provided by Lloyd Whaley who also owned the apartment building where classes were held. They had old typewriters and the shed leaked. There was little grass around the apartment buildings and, when it rained, everything was muddy. (30:55-32:38)... During the college's first year, everyone knew everyone else. The second year, however, a dramatic increase in the student population changed the campus atmosphere. People were happy that the college was growing, but the informality and close relations were lost. (32:38-34:40)... The best part of attending the new college while it was small was the opportunity to be a leader, like a big fish in a little pond. The worst part was the science classes where students had to go out on cold, rainy mornings to collect specimens. Patterson believes she received a good education at the new college and it prepared her to become a teacher. It was a better eduction than she'd found at Texas Tech. (34:40-39:18)... During her first semester the student fees were $5. The school library was very small and the books available at the bookstore were often expensive. Students organized clubs and activities on their own without help from faculty or administrators. Many of the student leaders were older and already had good organizational skills. Patterson remembers the acting Dean of Women, Liz Nielson, who also taught English and took her English bulldog to class with her. The first year the Alumni Association was organized, it only had 30 potential members. She joined the Alumni Association during its second year and now serves on its board. Gene Amsberry was the first president of the association. (39:18-41:49)... Many students felt like pioneers because they were involved in the development of a new college. Some predicted the college would someday have 10,000 students. Thirty years later, more than 2,079 alumni were invited to the university's anniversary celebration. She is proud of how the school had grown and when she accepted the presidency of the President's Advisory Board she did it for the poor and struggling woman who were in the same position she once was in when she was a student (41:49-44:22)... When the new college was started, it was called South Los Angeles Orange County State College, but the students have always called it Long Beach State. Some of the faculty members who were her teachers were still there at the time of the interview including Ahlquist, Russell and Schwartskopf. End of tape *** File: uhipatterson2.mp3 (0:00-2:13)... While student teaching she also took 4 education courses, which was a lot of work. In 1952, when she started teaching in the Long Beach Unified School District, she was 41 years old and was surprised that she was hired when so many younger candidates were desperate for positions. (2:13-5:17)... It was not until she decided to fund the CSULB Child Development Center that she became active in campus affairs. Initially, she was asked to contribute $10,000, but when she learned it would cost $250,000 to build the center, she decided to fund the entire project. She sees the Isabel Patterson Child Development Center as her monument and is proud of this accomplishment. End of tape
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