Seeking the Best

(From Chapter 7)

Dr. Wayne Holtzman of the Hogg Foundation submitted my name to the Texas Academy of Science in 1961.  The first request came in October 1962 from a small school south of Cedar Creek Lake.  Driving back to Dallas, I listened with intense interest the radio’s minute by minute discussion of the National Cuban Missile Crisis.

            The “Visiting Scientist Program File” documented a speaking engagement at Jacksonville High School January 27, 1964.  The title of the talk was “The Scientific Measurement of Human Behavior” explaining the expanding role of psychology in a medical setting.  I informed the students there were very few clinical psychologists prior to WWII, and at war’s conclusion there was an immediate need for psychologists to respond to possible rehabilitation requests from sixteen million WWII veterans.  The students were told about the VA Psychology Training Program as a possible future vocational goal.

(From Chapter 7)

A fraternity of Veterans Administration Psychology Chiefs evolved over the years composed of former Kentucky classmates, psychology trainees and postdoctoral friends.  Many of us joined ranks each year at state, regional and national psychological meetings, or at a VA Central Office meeting.                                                      

Kentucky classmate Cecil Peck, Chief Psychologist, VACO came to Dallas for an official visit February 10, and spent the night in our home.  Beth’s hamster escaped from its cage.  Suddenly Cecil’s quiet voice shifted tone, “Jean, I believe you have a rat in the house, I just saw it run under the couch!”  With help from each of us, Beth corralled her hamster, returned him to its cage, and there remained for Beth’s Science Fair project until he tripped a rat trap under the kitchen sink and died.

(From Chapter 15)

Vietnam Veteran Interest

            I wrote Mother February 10 about a talk to be delivered to the Physical Therapy Association of Dallas on the Vietnam Veteran.  The presentation included notes from a talk given to Hospital Volunteers in November of 1970, “The Volunteer and the Vietnam Veteran” amplified with information Ron Kidd and I gathered in the interviews with more than 200 veterans in 1971.                                                    

            The audienc