Kays Life: The Stories of Kay Conklin

Kay and George Conklin walked into my office at Ohio Wesleyan University on a beautiful April morning. Kay carried a large stack of papers as her husband gave me a nervous but friendly smile. The 87-year-old woman had a determined look. "Are you John McGory? Someone said I should come talk to you." "Yes, I am. What can I do for you?" The usual visitors to my office were tired-eyed college students pleading for a break of some kind so two elderly individuals had me baffled. "I want a book," Kay said as she plunked down the big stack of papers onto my desk with a thud. This conversation started my wonderful historical journey into a past world of small-town American life. Kay Conklin personifies the American Dream. She grew up a middle child of a large farming family that struggled through the Depression, living in seven different homes throughout central Ohio. The early homes had no electricity or running water.from high school with no money, car, job, or hopes of going to college.