Women of Fenn College Oral History Project
Jane Pease
Associate Professor Emerita of Education, Fenn College, 1944-1965;
Associate Professor Emerita of Education, Cleveland State University, 1965-1982
Instructions for controlling the program with a keyboard.
Listen to the interview as you read along (23:35 min.)
Please note that Flash Player 10 (or higher) OR an HTML 5 compatible browser as well as JavaScript is required to play this recording. If you experience problems, please check your version of Flash or update to a more current browser and make sure JavaScript is enabled.
Interview conducted through Cleveland State University's Mary Joyce Green Women's Center.
Transcript:
SPEAKER 1: --talking with Jane Pease as she recalls her memories of teaching at Fenn College for a good number of years. But if you could tell us just a little bit about you before you came to Fenn.
JANE PEASE: Oh dear.
SPEAKER 1: Just go ahead and talk.
JANE PEASE: I don't know where to start.
SPEAKER 1: Are you from the Cleveland area?
JANE PEASE: Yes, I lived in Westlake all my life. And I went to Fenn in '30, I think. No. I can't remember.
SPEAKER 1: Somewhere in the '30s, probably.
JANE PEASE: '30, I think I started.
SPEAKER 1: Did you really?
JANE PEASE: And I taught there for years. And-- oh dear. I taught biology the first year I was there. And then I taught the physical education department for years. And I can't remember. You'll have to ask me questions.
SPEAKER 1: OK. But you taught physical education for a number of years there. Who else was in the department with you?
JANE PEASE: There wasn't anybody when I started, just Mr. Woodling. And I was the only one for a while. And then Marcia Foltz came, and I think she was the first one.
SPEAKER 1: In phys ed over there?
JANE PEASE: What?
SPEAKER 1: In physical education?
JANE PEASE: Yes, she was in physical education. And I was the first one. You'll have to ask me questions because I can't think.
SPEAKER 1: OK. And so you were there from about 1930 on teaching phys ed. Was it mainly-- what faculty was it? Men or women? It was mainly men, wasn't it, when you were teaching there?
JANE PEASE: Mainly men, yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, when you were there.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Many women faculty members at all? I know Alberta Barnes was there.
JANE PEASE: Our what?
SPEAKER 1: Alberta Barnes was there in the '40s, I believe.
JANE PEASE: Yeah
SPEAKER 1: And Sarah Ruth Watson? When--
JANE PEASE: Oh yeah.
SPEAKER 1: She was there for--
JANE PEASE: English.
SPEAKER 1: --in English, yes. What other women were there? Not too many. Marie Faust?
JANE PEASE: Yeah, she--
SPEAKER 1: And Pauline Bloomquist, right? They were all--
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: You were-- but the rest were all men there, weren't there?
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, yeah.
JANE PEASE: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 1: Were there a lot of women going there when you started teaching there?
JANE PEASE: No there were more men than there were women.
SPEAKER 1: Mainly engineers and business students?
JANE PEASE: Yeah, back then, yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Were you in the old Fenn Tower, or were you in another building?
JANE PEASE: I started in the Fenn Tower. And how long was I there? I guess-- I don't know how long I was in the Fenn Tower.
SPEAKER 1: Did they move the gym, though, from the tower after a while?
JANE PEASE: Then the gym was moved. You're asking me questions I haven't thought of for long--
SPEAKER 1: Oh, it's a while. But well, became Cleveland State, then, in, I think, '64.
JANE PEASE: I don't know what year.
SPEAKER 1: Somewhere around then. And then the gym was moved-- was it to the Woodling Center or the Woodling Gym? Was that where the gym was moved to?
JANE PEASE: It was the Woodling Gym. And eventually, it got moved to Cleveland State.
SPEAKER 1: Yes. Yeah, yeah.
JANE PEASE: And-- oh dear. Let's see.
SPEAKER 1: Well, then you taught at Cleveland State too. You were there.
JANE PEASE: Oh yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Do you remember when you retired?
JANE PEASE: I retired in 30, I think. And I was there all the time.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, with a-- you were there a number of years, I know. Yes, yeah. We all remember you from intramurals and volleyball.
JANE PEASE: Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 1: And swimming.
JANE PEASE: I taught so many people to swim.
SPEAKER 1: Yes.
JANE PEASE: That was fun.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, in the old pool over there.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: In the old pool. Yes, yes. You were there during World War II, weren't you? You were teaching in the '40s?
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: You remember the school then? Was it women, men, veterans?
JANE PEASE: It was both. Vets too.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah.
JANE PEASE: And-- it was both, I know. Gosh, you'll have to--
SPEAKER 1: Were there many women veterans there at the time?
JANE PEASE: Oh, no, not the veterans.
SPEAKER 1: No, not women. No. They were all men, the veterans that were there.
JANE PEASE: Yes. Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Mm-hmm. And for a long time, it was mainly a men's school, wasn't it?
JANE PEASE: Well, there were more men than there were women, but there were women when I started.
SPEAKER 1: Yes.
JANE PEASE: I know that.
SPEAKER 1: Yes. Yeah, sure.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Yes. Yeah. Being a woman faculty member with a lot of men, do you think there was any-- especially in physical education, do you think there was any discrimination toward you as a woman?
JANE PEASE: I didn't notice any. I didn't notice any discrimination.
SPEAKER 1: Be treated equally as part of the faculty.
JANE PEASE: Uh-huh.
SPEAKER 1: You were there. Yes.
JANE PEASE: I remember we had an old handball court. And I remember playing the men in there. I played against the men.
SPEAKER 1: Oh, you did.
JANE PEASE: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 1: Was it women faculty or-- that played against the men, or just--
JANE PEASE: No, it just-- it was just me.
SPEAKER 1: You--
JANE PEASE: I played against the men.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, yeah.
JANE PEASE: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 1: Yes, and I bet you won many games too.
JANE PEASE: I did.
SPEAKER 1: You did. You did. Oh, yes. Yes.
JANE PEASE: Yeah. You're asking me questions I hadn't thought of for a long time.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Yeah, many-- you were there for a long time. Did you see a lot of changes at Fenn while your time was there, while you were there?
JANE PEASE: Oh yeah, there were a lot of changes, I know. Gosh, I can't remember what changes were now. I can't remember.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, yeah.
JANE PEASE: Stroke and I can't.
SPEAKER 1: Oh, I'm sorry to hear.
JANE PEASE: It's OK.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah.
JANE PEASE: Long time ago.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, but still.
JANE PEASE: Affected my memory.
SPEAKER 1: Yes, it affects. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yes.
JANE PEASE: But--
SPEAKER 1: When-- you've always lived in Westlake, but you taught there. How would you get there? By bus, or did you drive, or--
JANE PEASE: Oh, I drove.
SPEAKER 1: You always drove.
JANE PEASE: Most of the time.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, yeah.
JANE PEASE: Yeah. I had an old, and I drove.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Yes.
JANE PEASE: I don't know whether I could do it anymore.
SPEAKER 1: It's a distance.
JANE PEASE: That was a long way.
SPEAKER 1: Yes it was. Yes.
JANE PEASE: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 1: Yes. Where did you go to school, then? Where did you go to--
JANE PEASE: I went to Lake Erie college in Painesville.
SPEAKER 1: Did?
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: That's an all-woman's college, isn't it?
JANE PEASE: It was. It isn't now. They've got men now. But it wasn't-- it was all women when I went there and long after I was there. But now, they have men.
SPEAKER 1: Ah. Did you live on campus then, or--
JANE PEASE: Yes, I lived on the campus.
SPEAKER 1: And you majored in biology, then, and physical education, or--
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Those were your majors, then.
JANE PEASE: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER 1: And do you recall what made you teach at Fenn? Why you went to Fenn to teach? What--
JANE PEASE: I guess-- I don't know. I just-- I guess somebody heard about me and asked me to teach there. And that's it.
SPEAKER 1: And that's how you got there. Yes, yes.
JANE PEASE: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 1: Do you remember your student? Well, it's Alice Landini now. Alice-- she lived in Westlake, and you encouraged her to go to Fenn, I think.
What was Alice's maiden name? I can't remember it now. But she lived in Westlake, and you encouraged her to go to Fenn.
She went there in the '40s. I remember her telling us about that. Yes.
JANE PEASE: I can't remember her name now.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah. I forget her maiden name, though. Yeah.
Yeah. You were there during World War II, The Depression. World War II.
JANE PEASE: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 1: You were there when we had the Cuban Missile Crisis and President Kennedy's assassination. A lot of history that--
JANE PEASE: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER 1: --you saw there. Yeah.
JANE PEASE: [INAUDIBLE] all that.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, all that happened during that time.
JANE PEASE: Yes.
SPEAKER 1: It's amazing.
JANE PEASE: Yes.
SPEAKER 1: Yes. And in Cleveland, downtown Cleveland, were there a lot of changes that you saw as you were working there?
JANE PEASE: Well, there were the stores that used to be there that aren't there now, of course. They were there. Tailors and May's and-- what was the third one? Pally's.
SPEAKER 1: They were all there, yes.
JANE PEASE: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, yeah. Yes, all the old stores were there. Yeah, yeah. It's all gone now.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah. It's all gone now. Yeah, yeah.
JANE PEASE: It's amazing.
SPEAKER 1: How it's all gone, yes. You've been back to CSU, haven't you?
JANE PEASE: I've been back.
SPEAKER 1: Uh-huh?
JANE PEASE: Yeah, I haven't been lately. But I've been back.
SPEAKER 1: Was it different?
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Much bigger and--
JANE PEASE: They haven't-- the old, ill room-- what was the name of it? Anyway, they made it so that people can have functions there, and people can bring in things. And now-- what's the name of that? [INAUDIBLE]
SPEAKER 1: Yeah.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Yeah. That was closed for a while, I think, wasn't it?
JANE PEASE: It was what?
SPEAKER 1: Closed for a while?
JANE PEASE: I think it was. Then they opened it up and--
SPEAKER 1: Yeah.
JANE PEASE: And they had dinners there, and--
SPEAKER 1: Yes.
JANE PEASE: --like that.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, it was used a lot when you were teaching there in Panel Hall was, yes. And the gym up there-- and the fifth floor. Wasn't it the fifth floor gym?
JANE PEASE: Yeah, the fifth floor gym. Yes, yeah, yeah. And there was a handball court--
SPEAKER 1: Yes, up there.
JANE PEASE: --swimming pool.
SPEAKER 1: And a swimming pool. Yeah, yeah, yes. Yes.
JANE PEASE: Now they have a big pool.
SPEAKER 1: In the new building, isn't it? They put it in the new building.
JANE PEASE: Uh-huh.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, I haven't seen that at all.
JANE PEASE: You haven't?
SPEAKER 1: No, haven't seen it at all. No.
JANE PEASE: Oh.
SPEAKER 1: No, yeah.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Are you in contact with some of your former students? Do some of your former students see you, come to see you, and that? Or do you do anything with some of the former employees or students there?
JANE PEASE: Well-- oh gee. I would see Alberta Barnes once in a while. And who else? Guess I can't remember their name now. You asked me at a bad time. I can't--
SPEAKER 1: That's OK. OK, yeah.
JANE PEASE: Who was it? I can't think of who the names were now.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Yeah, but Albert-- well, you were colleagues together, you and Alberta--
JANE PEASE: We were faculty.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, faculty there, yes. Yes, yes. yes.
JANE PEASE: Yeah, I wish I could remember these things now.
SPEAKER 1: Oh, yeah.
JANE PEASE: Oh.
SPEAKER 1: Yes, yeah, oh, we do, yes. Other professors there that were there with you? Like, Dean Jenks was there and--
JANE PEASE: Oh yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Major Jenks was there, and who else? Dean Anders.
JANE PEASE: Who?
SPEAKER 1: Dean Anders in business with-- he was there when you were there, Dean Enders. Dr. Patterson.
JANE PEASE: Oh yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Our Provost, Dr.
Anderson They were all there. Who else was there? Dr. Randall, his English department, Dr. Randall.
JANE PEASE: Oh yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Dr. Randall. Yeah, and of course, Sarah Ruth Watson.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Some of the few women that were there. You want to see what's going on, huh? OK, OK. Yes. Aw.
When-- now, when you left Fenn, you retired from Fenn then. And anything that you've been doing since then that you-- since you left Fenn?
JANE PEASE: Well, I played golf for a while.
SPEAKER 1: Ah.
JANE PEASE: When did I join the golf team? Gosh, I can remember when I joined the golf team. But I joined-- I played regularly then. And I didn't play before that, I don't think. But I played-- I retired, and I got--
SPEAKER 1: Yeah.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: You had a little time then for yourself, huh?
JANE PEASE: What?
SPEAKER 1: You had a little time then for yourself, yes, to do some other things. Yes, yes, yes.
JANE PEASE: Well, jeez, I can't think without you asking me.
SPEAKER 1: Let me just-- go ahead. I'm going to record that. Mr. Woodling was director then?
JANE PEASE: He lived out in my home, and he went to my church and everything. And so he knew me. And so he asked me if I wanted to teach there. And I said, well, yeah, sure. And so that's how I got there.
SPEAKER 1: Oh, isn't that-- yes. Yeah, yeah, and--
JANE PEASE: Well, can't remember anything else. I just--
SPEAKER 1: Wasn't Bob Busby-- you remember? Wasn't he there when you were there?
JANE PEASE: Yes, he was there when I was there. And he died.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, yes. I recall that, yes. I believe-- wasn't he one of the coaches for the 1964 Olympic swim team?
JANE PEASE: Yeah, he was.
SPEAKER 1: I remember that. Yeah. We were there. Yes.
JANE PEASE: But he got in some kind of trouble. I can't remember what it was now.
SPEAKER 1: OK. All right. Well, they'll edit that. Yeah, but he was there.
JANE PEASE: Yeah, he was there.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, yeah. And you had-- you did all the women's intramurals, I remember.
JANE PEASE: Oh yeah.
SPEAKER 1: When the-- who was doing the column when I was there? Rita Ernie was writing the column about all the intramurals and everything for The Caldron, and-- write about all the intramurals in The Caldron and everything. Yeah, yeah. Yes.
JANE PEASE: Forgotten that.
SPEAKER 1: Yes, all the intramurals.
JANE PEASE: All those things.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah. You spent a lot of time there, come to think of it.
JANE PEASE: I did.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, but daytime there, working with everyone--
JANE PEASE: Well, I was--
SPEAKER 1: Teaching.
JANE PEASE: I was there nights too.
SPEAKER 1: Were you really?
JANE PEASE: With the intramurals. It seems like I was there to about almost 9 o'clock every night--
SPEAKER 1: Oh my goodness.
JANE PEASE: --for all those years.
SPEAKER 1: That they had the intramurals there, yeah. You were there for all that. Yeah.
A lot of time went in there. I know it. That was your home away from home, wasn't it?
JANE PEASE: It was. Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Oh yes, yes. Yeah, yeah. And I know many of the students remember you, of course. I talked with Carolyn Thomas not too long ago. I don't know if you remember Carolyn Thomas at all, but she was volleyball-- Carolyn was an excellent athlete.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: And she's retired from the Cleveland Public Schools now.
JANE PEASE: Oh, she is?
SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Yeah, she was over there. Yeah. So, many of your students went into teaching, social work, business. Probably even had some women engineers over there at the time.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, probably had some of them over there at the time too. Yeah, yeah. Back then, yeah, yeah
JANE PEASE: I had an office with Busby. I was in the same office with him. And I don't know if this-- I don't know if that made a difference or not. I suppose it did. I can't remember, though.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, yeah.
JANE PEASE: Yeah. I wish I could remember all these things to tell you.
SPEAKER 1: Yes, yeah. Right. What church was it that you were at?
JANE PEASE: Dover Congregational.
SPEAKER 1: Dover Congregational. And you worked with children there and--
JANE PEASE: No, I didn't. I was a-- not the secretary. I kept the books, but-- the finances--
SPEAKER 1: Oh my.
JANE PEASE: --for the church for years. And then after I had the stroke, I retired. Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Why should-- yeah.
JANE PEASE: Couldn't remember.
SPEAKER 1: But for years, yeah, you did their books--
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: --for your church, yeah. Yeah.
JANE PEASE: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah. You gave a lot back to the community.
JANE PEASE: That's where I went to church too.
SPEAKER 1: That was your church, and that's where Mr. Woodling went also?
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: And that's where he told you to come and teach there. He invited you to teach there.
JANE PEASE: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 1: Dover Congregational.
JANE PEASE: Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah.
JANE PEASE: I still go there now.
SPEAKER 1: You do.
JANE PEASE: Yes.
SPEAKER 1: Where is it located? It's--
JANE PEASE: Right down on Dover Road.
SPEAKER 1: Right on Dover Road. Yeah, Dover Congregation.
JANE PEASE: Just a little way north of Center Ridge.
SPEAKER 1: Of Center Ridge there. Yeah, yeah. The church. Yeah, yeah. A commitment there.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: You're the oldest-- start with that. You're the oldest-- you were saying you're the oldest of four?
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Brothers and sisters.
JANE PEASE: And my brother was the next one. And he got sick at home and died. And my sister, she had Alzheimer's, and she-- I guess that's what she had, but she wouldn't say anything. She'd just sit in the chair. And my younger brother died way back.
SPEAKER 1: Oh.
JANE PEASE: He taught school.
SPEAKER 1: Oh.
JANE PEASE: He was in-- I forget where he was. But he was down south someplace. And he died in a football-- he was a coach of football, and they were having a football game. And he died there.
SPEAKER 1: Oh.
JANE PEASE: And so that was-- and I'm the only one left and was the oldest too.
SPEAKER 1: And you were the [INAUDIBLE] of all of them. Yes, yes.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Do you have many nieces and nephews?
JANE PEASE: What?
SPEAKER 1: Do you have many nieces and nephews?
JANE PEASE: Yeah, I've got-- how many? I can't remember.
SPEAKER 1: That's OK. That's OK. But yeah.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Are they in the Cleveland area or other areas of--
JANE PEASE: No. My one nephew with his kids lived two doors from my brother Dick. And the other one lives in Rocky River. So I see them pretty regularly.
SPEAKER 1: Good.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: That's nice.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: They're there.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Yeah. And the family.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Let me just-- I'll close it down, then. And thank you, Jane Pease, Ms. Pease, or Teach, as we always knew you as. Yes.
JANE PEASE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Thank you so much, and thank you for being there over the years with all of us that have graduated from Fenn and CSU for so many years. I know many people, many of the women that we've been talking to for this history, remember you. And you are part of their lives.
JANE PEASE: Oh, good.
SPEAKER 1: Thank you so much.
JANE PEASE: Yeah. Well, it's good to know that.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, right. Should I put it on stop?
