Concord College of Business
How better to come to know my mother, before she was my mother, than through the papers she left behind. In them, I begin to see who she was becoming—the thoughts she carried, the paths she chose, and the quiet decisions that would one day shape my own life.
When I look at this certificate dated June 25, 1937, I don’t see just a course completed, I see my mother at the beginning of her life as an adult.
My mother graduated high school at sixteen and she didn’t pause. The next step was the Concord College of Business, a place not for theory or exploration, but for purpose. At seventeen, she was already preparing for the world.
The certificate reads that she completed the theory and practice for the Library Bureau course in Indexing and Filing and that she passed the test for speed and accuracy. Precision and discipline were the foundation of my mother’s life.
I imagine her in a classroom, with other young women, learning the systems that would allow her to step into the office life where she would eventually spend over fifty years of her life.
This was 1937, the country was feeling the weight of the Great Depression. Opportunities were not taken for granted by my mother. She prepared and she learned something that would matter for her employment.
Knowing the life my mother led, there is something so special about holding this certificate she earned at just seventeen. So young, and yet already stepping into her future.
Organized. Capable. Reliable.
Read More From Nancy
Another Wartime Wedding
Among my mother’s papers is another wedding announcement from the World War II years. The envelope is addressed simply to “Miss Hannigan,” my mother before her marriage, and inside Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Goings announce the marriage of their daughter, Dorothy Irene, to Mr. Leonard Field Hubbard on Saturday, November 21, 1942, in Newport, New […]
Weddings in a Time of War
Among my mother’s keepsakes is another wedding invitation from the years of World War II. This one is addressed not only to Mary Hannigan but also to Mrs. Hannigan, her mother. That small detail immediately paints a picture of my mother’s life in 1943. She was still living at home in Concord, New Hampshire, sharing […]
A Wedding Reception at Home
Another invitation my mother saved takes us to October 10, 1942, when Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Henderson invited guests to the wedding reception of their daughter, Edith Louise, and Mr. C. William Blakey. The reception was to begin at 12:30 in the afternoon at the Henderson family home at Seven Lake Street in West Concord, […]
