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
My Mother “Mary Needs Some Discipline”
This was a surprising discovery. Tucked among my parents’ papers was a handwritten note from Sister Mary Maurice, given to my grandmother: Mrs. Hannigan, my mother’s mother. The cursive is careful and perfect, the kind of handwriting that reflects discipline. The note is not addressed, which suggests it was likely handed directly to my grandmother. A […]
Henry George School of Social Science
June 13, 1939. My mother is no longer the 17-year old stepping into the world of work. She has already joined the workforce with her practical skills. And yet, here is another certificate that shows she is continuing to learn. This certificate, from the Concord, NH extension of the Henry George School of Social Science, states that […]
A Wartime Marriage
This is the marriage certificate of my parents, Roger Edward Watson and Mary Elizabeth Hannigan. They were married on May 3, 1944, at Saint John the Evangelist Church in Concord, New Hampshire, while my father was home on leave during World War II. My father came from West Virginia, while my mother had grown up […]
