Cathey Foux
BA in Education, Class of 1969
Taught High School English for 36 years
Interviewed by Vidisha Barua Worley on 04/05/2023
Taught High School English for 36 years
Interviewed by Vidisha Barua Worley on 04/05/2023
‘It was in French class, that for the first time I ever had any interaction with Black students.’
‘When I graduated from Hardin Jefferson in 1965, most of my classmates were going to college somewhere, so I told my Mom and Dad I wanted to go to Lamar and they arranged it. It gave me a means of supporting myself, it gave me a means of passing on my love of literature to young people. I was going to get married a second time, and my Daddy said, “You don’t need no damn man.” In his day, women were dependent upon men. So, he made it so I wasn’t dependent upon men. I lived in Gray Hall. My Dad was a blue-collar worker. And they decided that they would treat it like a car note. So, they took out a bank loan for rent, tuition... I got a small job at the library and a small scholarship to allow me to buy my books. Life in Gray Hall was fun fun fun. Carol Joy Benoit Born’s mom, Judi Johnston Benoit was my roommate. It was really nice. When I connected with Carol Joy Born on Facebook, I told her that I had met her long before she was even born. One day, Judi and I were standing outside the door and she said, “You know, someday when I have a little girl, I am going to name her, Carol Joy.”’
‘I came from a small town, China. There were not a whole lot of mixing of Blacks and Whites. It was in French class, that for the first time I ever had any interaction with Black students. There was lot of talk going on about four Black girls moving into Gray Hall. They wanted to put them downstairs away from everybody else…that really puzzled me.’
‘I came from a small town, China. There were not a whole lot of mixing of Blacks and Whites. It was in French class, that for the first time I ever had any interaction with Black students. There was lot of talk going on about four Black girls moving into Gray Hall. They wanted to put them downstairs away from everybody else…that really puzzled me.’