Minta Estella Duncan was an English instructor at Oregon State College in 1946. She was married to Fred W. H. Duncan with two children when she came to OSC. She was born in 1892, in Marshalltown, Iowa. She had previously been a housewife. When asked why she wanted to work at Oregon State, she said, “I feel that I have a contribution to make.” She received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Cotuer College in 1917. She received her graduate education at the University of Nebraska from 1924 to 1925, and from Stanford University in 1929. She had previously worked as the head of the English department at York College from 1926 to 1928. She spent five and a half years in India from 1918 to 1924, where she learned the Hindi language and studied Urdu. She was hired for a ten month period with a $2,000 salary.
Dr. Clare Rose Comebellack was an English instructor at Oregon State College from 1946 to 1954. Her annual salary was $2,700. She was previously an English instructor at the University of Oregon. She also worked as a high school and middle school teacher at various schools in California. She was listed as married with no children when she came to work at OSC. She received her undergraduate education from San Jose State Teachers College and the University of California from 1924 to 1927. She received her Bachelor of Arts in 1928 and Master of Arts in 1930 from Stanford University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California in 1937. Her master’s thesis was titled, “The Marvelous in the Earlier Middle English Metrical Romances”, and her doctoral thesis was titled, “The Husband’s Return: A Study in Medieval Fiction”. She had published an article called, “Root, Eye, and Mind”, in The American Mercury in 1941. She also received a letter from President A.L. Strand complimenting her on an article she published in the American Journal in 1948, titled “The Identity and Origin of Eurychus in the Ships' Catalogue of Hyginus” This article is still available through jstor.com. Combellack requested sabbatical leave from the university in 1953 after working for six years, but was told that she did not qualify because she had been hired on a temporary basis, with annually renewed contracts for six years. She was also informed that since she would not be granted a permanent, tenured position within the English department, she would have to be terminated due to State Board policy. Her employment with the university was terminated in 1954. She was born in 1907, in Kennett, California.
Irene Butts was an English instructor at Oregon State College from 1946 to 1964. She was born in 1899, in Minnewahkon, North Dakota. She received her undergraduate education at North Dakota State University from 1936 to 1939, and received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Oregon State College in 1946. She listed her daughter, Jayce LaRayn Butts, as her beneficiary in her job application to OSC. However, she did not mention if she was single, married, or widowed. In 1951, she had to take sick leave, as she fell ill with pneumonia. In 1953, the Oregon Federation of Women’s Club wrote a letter about the Oregon State College Board of Trustees loan of $200 to Irene Butts in 1946, which was still not fully paid off. She made one payment in 1953, which made the balance $173.90, but afterwards, she was difficult to reach. The letter mentions the many difficulties Butts had faced over the years in paying back her loan. Butts later revealed in an apology letter that she had many medical expenses that made it difficult to pay off her loan. She retired in 1964, after 18 years of service to Oregon State.
Ruth McCorkle was an instructor in English for a year in 1946-47 and then again from 1956 to 1961. She was born in 1898 in Tygh Valley, Oregon. She received her Bachelor of Science from OSC in 1931 in the field of home economics and English, received a diploma from Oregon Normal School in 1923 (now known as Western Oregon University), and received an Master of Arts in Education and Anthropology from University of Washington in 1950. Her thesis was titled “Plan for Teaching Speed Reading to Young Adults.” She previously worked as home demonstration agent at Chewama High School, and was discharged from the army in 1946. In between her first and second appointments at OSC, she worked in high schools, some of which were in Alaska. She was a published writer, having published one short professional article in the Normal Instructor in 1925, one short story in Oregon Farmer in 1933, and a poem in Mothers Activities. One of her poems was set to music and published by Westmore Music Company in Portland. She was an active member the American Legion Veterans Association, the American Association of University Women, the Cosmopolitan Club, and a group called the Phratares. She was a class advisor, a school librarian for six years, the assistant director for several school plays, and assistant dean of girls at Nestucca High School. She returned to OSC as a temporary part-time replacement in 1956. However, enrollment at OSC significantly increased in 1957, bringing composition classes up to about 30 students per section, and literature classes up to 60. The head of the English department, Herbert B Nelson, asserted that composition classes should never be more than 25, and literature classes never more than 40. He campaigned for two new part-time positions to take up the increased enrollment, one of which was Professor McCorkle. It was quickly decided to shift her to full-time. Professor McCorkle was said to be very kind and courteous. A visiting professor of a local high school wrote to President Strand to express his appreciation for Professor McCorkle having gone out of her way to help him get his bearings on campus. In 1961, she was granted the rank of senior instructor, after eight years. However, for unknown reasons, her record was flagged with a “failure to receive increase in rank.” She began at a salary of $2,300 in 1946 and resigned in 1961 at a salary of $5,400.
Irene Butts was an English instructor at Oregon State College from 1946 to 1964. She was born in 1899, in Minnewahkon, North Dakota. She received her undergraduate education at North Dakota State University from 1936 to 1939, and received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Oregon State College in 1946. She listed her daughter, Jayce LaRayn Butts, as her beneficiary in her job application to OSC. However, she did not mention if she was single, married, or widowed. In 1951, she had to take sick leave, as she fell ill with pneumonia. In 1953, the Oregon Federation of Women’s Club wrote a letter about the Oregon State College Board of Trustees loan of $200 to Irene Butts in 1946, which was still not fully paid off. She made one payment in 1953, which made the balance $173.90, but afterwards, she was difficult to reach. The letter mentions the many difficulties Butts had faced over the years in paying back her loan. Butts later revealed in an apology letter that she had many medical expenses that made it difficult to pay off her loan. She retired in 1964, after 18 years of service to Oregon State.
Margaret Lucille Lawrence was an Assistant Professor in English. She was born in 1912 in Oelwein, Iowa. She was married to Gilbert N. Lawrence, and they had at least one son, named Richard, born in May, 1950. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English and Latin, with additional study in Library Science, from Clark College in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1933, which she attended on scholarship and graduated maxima cum laude. She went on to attend graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, the University of California at Berkeley, and Florida State College for Women, from 1937-1943, working towards a Master of Arts in English and Latin. Her thesis for her master’s degree was titled “Limited Extent of the Influence of Plautus on the Comedy of Ben Jonson: A Study in J’s Independence.” She was hired as an Instructor in English in 1945, at a salary of $2,270. In the next year, she was promoted to Assistant Professor, and her salary was raised to $7,225. Before coming to OSC, she was an Instructor in English at Florida State College for Women, in Tallahassee, for two years, until her husband was stationed in Corvallis. She was also an high school instructor of Latin and English in Iowa for about seven years, teaching at Toledo Public High School and Dallas Public High School. She was part of the American Association of University Women, where she was the secretary elect from 1945-46. In 1970, she was named the first director of OSC’s new Writing Clinic, at the time housed in the English department, where she was tasked with teaching students grammatical proficiency. She created an “English Diagnostic Test” which was administered to Writing 121 students, which she used to identify struggling students and encourage them to visit the Writing Clinic. She was on numerous university and departmental committees, including the Writing Clinic Committee, of which she was chairman. She was a performer and director in Little Theater productions in both Corvallis and Albany, and was an active member of the Corvallis Women’s Civic Chorus. After working at OSC for 29 years, she retired in 1974, at a salary of $14,278, and was awarded the title of “Emeritus” upon retirement.