Charlotte McElroy - Determined to be "Normal"

          You think you know someone and then you realize you don’t. Charlotte McElroy has performed in my plays almost since the day we met ten years ago. Her career on the stage goes back much further. A sharp wit with impeccable timing, one can only imagine her years ago at a school assembly commanding the attention of hundreds of teenagers with ease. Until I read her words for Taking the Plunge, I had no idea the number of obstacles she overcame to become a respected educator, supporter of the arts, and community activist.

          Whether tap dancing to the beat or tackling the challenge of piano lessons, Charlotte wasn't (and isn’t) afraid to meet adversity head on.

Charlotte McElroy

I was born at home on a small Texas panhandle farm in 1939 to older uneducated parents living in two rooms of an old drafty farmhouse. My sister, born four years later, was deemed the most beautiful baby in Castro County. I was a disappointment. On my twelfth birthday my mother expressed her feelings in words that still hurt.

“I knew you were different when you came out.”

I started to have nightmares and in my dreams I was dressed in a white gown made by my mother, walking down the Baptist church aisle to be joined to a rich farmer I would be expected to wash, iron, clean, cook and meet him at the door with a kiss no matter how he smelled after a long day of plowing.

I was determined to be “normal.” I managed to get elected cheerleader, fire-baton twirler, Miss Personality, Girls’ State representative, Student Senate Representative, and I went to state three times as an outstanding baritone horn player.   

          I received a music scholarship to West Texas State University and a drama scholarship to Eastern New Mexico University. Mother said “No money” for a worthless college education.

I got a job, gave up music and drama, graduated from WTSU in three years with a BS in Education and got a job teaching third grade in Amarillo, Texas. I completed my MA in Education and moved to Ojai Ca and stayed for thirty years.

I received a Teacher of the Year award in 1974 and Principal of the Year in 1991, plus being chosen as one of the 100 Best Principals in the US.

I retired in 1995 to Sequim, WA and pursued my interests.  On Feb 1^s 2013 I married my partner of 20 years.

I’m now normal. It only took 74 years.

1              1.      Who are you? List 5 words that define you!

Teacher – Friend - Tap Dancer – Principal – Advocate

                         2.  What have you done that you’re most proud of?

My courage to face and fight adversity, discrimination, and gender

Inequality, even if it meant losing my job.

                                     3.  If you could change one thing in your past, what would it be?

I’m ashamed to say, I didn’t reach out to gay and transgender students

because of my fear of being “outed”. I would need a lot of time to make

up for this mistake.

4.   On a personal level, what drives you crazy? What gives you joy?

Indecisive, loud-mouthed people make me crazy.

All the years I spent with so many wonderful kids of all ages gives me great joy.

                 5. Given no restrictions, what would you most like to do?

    Build a school for all impoverished, abused, hungry and “different” kids.  

         It would be free and open all year.

      

In Hennessey Street with fellow thespian, Marianne Trowbridge

Rehearsing Hazel Speaks! with Elizabeth Kelly

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