K-Stater celebrates 100th birthday in January, recalls K-State memories
Jo Ann Dougherty Borthwick ’48 came to K-State on a train.
“They put me on train, I had a big suitcase and arrived downtown,” she said.
As a student she would walk to class from West Hall. She remembers that very few students had cars at the time. She watched basketball games in Nichols Gymnasium from the rafters.
A fond memory from her time at K-State was serving pie to President Dwight Eisenhower when he came to visit his brother Milton who served as the ninth president of K-State.
“I served him when he came, he was talking, and I was working on campus, and so all of us in that evening took turns, and I got to serve him pie,” she said.
Borthwick earned a degree in general human ecology and would later earn her master’s degree from the University of Wyoming in 1952.
Her career as a teacher took her to Barnes, Kansas; Sylvan Grove, Kansas; Mulvane, Kansas; and North Carolina. She taught home economics and courses for students with special needs. During her time in North Carolina she taught college level courses.
Since retirement Borthwick has been an avid K-State fan, watching every game she can and actively cheering on the ’Cats.
“I want to see them all the time,” she said. “When I was younger, years back, we went to ball game after ball game after ball game in football and never won a game.”
Why did she keep going and continue to support the Wildcats?
“My father was a teacher,” she said. “And that was important to support your school.”
In January Borthwick will celebrate her 100th birthday.
“I guess I am blessed,” she said. “That's all. I really have had quite good health. I'm really very lucky, fortunate that I have a family that would take me in and let me live with them.”
Jo Ann Dougherty Borthwick ’48 in 1947.