Washburn The Evolution of a Mormon Feminist

The Life and Writings of Ione Rich Washburn
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 979-8-3509-6721-0
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 356 Seiten

Reihe: The Evolution of a Mormon Feminist

This book is a comprehensive collection of the writings of Ione Washburn, a feminist writer, activist, and businesswoman. Her life provides a vivid portrait of the second major wave of the women's movement, which occurred between the 1960s and the 1980s. The collection showcases Ione's work across diverse genres, including biography, autobiography, essays, stories, reflections, poetry, and letters. These writings chronicle Ione's feminist journey against the backdrop of the Mormon culture that shaped her early life. They reveal how her struggles as a single parent of three children, her drive for academic and professional accomplishment, and her quest for authentic self-expression as a woman led her to question the faith of her youth and challenge the patriarchal assumptions of traditional culture. They also shed light on how her feminist journey deepened her appreciation of the lives of others, with particular gratitude for her Mormon ancestors, especially her great-grandmothers-pioneer women who helped settle Utah and southern Idaho. Ione's writings, although diverse in genre, share fundamental themes. A primary theme is that revisiting earlier stages of one's life can reveal not only the younger selves one has left behind but also the deeper, authentic self that was evolving through those stages. Ione's writings explore how, by examining our lives, we can grow in self-understanding, empathy for others, and appreciation for life.

MICHAEL WASHBURN is professor emeritus of philosophy at Indiana University South Bend and the author of four books on the psychology of spirituality.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Washburn, Michael

Leseproben

Editor’s Introduction Ione Washburn (1916-2005) was a feminist writer, activist, and businesswoman. Her life provides a vivid portrait of the second major wave of the women’s movement, which occurred between the 1960s and the 1980s. This challenge to patriarchal institutions and culture hastened Ione’s evolution as a feminist and strengthened her commitment to improving the lives of women. Historically, Ione’s life and writings can teach us a great deal about a pivotal period in the twentieth century when many countries, including those in the English-speaking world, Europe, and beyond, began to confront deeply ingrained injustices in their treatment of racial minorities, women, and people in the LGBTQ community. Ione’s life serves not only as a portrait of the women’s movement in the second half of the twentieth century but also as an example of key virtues of the human spirit. As a single parent raising three children while pursuing ambitious academic and professional goals, Ione faced daunting challenges. Yet she never allowed difficult circumstances to dictate her path. She persevered through hardships, achieved significant goals, contributed meaningfully to the lives of others, and continued to grow as a person throughout her life. In reading her writings, it becomes clear that Ione’s perseverance, accomplishments, contributions, and lifelong growth exemplified four key virtues: determination, aspiration, caring, and authenticity. These virtues, always present in Ione’s life, became increasingly apparent over the years. Ione was born February 29, 1916, in Brigham City, Utah (U.S.A.). She grew up in Bear Lake, Idaho, and Provo, Utah, and was shaped by the culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ione was the only child of Stella Pugmire Rich, a single mother who taught in the English department at Brigham Young University. Stella, although a life-long Mormon, was critical of many of the beliefs of the L.D.S Church. Nevertheless, she raised Ione in a Mormon community and in the Mormon faith, just as she had been raised. With this background, Ione first learned what it meant to be a woman from Mormon teachings and practices. Ione always admired core values of the culture in which she was raised, but she increasingly struggled against the patriarchal assumptions and sexist expectations of the L.D.S. Church. This struggle was the first stage in her development as a feminist. After graduating from high school in 1933, Ione trained as a nurse, graduating from the L.D.S. Hospital School of Nursing in Salt Lake City in 1937. She then took a job as a flight attendant with United Airlines. At that time, flight attendants were required to have a nursing degree. In 1938, Ione married her high school sweetheart, H. Clyde Washburn, who had just graduated from Northwestern University Medical School. To Ione, her marriage seemed like the beginning of the “happily ever after” fairy tale that had shaped her perception of romance, marriage, children, and family life. In the first years of their marriage, Ione and Clyde ran a medical practice in Orem, Utah. Later, after Clyde returned from service in World War II, they moved to California and opened a medical practice in El Monte. They had three children: Judith, born in 1939; Jill, born in 1942; and Michael, born in 1943. Although it may have seemed to others that their marriage was flourishing, it soon became clear to Ione that it was not. Ione tried hard to make the marriage work. However, Clyde’s addictive illness and unpredictable behavior eventually made the relationship untenable. The marriage ended in divorce in 1948. Ione never remarried, although she and William (Bill) Pelletti, a wonderful friend with a zest for life and a marvelous singing voice, contemplated marriage on several occasions. Both were free spirits and decided to remain good friends, which they did for many years. Ione faced formidable challenges after the divorce. As a single parent, she needed to improve her credentials to provide a good life for her children. With this objective, Ione returned to school at the University of California, Los Angeles, to complete a bachelor’s degree in public health nursing. After graduation, she worked as a school nurse and health educator. Committed to advancing her education, Ione then earned a master’s degree in health education from UCLA in 1961 and completed most of the requirements for a doctoral degree. Although Ione primarily worked as a school nurse during these years, she increasingly pursued an academic path by teaching health-science courses at both the junior college and university levels. Ione’s years of working full time while raising three children and pursuing academic goals were not easy. She received only erratic support from her ex-husband, who was not well and died tragically in 1957. Consequently, she had to shoulder the responsibilities of work, parenting, and education on her own. Ione met these responsibilities admirably, but not without personal cost. She developed an alcohol dependency that required a significant struggle to overcome. She ultimately succeeded in her battle in 1961 when, on July 4th, she made a personal declaration of independence by joining Alcoholics Anonymous. It was only in the mid-1960s, once her children were grown, that Ione finally had the opportunity to explore aspects of her life outside work and parenting roles. Characteristic of the times, catalysts for her self-exploration were the human-potentials and countercultural movements that emerged in the 1960s, the latter in response to the Vietnam War. Ione experimented with consciousness-expanding therapies, consciousness-raising sensitivity groups, and consciousness-altering practices and drugs popular at the time. Of more lasting significance, Ione wholeheartedly embraced the women’s movement that emerged out of the 1960s. It was this movement, as noted earlier, that hastened her evolution as a feminist and strengthened her commitment to improving the lives of women. The title of this book, The Evolution of a Mormon Feminist, is taken from an autobiographical essay written by Ione in 1986, which is one of the texts collected in Chapter 1. This title aptly captures Ione’s enduring connection with the Mormon culture of her upbringing. Although she grew apart from the L.D.S. Church in her adult years and became a vocal critic of many of its beliefs and practices, Ione never severed ties to her Mormon heritage. As mentioned earlier, Ione admired core values of the Mormon culture and greatly admired her Mormon ancestors, especially her foremothers, about whom she wrote a book. The girl raised as a Mormon did not disappear. She remained and evolved, both as a feminist and as a person. Let us briefly consider these interwoven aspects of Ione’s course of life. The origins of Ione’s feminism can be traced to her childhood, when, as previously noted, she began questioning the patriarchal assumptions and sexist expectations of the L.D.S. Church. Her concern about women’s roles deepened when, following her divorce, she became disillusioned with many of the myths that guide girls’ beliefs about their “proper” place, purpose, and happiness. This concern deepened further when, left with three children to raise, Ione single-handedly performed both the traditionally female role of caregiver and the traditionally male role of provider for a family. Ione’s feminism evolved further still when, having returned to school, and having achieved both academic and professional success, she grew in self-confidence as a strong, independent woman. It was at this point that Ione’s evolution as a feminist was hastened by the women’s movement that emerged out of the 1960s. Beginning in the early 1970s, Ione dedicated herself to advancing women’s causes. From the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, she wrote about women’s lives and advocated for women’s rights. Then, from 1987 to 1993, Ione embarked on a business venture designed to meet women’s needs. She founded The Crane’s Nest in Long Beach, California—a bed-and-breakfast inn that also served as a center for women’s events, including discussion groups, workshops, literary readings, art exhibits, and musical performances. Finally, from 1995 to the end of her life, Ione’s attention turned to supporting women facing the challenges and opportunities of old age. From 1995 to 2000, Ione wrote essays on difficulties women face as they grow old, and she organized gatherings focusing on older women’s self-expression and continuing development. Notably, she also published and edited Voices from Undercover, a newsletter by and for women in the later years of life. Although failing eyesight forced Ione to say goodbye to Voices in 2000, she continued to take a leadership role in organizing groups working to understand and improve the lives of women in old age. I have organized Ione’s writings according to theme, sorting them into the following six chapters: Chapter 1 – Ione’s Story This chapter features Ione’s short book, Mothers of the Valley, in which she presents sketches of her great-grandmothers, who were pioneers on the Mormon trek west from Illinois to Utah and Idaho. It also includes a brief profile of Ione’s mother, Stella Pugmire Rich, who taught English literature at Brigham Young University. The chapter concludes with an autobiographical essay in which Ione divides her life into seven-year...