Gaining Acceptance

During the Depression, Dorothy Trapp Jennings heard that the St. Mary’s University downtown campus was starting an evening graduate degree program into which women would be accepted.

Dorothy, a teacher since completing her baccalaureate studies in education, science and English at Our Lady of the Lake College (now University) in 1926, knew a master’s degree would increase her teaching salary and improve her life and the lives of her children and ailing husband.

So, Dorothy met with Brother Tom Treadaway to discuss enrolling. Treadaway met her at the door and said they’d see about enrollment because, “We don’t take everybody.” He soon learned that Dorothy Jennings was somebody special.

Born in 1908, Dorothy Trapp is a descendant of the Austrian Von Trapp clan. Her family moved to South San Antonio in 1910, and her father, Louis Edward Trapp, is recognized as the first settler in that part of San Antonio.

In 1923, the first high school class graduated from the South San Antonio Independent School District (SSAISD), and Dorothy, then 15, was its valedictorian. That fall she began attending college, and at age 18, became OLLC’s youngest graduate. Over the next 10 years she married, had two children and taught. In 1934, she began teaching first grade in the SSAISD.

Not surprisingly, Brother Treadaway accepted Dorothy’s college transcript and she was enrolled in the St. Mary’s graduate program. A teacher by day, in the evenings she picked up her children and went to classes. Her new instructors were Marianist brothers, and she found her courses interesting and challenging.

In those days, the few female students entered and left through specific campus doors. There was no library, so the brothers lent the women their books. Dorothy’s favorite Marianist – Brother George Kohnen – helped her by watching her children while she attended classes. Brother George, who loved children, played games with them and kept them out of mischief.

In 1938, after defending her thesis, “Teaching first grade language,” Dorothy was among the first eight women at St. Mary’s to earn their master’s degree.

In 1942, that degree and her extensive teaching experience were instrumental when she became one of 72 women at Kelly Air Force Base trained as an aeronautical engineer.

During the war years, Dorothy learned to fly a cub, assemble B-24 liberators, and was one of two women to become a senior inspector.

Later, Dorothy married Leo Donohue, a loyal St. Mary’s employee for many years. Retired from teaching for more than 30 years, the twice-widowed Dorothy – who turned 94 on Feb. 5, 2002 – has spent her well-deserved retirement painting and traveling to more than 40 countries.

Editor’s note: Andrea Berndt is the granddaughter-in-law of Dorothy Trapp Jennings Donohue.