Mrs Waugh of Ardrossan Academy

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down south
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Mrs Waugh of Ardrossan Academy

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Mrs Waugh, an American lady, was one of the secretaries at the Academy in the 1970s ( and possibly beyond that ? ), and was thus well known to a generation of pupils, with whom she was rather more popular than the notorious Miss Love. This article about her life in America appeared in the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald in the early 1970s.
Mrs Waugh.jpg

AN AMERICAN IN SOUTH BEACH

By Janet Keers

She is tall and slim, quietly spoken, gentle mannered. She is a housewife, a secretary, a member of one of the largest organisations in the world. She has worked among the alcoholics and drug addicts in New York's Bowery and with unmarried mothers in a hospital.

Mrs Marie Waugh, American citizen, born in St Louis, Missouri, married to Scotsman William Waugh from Hamilton, is now resident at Barony Place, Ardrossan.

It is only 18 months since Mr and Mrs Waugh arrived in Ardrossan from America but already Marie has found her place in the community and will quietly and sincerely tell you : " The Scots are the friendliest people I have ever met. "

Full time secretary at Ardrossan Academy and a member of the Salvation Army, Marie shyly agreed to our interview with the comment : " Why interview me ? I have nothing interesting to tell. "

This staement soon became a little hard to believe however as she started to recall her work in Chicago and New York where she and her husband were lay preachers with the Salvation Army.

Marie and William met in St Louis where she was an officer in the Salvation Army and William a bandsman. He had gone to America about seven years earlier for a holiday but it was one that lasted almost 15 years.

They married and moved to Chicago where several nights a week they would hold services under the comforting title of " Harbour Lights " at which everyone in the congregation were destitute alcoholics.

At each service over 300 of these unfortunates would attend and it is not surprising that Marie and William became involved with many of their personal problems.

Leaving Chicago they settled in New York where William became superintendent in the Salvation Army hospital and Marie a secretary.

A general hospital of 250 beds it had one wing for unmarried mothers and again the couple became deeply involved in the problems of the girls.

William told me : " The girls were mostly coloured, but we did from time to time have a Scots girl to look after. They would come to us about three or four months before the baby was born and leave about five days after the birth. " Marie added : " Very few of the girls kept their babies, they went for adoption. "

On top of their full time jobs and their deep interest in the unmarried mothers, Marie and William still found time for more work and in this their footsteps took them to the part of New York which New Yorkers like and try to ignore... the Bowery.

Marie explained : " We would hold services in the Bowery and these would be attended on each occasion by heavily addicted drug addicts. We would find them lying in doorways and the gutters and as many as 50 have attended a service. The drug problem in this country is nothing in comparison. "

In May last year Marie and William left America for Scotland. William was retiring and as he frankly told me : " I could not afford to retire in America. The rent of our apartment alone would have taken most of our allowance...so I came back home. "

Marie took the post in Ardrossan Academy where she carries out the duties of secretary and advisor to new pupils. They are both very fond of Ardrossan and Marie has become quite an enthusiast for Arran. Quite a change from the New York Bowery.


Susan
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