World Events

Women Working on the Homefront

Casablanca

• The US entered World War II the previous year after the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.  Much of the world’s resources are going toward the war effort. 

• Women are allowed to serve in all branches of the armed forces, but not in combat.

• After losing the Philippines to the Japanese, Douglas MacArthur declares 'I shall return.'

• A Jewish girl in Amsterdam, Anne Frank, is given a diary for her thirteenth birthday and she and her family go into hiding.

• Michael Curtiz directs Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca

• Church of the United Brethren in Christ begins Hispanic work in Tampa.

Life Details

• Oscar Wooldridge, Jr. was born on March 31, 1916 in Norfolk, VA.

• He graduated from Randolph Macon Men’s College where he was captain on the debate team.  He attended Union Theological Seminary in New York City for 1 year and graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1941.

• He married Alberta Elizabeth Davis in 1940 and they had 1 son and 3 daughters.  Together they served 5 circuit parishes in the Methodist conference of Western Virginia until her death following complications of childbirth in 1943.

• Rev. Wooldridge enlisted in the Navy in 1943 and served as Chaplain on the carrier USS Anzio in the Pacific during WWII.  He achieved the rank of lieutenant commander prior to discharge from the Naval Reserve.

• Other positions he served:

• 1946-1951:  General Secretary of the University of Virginia YMCA & Acting Coordinator of Religious Activities
• 1951-1955:  Associate Secretary for Student Work in the Central Atlantic Area YMCA in Newark, NJ which served 52 colleges and universities in New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and Washington DC
• 1955-1978:  General Secretary of the YMCA and Coordinator of Religious Affairs at North Carolina State University
• While at NCSU, Rev. Wooldridge “provided an atmosphere of nurture and support” for students many of whom were international and African American students away from home during a time of tense segregation practices
  

• You can read an excerpt from his diary from 1944 on-line 

• Pastor Wooldridge died on March 29, 2004 and his obituary described him as a retired Minister and civil rights activist.  It further states that “He will be remembered fondly by many whose lives he touched as a father, friend, counselor, clergyman and avid tennis player.  His children carry on his legacy of public service, caring for those less fortunate, the principles of fairness, equality and courage, and an innate striving for understanding and accomplishment in all endeavors.”

• While working at the UVA YMCA, Pastor Wooldridge performed the marriage ceremony for James & Ruby Huckstep in 1950.  The wedding ceremony took place in Pastor Wooldridge’s home and Mr. Huckstep thought that they would be using the living room. Wooldridge said they’d have the ceremony in the kitchen since after the wedding that’s where Ruby would spend so much time.  So, they were married in Pastor Wooldridge’s kitchen