Ozarks Voices: Dorothy Ennis, June 7, 2022
Interview with Dorothy Ennis by Tom Peters, Dean of Library Services at Missouri State University. Ms. Ennis is a retired schoolteacher in Shannon County, Missouri. Also participating in the interview: Mike Ennis (Dorothy Ennis’s son), James Ennis (her grandson), and Carol Silvey (family friend and member of Missouri State University Board of Governors). This interview took place on June 7, 2022, in Ms. Ennis’s home in Shannon County near Eminence, Missouri.
Topics discussed during the interview include: childhood in Chicago and San Francisco before moving to Missouri; growing up in the Great Depression; memories of attending a one-room schoolhouse near Blair’s Creek; earning her degree at Southwest Missouri State College (Missouri State University) and living in Springfield; memories of teaching in various schools in Shannon County; meeting her husband, Shannon Ennis; her favorite dishes to cook, especially pies; shooting the film “Sassafras” at her home; designing quilts; some of her best friends.