Clown School Instead of Tea? (Rough Draft)

Behind her curly, auburn hair, her contagious smile, and her slight southern drawl, Cathy Waggoner is an enigma.

A small town southern girl, originally from NC., spending the majority of her childhood in Miss., Waggoner is a forty-seven year old firecracker, to say the least.

“I have sort of a bittersweet attitude towards growing up in the South,” Waggoner said. She explained that things were very segregated, and rather different from the North. She went to a small public school, where the population was 78 percent African-American students.

“It wasn’t always easy being the minority, but it’s really shaped me into who I am, it was a great experience.”

Waggoner explained that summers in Mississippi were exceptionally different than the rest of the year. “I lived in the house that all the kids came to. Mama would say ‘leave and come back at dinner time,’” she said. Growing up on a lake, she explained that her and her friends would water ski everyday they could. “Our toenails would turn yellow from the mud,” she said chuckling. “We kept toothbrushes in the shower to clean our muddy feet. I never realized that everyone didn’t have toothbrushes in their showers.”

Waggoner began dancing in third grade, was involved with Girl Scouts, church group, and (not on her list of favorites), softball. “I’ll never forget, Sissy (last name) was the coach and she was so mean!” Needless to say, the softball fad did not last long.

Even when discussing a more serious topic, education, Waggoner’s smile never left her face. “I had a great childhood, but I had to get away,” she said. Receiving her undergrad at the University of Southern Mississippi, her masters at Bowling Green, and finally her PhD at Ohio State, education is not a department Waggoner is lacking in. She began with English, and migrated to Communications after several public speaking opportunities.

“Daddy told me I needed my teaching degree. He said it was good for the mother and wife,” she said. “Mark the mortician had just dumped me, and I wasn’t really looking for a husband.” Waggoner decided that regardless of what daddy said, she wanted to teach college students.

“Higher education was the place, and I love college aged kids,” she said. “I have the best job in the world.”

Aside from her love for teaching, Waggoner has a few other things on her list of things to do. “I want to go to clown school,” she said. “I have this fascination with the circus, I guess.” Waggoner also expressed her love for books, leading her to desire to be a librarian.

Today, Waggoner resides in Springfield, Oh and is married with two sons, Graham (six), and Ian (eleven). She explained that she wanted a girl at one time, but believes that things happen for the best reason, and she feels as though she is a good mother for boys.

Her parents relocated in North Carolina and she visits them with the kids once a year, and sometimes with her sister during the fall. Her father-in-law recently passed away and her traditional, opinionated mother-in-law is still living. “I think she (her mother-in-law) wants me to be the daughter she never had, go out to lunch and things. I want to go to clown school, not have tea!”

Waggoner is currently living her life believing that she needs to do more with less. “I need to not take more on, but do more with what I have,” she said. Underneath her charismatic smile, capturing personality, and southern accent, Cathy Waggoner is an enjoyable, humorous, and very accomplished woman.