'Woman At Large' Travels Toward Her Future in Politics (headline)
Dorris Marxhausen is a wife and mother, that's true. But she also is a "super map reader and navigator." The ship on which she is a crew member travels over cement highways and dirt roads. When the family finally debarks from its rolling home in Denver in June, it will have logged over 25,000 miles on its speedometer.
In Appleton over the weekend, she played her role with her husband, Reinhold, professor of art at Concordia Teachers College (CTC), Seward, Neb., in part of a year-long tour of the United States in a program titled, "Artist At Large -- Commitment To Christ."
If there is some sort of stereotype connected with a woman's role as "her place" beside her husband, forget it.
She's outspoken while weighing her answers and then reevaluates them. She's politicized and an exponent of many aspects of the Women's Liberation Movement. Her place in definitely in and of the world.
Dorris met her husband while a student and he was her instructor at CTC. She was 21, he 10 years her senior. Their courtship was whirlwind, unconventional. During the spring when other coeds were oohing and ahhing over their diamonds, Reinhold presented her with a brass curtain ring. She was unaware of its significance at the time.
"I never cared for diamonds and that just hit him right," she said. And when an invitation came for him to conduct a workshop in Montana and the letter stated, "Your wife is welcome to come along," marriage was first mentioned. Three weeks later they were married at 7 a.m. in a simple ceremony.
That was 18 years and two children ago. As for the early hour which she remembers well, "I recommend it. You don't have all day to sit around and get nervous about it. You don't worry about details."
While a friend bet on a short-term marriage, as some go, there was no one-year payoff.
A year on the road, leading a tightly structured schedule while bumping shoulder to shoulder with people from other backgrounds and concepts, has taught her many things. She isn't parroting her husband when she explains his convictions which she shares.
"He's working on attitudes and acceptance ... through slide lectures and words through which he hopes to broaden his audiences' outlook as to the possibilities of enriching worship visually." This has led to a looking at creation through the eyes of an artist whether the family is gathered with students around a garbage heap, explaining its creative possibilities, or knowing that her husband is often expected to perform "like the trained bear coming to town."
The whole point he's trying to make is "that churches tend to be very drab. Nothing changes from week to week but the eyes don't stop working just because you happen to be in church. You can worship visually just as well. That's why the inside of the church has to change." If merchandisers change displays to make a more attractive store with greater sales impact, Dorris queried, why can't churches?
A Trivia Magnet
Before her marriage to "Marx," Dorris did her stint as a teacher in a multi-graded classroom in the central valley of California and was a librarian with an affinity for kids and reading.
"I'm a regular trivia magnet," she laughed, the walls of the van loaded with the latest reading matter --- newspapers from each town, magazines, paperbacks. This accumulation of grey matter has helped her in her dealings with people and their environment and has aided in keeping her abreast of detailed news she may have missed in some isolated area.
As for her being limited in her role as being a woman by the bonds of marriage, she isn't buying that line for the life she leads.
"I've got this freedom out of marriage because I married a guy who believes in the value of the human person being able to pursue his or her own goals."
Her Career Goals
Looking back over 18 years, she spoke of marriage and motherhood as the most liberating experience for her, then gasped, "Oh my gosh, doesn't that sound hokey? Oh, wave the flag!!!" She leaned back on the couch, crumpling up in laughter under her sons (Karl, 16, and Paul, 14) mini-posters reading ... "Beware the March of Ides" and "Rain is sane" and " A loved enemy is a forgiven friend."
What are her own career goals? As soon as the kids' education is taken care of, she'll support her husband so he can give himself totally to his artistic pursuits.
"I am presently preparing myself to serve in government somewhere, Dorris stated.
Her background has already grown its roots --- an active, eight-year participant in Seward's political process, she was on the state central committee of her party for five years, resigning to strike out on this year's tour of the U.S. with the family.
Why did she choose politics? She answered succinctly.
"The government has a tremendous effect on everyone's life and it can use all the humanizing elements it can get."
Women in Politics
Her political activism comes through with the mention of women or the lack of them, in the governments' decision making process.
"There aren't nearly enough women in elected office." She explained, "I'm not a person who contends that men women are completely interchangeable in every job, but it's a shame not to take advantage in the point of view that would come from more women officials."
Dorris pooh-poohed the contention that women would be less effective because of their so-called emotional makeup.
"That's a lie. That's part of a myth." She was adamant, her grey blue eyes growing wider. Women are usually brought up feeling it's acceptable to express emotion and men are taught to repress theirs."
How would she break down what she constitutes a myth?
"I've tried to with my sons" by avoiding the stereotypes which are as much a burden to men as they are to women.
"I recognize the good fortune in our family's life ..." Her husband's job is not the sort that finds him "mysteriously vanishing into some building every day. The kids can be with him and participate in his job."
"That's rare today except for a farm family. I don't know how many other families can manage this. Our boys have been and are needed by their father, and they know it. Maybe working successfully isn't the only thing that contributes to the feeling of personal worth for a young child, but it helps."
Marriage and motherhood aren't at all hokey for Dorris Marxhausen. If anything, "It was a good beginning lesson on how to control my selfishness as a young woman and having a dependent child around intensified the process."
That's what makes Dorris run and she's not saying connubial bliss is for everyone. But, she added, it was a big improvement over the girl she grew out of.
In fact, one of her hopes for the future is that "society will soon quit equating marriage with success for a woman."
Meanwhile, come June, it's back to political activism for the 39-year-old woman who will either become active in the League of Women Voters' chapter or return to precinct work in voter education, a field "that's as grass roots as you can get."
(Double click on Post-Crescent Photo by Edward J. Deschler to enlarge image and caption, next.)
Newspaper article courtesy of Reinhold Marxhausen Estate, Seward, Nebraska.
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