Faye_Wattleton

Faye Wattleton On the afternoon of January 27, 1978 my phone rang. On the line was Tenny Marshall (Wattleton,174). Tenny was the acting president of Planned Parenthood and head of the search committee to find a new president (174). I heard her say that the board had made a decision. Before the words could touch my ears I felt myself going numb. Tenny informed me that the board came back with a vote of 54 to 6 (Wattleton,181). I repeated the numbers in my mind, “54 to 6, 54 to 6.” I was the new president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (181). Tenny waited silently for my response. My mind whirled in a frenzy of uncertainty and excitement. The only word I could find to utter was, “Okay.” Tenny and I spoke briefly. I told her I would come to Kansas City to thank the board and give my acceptance speech (181). As I hung up the phone, I had so many thoughts and emotions all at once. I cannot say that I was surprised or shocked by this news. I was, of course, aware that I was wattleton, mama, parenthood, planned, president, new, been, ready, felt, dayton, proud, organization, job, franklin, care, 182, woman, tenny, ponton, must, friends, executive, am, 181, years, year, take, news, never, god, flashman, colleagues, board, after