By Mona Lange McCroskey

Albert William "Bill" Bork, born in Prescott, Arizona Territory in 1906, was the consummate historian. In 1997, after the publication of his biography ("Prescott's Hometown Historian and International Scholar," Cactus and Pine, Sharlot Hall Museum, August 1997), Dr. Bork was concerned because I had not written enough about his wife, Nadyne. He presented me with a copy of his manuscript, "My Life's Partner, Nadyne," a touching tribute to her and a poignant account of their seventy-year marriage.

Bill Bork met Marguerite Nadyne Butts at the University of Arizona in 1934 in a Spanish-American literature class. They were both working their way through school under the college aid program of the Great Depression; he at the University Extension Division and she at the Reference Room of the University Library. Both were paid thirty-five cents an hour. He lived in Cochise Hall at the University. She lived at her family's homestead seven miles from Tucson on the Ajo Highway, helping her father at his service station and freight line agency on Stone Avenue. Bill and Nadyne did not immediately become friends; she did not think his nit-picking questions contributed much to the class. Their lives crossed occasionally as they pursued their degrees and connected again, when Butts followed Bork, alphabetically, in the graduation line. Soon afterward they had their first date, and Bill always joked that she followed him around from then on. They married on April 14, 1936. In truth, he gave her credit for being there to push him into making decisions that really mattered to them and their children, backing all their mutual efforts, and furnishing stability in their careers as educators. He wrote, "From the time of our marriage, Nadyne most always administered our finances more carefully than I. Her student days at the U of A when her 35 cents-an-hour pay kept her, her parents, and her little sister alive on five-cents-a-can sardines and five-cents-a-dozen tortillas as they lived out on the desert, built a house with second-hand lumber, and hauled water for all household uses were the school of hardship which over the earlier years of our marriage brought us through to better days." 

After graduation, the Borks remained in Tucson and Bill continued his studies at the University of Arizona. Nadyne cared for their daughter, JoAnne, taught a Spanish class, and typed Bill's M.A. thesis containing many long quotes in Spanish, German, Portuguese, Catalan, and French. After the outbreak of World War II, Bork accepted a position in a wartime cultural exchange program at the University of Mexico and moved to Mexico City with his wife and daughter in tow. The family settled into a low-rent apartment heated by the morning sun-there were no heating stoves in those days-with sparse handmade wooden furniture and their personal belongings. Nadyne's next-door neighbor became her daily shopping companion and adviser in the finance and managerial skills of a middle-class Mexican housewife. Daily forays to the public market and the bakery across the street were essential for keeping food on the table. Their daughter, soon joined by a brother, David, was completely at home in the Mexican language and culture. Her more-than-fluent Spanish-speaking parents suffered from culture shock for some time. Bork received his Doctorate in History from the University of Mexico, served as Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Mexico City College, and, in 1944, came back to the States and went to Washington State College. That did not work out and the family returned briefly to Mexico where Nadyne gave birth to a second son, Albert. Bill moved back to Tucson, followed by his wife and children as soon as they could find postwar housing. 

Nadyne stuck it out with Bill and their three children when he was hit with a bout of rheumatoid arthritis, and in 1950, they returned to Mexico City for another seven-year stint. He acted as Dean at Mexico City College again and worked for General Electric in the private sector. The children were old enough that Nadyne could begin her teaching career at the Pan-American Workshop, a bi-lingual school at the high school level. She also taught English as a Second Language to adults who were enthusiastic students and good learners, many of them professionals. She thoroughly enjoyed these experiences, but they did require changes in the Borks' home life. They did not, however, keep her from acting as a Scout troop mother with drives across Mexico City in their 1930 Packard. 

The Borks returned to Carbondale, Illinois, in January of 1958, where Bill was named a full professor of Spanish Languages and Literature at Southern Illinois University. Nadyne took on a new role as they assumed responsibility for Latin American students for whom they provided individual support. These students soon considered the Borks' house their home-away-from-home. Bill and Nadyne housed many of them, especially during vacation periods. Nadyne also taught beginning Spanish to American students, for which she received little pay. Faculty wives were expected to donate social graces as well as their teaching abilities and/or counseling services. Nadyne did it all, and in the bargain continued her studies, for which she was awarded the Master of Arts degree in French and Spanish in 1964. 

Nadyne accompanied Bill to Lima when he accepted a Fulbright Scholarship to the University of San Marcos in 1959. They were furnished an apartment in an upscale subdivision (coincidentally on Prescott Street!), complete with a maid, a far different milieu than their first dwelling in Mexico City. In Lima, Nadyne found herself in a different situation. She became the mother confessor and advisor to several other American housewives who spoke no Spanish and had not lived in a different culture. 

On their return to Carbondale, she made several trips to California, by train, bus, and plane, to help with the birthing of grandchildren, at the same time overseeing the building of a new home. Dr. Bork marveled at "how she ever accomplished it all as mother, housewife, teacher, and hostess for student and faculty parties." 

In 1974, he retired from the Latin American Institute at Southern Illinois University at the age of sixty-eight. Nadyne, who had taught Spanish and French at the University, gave up her work with the Learning Resources Center in the University Library when Bill retired, and they returned to Arizona. 

Back home in Prescott, Bill pursued his lifetime philatelic pastime. He collected historic postcards; a "greenhouse" porch filled with unusual plants evidenced his interest in botany. He resumed his writing on local history in which he was deeply steeped; his grandfather helped build the Governor's Mansion in 1864. He reconnected with the Smoki People and both he and Nadyne became docents. They were members of the Episcopal Church and she sang in the choir. They traveled as long as they could, visiting their many friends worldwide. Both were voracious readers. Nadyne enjoyed knitting and cooking and their family was of primary importance to them. They would have celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on April 14, 2006, except that Nadyne passed away on March 28th, followed by Bill on March 30th. They lived abundantly full lives together as a wholly devoted couple; one would not have been complete without the other. 

The Borks liked living in Mexico and would perhaps have retired there but for the many changes and over-crowding which occurred in the intervening years. Today they might have decided the same thing about Prescott, but this community is infinitely richer for their decision to return to Bill's hometown and their long sojourn here. 

(Mona McCroskey, author of this article, was fortunate to have Dr. Bork as her mentor. The Borks referred to Mona as their "second adopted daughter.") 


Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(The Borks: courtesy photo) Reuse only by permission.
Bill and Nadyne Bork would have celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on April 14, 2006. They lived abundantly full lives together as a wholly devoted couple; one would not have been complete without the other. They died two days apart in March of this year.