to lessen the impact of divorced parents. Kreps had five siblings: one older sister and four brothers. Though her mother continued farming through her adulthood, her father sent monthly alimony payments to help Kreps and her siblings survive. Education Around age twelve, Kreps was sent to boarding school at the now defunct Stuart Robinson School joining the class of 1938 Her education was largely paid for by the Presbyterian Church, and she noted that even though the boarding school was closer than the public high school, her thirst for knowledge was that ultimately what propelled her toward seeking a private education. Teachers at her boarding school came from all over the South and the education she was receiving at the time was highly esteemed. Her high school counselors tried to steer her towards going to Berea College, which was a free institution, or other Presbyterian colleges like Flora McDonald. However, Kreps' financial situation restricted her from schools with high tuition and made the cheaper options more viable. Kreps attended Berea College in the late 1930s into the 1940s and Kreps noted that the national atmosphere had changed. Her college days were driven by equality motivated philosophies and the idea that gender and race did not divide anyone intellectually. At Berea, Kreps worked as a dishwasher, a college hospital receptionist, a theater department costume designer and finally as an aide to one of the top Economics professors in the department as a paper grader. Through her connections with Rector Hardin, a professor who had received a Ph.D. from Duke himself, Kreps was able to attend graduate school at Duke University. One of her mentors at Duke was Frank Deviyver. Over the years as student, Kreps helped edit his book and she wrote her dissertation under Deviyver's supervision. Kreps attributed her ability to continue her education with less discrimination during her college years because she was not a man. At the time, men were being drafted for war and women were not, which Kreps noted made it more possible for her to teach almost directly after graduating seeing as no men were around to tell her not to. Teaching at this time, Kreps realized most of her students were women with some men scattered here and there. First meeting her husband in Atlanta while working with the National War Labor Board in 1943, she later reconnected with him while he was also