1940

The 16th Scripps National Spelling Bee took place on May 28th, 1940. It was held at the National Museum Auditorium in Washington, D.C., and 22 spellers participated.

During the competition, the pronouncer Harold F. Harding received a round of applause when he slipped up and spelled the word “fore” himself instead of waiting for the speller to do so.

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About the 16th Bee

Champion

Laurel Kuykendall

Cookeville, Tennessee

Laurel Kuykendall, age 14, sponsored by the Knoxville News Sentinel, won the $500 prize by correctly spelling the word “therapy.”

Laurel married and became Laurel Kuykendall Mullins. She was a clerk for South Central Bell Telephone and died in 2004.

Location

National Museum Auditorium

Winning Word

therapy(n)

THER-uh-pee

treatment of disease in animals or plants by agents or methods that serve or help to terminate disease and restore health.

This word is from a word that went from Greek to Latin.

OFFICIALS

Directors

Douglas D. Cornette

Pronouncers

  • Harold F. Harding

SPELLER ROSTER

  • Robert Cohan
  • Ruth Currington
  • Doris Dornbusch
  • Anne Fadeley
  • Thomas Gilroy
  • Helen Guterba
  • Lewis Haynes
  • Geraldine Hill
  • Frank Howard
  • Annabell Kimsey
  • Russell Kurtz
  • Laurel Kuykendall
  • Elizabeth McNally
  • Robert Terrell Moran
  • Frances Anne Morgan
  • Carleen Mouser
  • Lee O’Connell
  • Elizabeth O’Keefe
  • Betty Jean Ray
  • Eleanor Shea
  • Mary Sinsel
  • Emelia Walczak

* Winner
** Runner-Up