The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
This book continues from last week and was a project of the Henderson County Retired Teachers Association (HCRTA) by president Mary Alice Huntoon of Stronghurst who produced, between Nov. 13, 2000 and March 12, 2001, a storybook of “Memories” from retired teachers in the HCRTA organization. Ms. Huntoon asked HCRTA members to share things they remembered when teaching.
She also included any articles from the last ten HCRTA newsletters where people had shared “Teacher Spotlights” or articles about “Graham School $1.00”.
The Quill began the series on 12/29/2021 thanks to Ms. Huntoon.
HCRTA Members Included in the Memories Project:
by Kathryn Link–Hazel Hart–Ann Jake School Days Memories
If your image of a teacher is a person in front of a classroom, you have missed the point of a teacher’s job. You sign a contract with the school board which states jobs you are assigned besides classroom teaching. Naturally as a Home Economics teacher, FHA (Future Homemakers of America) was one of my extra jobs.
The Chapter was made up of students in your classroom, while they are in school. All school organizations compete for moneymaking projects. The Chapter decided to try Valentine cookie sales. They sold either a twelve inch or six inch cookie, frosted white, with a red verse written on each cookie. Over the years this became a very successful small business project.
The original cookie recipe was donated by a Chapter Mom who found it in a farm magazine. I still use it to make a cut decorated cookie.
1 stick margarine
(room temperature)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
Mix above items together thoroughly
Add:
3 teaspoons flavoring
(2 vanilla, 1 almond)
3 cups flour (sifted)
1/2 teaspoon
baking powder
Mix together
1 cup dry ingredients at a time.
Shape into balls, place in airtight container. Chill overnight. Roll, cut into shapes
Bake 350 degrees till light brown, firm to the touch.
One year as cookie sales started in January we noted the weather was not cooperating. After semester tests, it started to snow, you leaned to turn on your radio early each morning to hear if we had school or not.
The brave students in FHA talked others into a yearly cookie sale, even if the weather had us getting out of school early most days.
With the last full weekend of cookie making done, it happened on Sunday, the biggest snow for all times and it started to blow. No school Monday or Tuesday.
I was snowed in at home till Tuesday but just as soon as I could get out to go, I packed my car with clothes, school books and papers, battery radio and started off to school. Along the way, I stopped and picked up five students who lived close to school.
We started making cookie batter, baking and decorating cookies. Everything was fine till around 5 o’clock when the school superintendent stepped in the room. He announced the wind had started to blow and the road would soon be closed, so everyone had better get started home.
All the students left, but I knew it was no use to try to get back home. So I stayed all night at school and finished the cookies in the early A. M.
Around 6 o’clock the next morning the crew had dug the road from the school to the Monmouth city line out. Definitely no school today.
I decided I’d had enough school so drove to Stronghurst and spent the day and night catching up on the sleep I’d lost. The next day roads were opened up enough for school to be held and the people picked up their “Valentine Cookies” they had ordered.
Believe me, no one ever forgot the 210 cookies made that year. But you and I know it was just another project in the job description of being a teacher.