The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
2000-01 Project of Henderson County Retired Teachers Association (HCRTA)
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
This story was shared by Leota Swanson at an annual meeting about her car.
Leota was going to a meeting at the South Henderson Church in the country just west of Biggsville. She had left from Stronghurst.
To get to this church you could drive all the way to Biggsville than back west to the church, or take a short cut on a graveled road.
This graveled road went over the railroad tracks.
(This road is now closed but it is right at the “County Fun” turn off.)
When Leota came to the railroad tracks, which were straight up, across the tracks, and back down, very steep. The car got caught in the tracks and she could not go either way.
Leota was determined to not lose this car so she walked down a lane to a farmhouse hoping all the time that the farmer would have a telephone so she could call the Biggsville train station to have them stop trains coming from either way to not hit her car.
The farmer ended up pulling her car across the tracks to safety and Leota went on to her meeting.
Leota said she did not go home the same way that she came to the meeting that night.
Leota Swanson graduated from Bardolph High school in a class with twenty-four other students in 1924. Next she attended Western College at Macomb where she received two years training and her teaching certificate.
She started teaching at South Prairie Country School in the Media Township. The beginning salary was $50.00 per month but the second year salary jumped to $100.00 more.
After meeting her first group of students she had a fear about one very large boy, “What would she do if he caused problems?”. It turned out he was one of her better students.
She taught all grades with at least one student in every grade. Some families in the district had several children enrolled in the school. The year’s average student enrollment was twenty children.
Class day opened with her reading to the group a story that continued daily.
Friday was enjoyed by everyone with a spelling bee contest.
The school was really modern; it had inside plumbing for the restrooms. She did have a stove to keep a fire going to heat the rooms. Each morning was a real challenge to get the room warm enough before students arrived.
Leota lived close enough to walk to school but many of the students rode horses. There was a separate building where the horses stayed while school was in session.
After four years of teaching, a farmer in the area felt he needed a wife and Leota agreed to his wishes. She found becoming a farmer’s wife filled up her life with cooking and farm chores. She did have time to raise two daughters, who presently have added three grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Leota did sub one year at Media High School in Home Economics. She always enjoyed working with children, which carried over to being a 4-H Club Leader for twenty-four years. The leadership she offered her 4-H members has returned to her many life long friendships from around the world.
Way back in 1951, as a green young lady I found out my interests were not in what I had prepared myself for in two years at W.I.U. Following a year of working in the business field in which I had prepared for-what a shock! I disliked my area of work completely. Then I found out that having a certain number of college hours, regardless of what they were in, qualified me to take the State Teachers’s Exam. “Me,” a teacher, had never crossed my mind. I contacted Mr. Apt, took the exam, passed with flying colors and the rest is history, as thirty-four years later with ten years out to be with my family, I retired.
The rough part of it ended up being getting my college credits for a teaching degree. I actually started all over and twenty-five years after graduating from high school while having my family, taking summer and night college course, plus teaching, I received my college degree. It was very difficult to go back to college classes after being in the classroom on my own. For years, I was told how to teach. I hadn’t followed a lot of their ways, but I’d try them and if they didn’t work, I’d go back to the successful way that I had found before.
My only regret was in the beginning not having had a guidance counselor to help steer me in the right direction, which I finally found out was teaching. I’m so thankful now for the memories I carry as a retired teacher does.
My first school was teaching in the country school that I had attended as a student for eight years. I feel that I had been fortunate to have had the same teacher all of those years. Needless to say, she was my role model and her teaching pattern followed me all my years in the classroom. As I look back now, she left few stones unturned as she taught us through the years. She was an excellent instructor and left the importance of learning an image within each of us. When she (Esther Lind Wilson) passed away, I felt an important person in my life deserved credit for a job well done with many boys and girls.
As I started my new school year, the first thing I learned was that early every day it was me that had to unlock the door of the country school. I was blessed with keeping the building clean and in order, keeping the floors swept, carrying in coal, carrying in the water, keeping the big old black furnace going in the winter, pulling on boots, drying mittens, nursing bumps and bruises, being playground supervisor (our only playground equipment consisted of a ball and bat), classroom organizer, referee, bake potatoes on the pot of the big black furnace and the list goes on and on. All country school teachers know what I’m saying and I’m sure they could add many more interesting items. Oh, I almost forgot, I was hired to teach also!
The first year there were six grades with eleven students. The classes followed the pattern I remembered as a student and I’ll assure you, I probably learned more that year than the students did. As our year rolled on and with lots of cooperation and hard work, we were all successful. I recall the days getting all the classes in and the students would get their work all done. We would always start out the day with the Pledge of Allegiance, sometimes music and sharing and then we would start our lessons. The older students would have assignments to work on while I worked with the lower grades We would have our Phonics, Reading, Arithmetic, Grammar and Handwriting twice a day in first and second grades. Then as they were doing seat work, it would be time for the upper classes to start reciting and have the next day’s assignments given. The upper grades had the above classes as well as Geography, History, Civics and Health. We worked through our day and as a rule we’d be finished by shortly after the last recess. The boys and girls were quiet, all worked hard and problems were minimal.
We’d get all the work finished and then we could do extra things, especially on Wednesday and Friday afternoons when we always would have art. We’d always make gifts for the mothers and fathers on special occasions, decorate the schoolroom, have music, have time for games and we seldom felt rushed. It was a much slower paced day than we see today but just as successful.
One of the biggest highlights during the year would be when Mr. Apt would come to visit. He’d make an appointment to visit with each student and be interested in what they were doing. He was always welcome anytime. The student learned who he was and I was well acquainted with him as he had been superintendent all the time I was in school. We all looked forward to his visiting.
We had lots of great things happen in the country school. Every month we had big crowds at our P.T.A, put on many programs, made a monthly newspaper (using a hectograph to print it), and made large exhibits for the big county fair for which we received a blue ribbon every year. Often we would miss our morning and afternoon recesses in the winter so we could go coast on the hills longer at noon.
I enjoyed every minute of the country school and there are many learning experiences and fun things I don’t have room to write about. I know that the learning experience of my three years in the country school prepared me more for teaching and life than all the years of the rest of my life. Following these years, this country school then closed through consolidation and thus became part of early rural history.
One memorable morning early in the fall the first year that I started teaching, I was taught a big lesson. I opened my desk drawer one Monday morning and a furry little four legged, long tailed, gray lady had decided to make a nest in it. She wasn’t in it, thank goodness. I destroyed the nest in time to prevent her new family arriving. My desk got turned over and screen wire nailed on the bottom before the next day.
Each day thereafter, I carefully opened the drawers just in case the screen wire was loosened somewhere around the edge. This had been a learning experience that I never forgot and every desk I used thereafter reminded me what could be in those drawers so I would open them carefully.
Following these experiences, I then moved and retired from the fifth school of my teaching career. I retired after having taught all eight grades either in the country school, contained classroom or a departmentalized classroom. Every year provided a new experience as these bright, eager students came into the classroom. After receiving lots of hugs, I always had a twinge of sorrow as they left my room at the end of the year. Regardless of the students I had in all my years, I always found something good and enjoyable about every student. There was good in all of them and I worked to do my best to help them bring it out for their future. The reward now is seeing many of my past students as adults and having them recognize me as one of their teachers. They usually will first say, “Hello, Mrs. Waddell, you don’t remember me, do you?” I regret it but they are usually correct, yet I’m so happy they recognize me. My memories of the many students and the teachers I worked with will go with me. Many memories will never be told, as they’ll just remain in my memory bank.