School

Our school, a one-room building, was about three-quarters of a mile from home. We walked that distance morning and afternoon, rain or shine. At one end of the room there was a cloakroom for hanging our coats or sweaters. In the middle of the room was a potbelly heating stove in which, during the early years, wood was burned. Later it was converted to burn oil. Restrooms were outhouses at the back of the property. Our desks were a desktop and seat in one unit and were placed one behind another in four or five rows. One teacher taught all eight grades, and judging by today's standards, we missed a lot of learning. I had gone to kindergarten in San Francisco, and when I started at Eschscholtzia, the teacher, Mr. Weldon, advanced me to second grade. This must have affected my learning to read, as I didn’t get into reading until much later in life. Judging from our graduation years, Lumie and Helen also skipped a grade, and Helen and Marta started at five and a half. Helen and Lumie read well and read a lot.

After Mr. Weldon‘s two years, we had Miss Averill for three years; she was a much better teacher. When I was in seventh grade, Miss Humphrey, fresh out of college, was the teacher and a lot of the time she had me helping the primary students with their reading or math. Consequently, when Mrs. Robertson took over the next year, she realized I hadn't done much work the previous year and doubled up on my assignments so I could graduate with a bit more knowledge. She was instrumental in urging that I take a college-preparatory course in high school so that I could become a teacher.

We all brought our lunches to school and just sat around outside, weather permitting, to eat, after which we played games until called back in. Lunches usually were jelly sandwiches, a piece of fruit and cookies. We each had two or three school dresses, but wore one all week changing into play clothes as soon as we got home.

One unpleasant memory I have of school happened when I was in the seventh grade. My only classmate was Howard Wyatt, whom I didn't like. When he broke his leg playing Kick the Can and had to stay home while it healed, Miss Humphrey would send me over to his house a couple of blocks away to take him his assignments, coach him and bring back his completed work. Since I didn't like Howard to begin with, I really hated to spend the time with someone who wasn't a serious student, but I had no choice. In those days the teacher had no aides or parent volunteers. The year I graduated, there were 38 youngsters in the school. In general, the teacher had the respect and cooperation of all students and there was little fooling around during class time.

At home an evening ritual was for the children to sit around the dining room table and do our homework, while in another room Mom did her mending or crocheting while Pop read out loud some Bohemian newspaper or magazine which had been sent to them.

At the end of the school year, the teacher would give prizes to the students with perfect attendance, meaning you didn't miss one day of school all year. We took this seriously and went to school with colds and sore throats and no one thought anything of it. Now, I don't even remember what prizes we received. If turtleneck sweaters were made then, we didn't know about them. We just wore a woolen cloth around the neck and held in place with pins. In the school picture, you can see that Ted Reinero is so dressed.

To go to high school, we had to walk the half mile to Snelling Road where a school bus, driven by a senior student, picked us up. We had a choice of taking an academic schedule (college preparatory), a business course or general. I took the academic course which included four years of language (2 Latin and 2 French), four years of English, Math and History plus Civics as well as Physical Ed. Lumir also took the academic, but because of the depression wasn't able to go on to college and took a fifth year at the high school. Helen went for the business course, working in the school office part time the last two years. There were about 500 students in the high school in the '30s, and 125 graduated in my class of 1935. There was a school cafeteria, but we continued to take our lunches. Helen graduated in 1936 and Marta in 1939.

Pop was so antagonistic about religion he wouldn't attend any of our graduation exercises because of the benediction part of the program. Mom was proud of us and always was there for us.

SCHOOL