DISTRICT 85 REVISITED
By the Thomsons
Carolyn Golden and Georgia Bulger
Amongst waving fields of wheat which rolled as do waves on an ocean
and rustling stocks of corn, four students, two in first grade, one
second grader, and an eighth grader made their way to a white
rectangular building that sat on about an acre of land three miles
East and a quarter mile North of Palmyra. Between the roof of the
porch and the bell tower was an oval sign reading "Grandview" across
the top and "District #85" underneath. This building was topped with
a bell tower with a bell that called students to pass between the
pillars on either side of the porch to a door that opened to learning
in a one-room school. Inside the door the girls went to the right to
a cloakroom to hang up their coats and boys went to the left to do
likewise. You entered from the cloakroom one large room with rows of
desks that faced the front where one large desk for the teacher sat.
Our desks had wooden tops with a groove for pencil or ink pen and an
ink well - a hole for a bottle of ink to sit in. These desks dated
back to when you dipped your pen in ink and then wrote. In the 40's
fountain pens were being replaced by retractable ballpoint pens.
Under the wooden tops was a shelf for books, papers and what ever
else you thought necessary. This was held together with black iron
formed into designs. Looking down over the top of the desk you found
a fold down seat for the student ahead of you and you sat on the seat
attached to the desk behind you.
The front of the room had a blackboard that really was black, as well
as being made of slate, that stretched the length of the front of the
building. We used this board instead of paper, and if your answer
was not right, it was in full view for all to see. In the center of
the front of the room was a world globe attached to a pulley that had
another small black ball on the other end from which one could lower
and raise the globe.
Air conditioning was an open window. Heating was a pot-bellied stove
to one side of the front of the school, which burned one side of you
and froze the other side of you. You could also warm up considerably
if you were the lucky student that got to go outside to the coal
house and bring back a galvanized bucket of coal. The bucket had a
lip on it that helped control easing of the coal from the bucket into
the stove. Bathrooms were outhouses in the schoolyard sat to the
Northwest of the school for girls and to the Southwest of the school
for boys. When you raised your hand to go to the bathroom in the
winter time, the teacher did not question you, for this trip required
coat, boots, mittens, hats and a run across the whole school yard to
get to a cubicle large enough to stand in and a round hole to sit
on. Outhouses were made of wood and had a mighty draft to them - or
an interesting smell to them at other times of year.
In 1946 Wilma Dowding was in eighth grade, Roger Dowding was in
second grade and Tommy Luff and Georgia Thomson were in first grade.
The teacher was Miss Wilma Wheatly and she drilled phonics into our
heads and opened the world of reading to her young students.
Wilma Dowding graduated from the eighth grade and continued her
studies in town at Palmyra High. Barbara Wachter joined us. We are
still four students, but we now all range in ages from five to eight
and I am sure this was easier on Miss Wheatly.
Teachers of one room schools taught reading, writing, arithmetic,
kept water in a bucket that had a communal dipper, put compound down
at night and swept the floor and started and kept a fire going all
through the day for her students. She also oversaw recess and graded
papers.
In 1948 and 1949, Miss Darlene Calloway, a striking redhead, became
our teacher. Jerry Beecham and Sharon Luff joined us.
In 1950 Miss Fern Fields comes to District 85 and stays six years.
Gera Powers teaches the 1955-1956 school term and marries John
Stillwell in June of 1956--40 years ago. In the 1956-57 term Mrs.
Heather takes the helm for what is the last year for District 85.
Mrs. Heather drove an old Studebaker car and she could hardly reach
the gas pedal, she was so short.
In the spring of 1955 Carolyn Thomson and Johnny Beecham were the
last two to graduate from District 85. After higher education,
Johnny marries Laura Lou Golden and Carolyn marries John Golden and
so the two become brother and sister-in-law.
Under Miss Field's tutelage we put on plays for the PTA. Parent
Teacher Association back then was parents getting together to meet
and kids getting together to cutup outside. Our plays were
productions with denim curtains hung from wires to form a closed off
area for the boys side, and a closed off area for the girls side with
a stage area between the two closed off areas. This center stage
area was complete with floodlights--light bulbs attached to a board
with a piece of tin curled on one side of the board to force the
light to the stage area. The curtains were pulled on the stage area
and were opened with great fanfare to reveal the players on stage.
We learned plays, pieces and mostly how to get up in front of people
and talk. I was usually the piano player.
To teach us to get along she had us put murals together that required
cutting and pasting. A mural of rabbits and Easter eggs is the one I
remember the most. A sandbox on legs was introduced to let the young
ones use their creativity in making buildings, roads, or wherever the
imagination took a youngster.
Teacher taught subjects, morals, hygiene and lots more. Health was
introduced, and we went from a communal bucket to a crock jug with
water in it. One now put a cup under a spigot and put water in their
cup and hung your individual cup on a nail that had been driven into
a wooden orange crate. The crate was painted white and a curtain
hung on a string stretched across the front of the crate. Progress
has been made from a communal dipper to individual cups hung on a nail.
We were to have a clean handkerchief with us. You got a blue ribbon
sticker if you had a handkerchief, hair combed, and a clean face.
Since Kleenexes were making their presence known, the clean hanky
began to become a thing of the past.
With the introduction of TV we could now see things in far off
places. Ellis McKay lived closest to school so the entire school
walked to his house, about a quarter of a mile away and watched the
New Year's parade.
Recess was to be a learning time too. Anti Anti over the coal house
was played. A ball was thrown over the coal house and you tried to
catch those on the other side of the coal house as they tried to run
to your side. Scissors, jump rope, merry-go-round, see-saw and
softball.
Miss Field decided it would be good to have a softball team and go to
other country schools to play a game with them. I was the only girl
that could throw a ball and bat so I usually had to play softball
with the guys. I played third base and with my skirts flying I ran
the bases and caught balls. Jeans for girls did not become popular
until around 1954 when the song, "Dungarees Doll" came out. The poor
wore jeans and overalls in the 1940's. My sister Carolyn Thomson and
Virginia Vollertsen replaced me on the team. Carolyn was a pitcher.
With one teacher for eight grades, older children taught younger
children and thereby had to learn a subject in order to teach it.
Learning to listen was done by sitting at our desks and listening to
a radio program for 30 min., while we took notes and then were asked
questions about the program. It became a game of what she would
ask. Spelling bees and helping someone to go to win a spelling
contest became great endeavors.
Phyllis Vollertsen took 4th place in the written in 1952, Dean
Thomson took 2nd place in oral in 1953 and '54, Johnny Beecham
competed in written spelling and Carolyn Thomson in oral spelling for
three years in a row.
Merrit Whitten was the Otoe County Superintendent. He was a large
man, standing 6' tall and to young children seemed like a giant. He,
on occasion, just walked into the school to see how things were
going. You could be minding your own business, and there he was! He
gave us a fright on more than one occasion.
NAMES OF STUDENTS FROM 1946 TO THE SCHOOL'S CLOSING IN 1958,
Dick Mason, Phyllis Vollertsen, Virginia Vollertsen, Gary Lange,
Ronnie Lange, Cheryl Lange, Dean Thomson, Cloyd Thomson and Patty
Rhoten were all transfer students from District 8 School. Wilma
Dowding, Roger Dowding, Tommy Luff, Sharon Luff, Georgia Thomson,
Carolyn Thomson, Barbara Wachter, Helen Wachter, Jerry Beecham,
Johnny Beecham, Margaret Beecham, Mary Beecham, Jeannie Beecham,
Marty Beecham, Pat Beecham, Ellis McKay, Opal Bucholz.
Phyllis Heather was the last teacher and George Thomson, W. J.
Beecham, and Roy Wachter composed the last school board members.
District 85 was merged into Palmyra District OR-1 and the one room
schoolhouse was moved South a quarter of a mile to the R. R. Miller
farm on highway 2 where it was used as a shop. The structure no
longer stands, but the memories do.
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