Her first school in
Clark County was the Silver Crest School, where she taught for four years. The
building is now a hunting lodge. Then followed a year at Shortville, which is
now a home; then came Riverside for three years, now the Levis town hall; Roder,
near Granton, now a home; and 10 years at Fairchild.
A graduate of
Hixton high school, she attended county normal school at Eau Claire, and spent a
year at Loyola in Chicago. She took several courses in Chicago Normal College
and Illinois School of Technology Cultural Review School. Later she attended
Eau Claire Teacher’s College.
When asked why she
decided on a teaching career, she replied that she had “a very wonderful
teacher” when she was five or six; that she can’t remember ever wanting to do
anything else, has never been sorry and has found the work rewarding.
One of these
rewards was finding the fourth grade teacher at Fairchild to be a former pupil
of hers. She is Mrs. Lyle (Arlene) Abrahamsom, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter
Trachte of the town of Washburn.
One experience she
had while in Chicago is probably familiar to many other teachers. An assistant
superintendent decided, they need not teach phonics. Mrs. Palmer had no
intention of not doing so, for experience had shown her it was necessary. Her
room had a large glass window in the door, so with one eye on the door, she went
right ahead and taught her children how to sound out the words.
She feels young
children have not changed much. They are always anxious to learn and are
looking for affection and a kind word. However, the changing world has made
discipline more difficult. All through the years, she has had excellent
cooperation from the parents, which she feels has helped her.
On leaving the
Fairchild school, she was given a certificate of merit from the school board and
school superintendent of Osseo-Fairchild for her years of teaching in the
system, a pin and a silver tray from the faculty engraved with her name and
number of years of teaching at Fairchild; a citation from Gov. Warren P Knowles
for her “many years of teaching Wisconsin youth,” and a pin from her students.
Mrs. Palmer is the
former Ellen B Galster of Alma Center. She and Mr. Palmer were married there on
September 10, 1919. They plan to continue living on the farm south of
Neillsville.
Mrs. Palmer hopes
to gather all her mementos into a scrapbook at some future date, but she will
need no book to help her remember the two little girls who presented her with
their own personal gifts. One brought her a pansy to plant, and the other
washed dishes to earn the money to buy her a swan ornament so she would not
forget them.
(Transcriber’s
note: Mrs. Palmer will always stand out in my memory as a very sweet lady with
a big sweet smile. A very nice teacher.)
