About the only vocational guidance included in the instruction given in the Gowrie high school of my time was in the civics/American problems class taught by Mr. Millard. What sticks in my mind was the discussion and information given as to the financial awards and the particular qualities related to engineering. Whether other fields were discussed I have no recollection. This was perhaps the “seed” that led me into taking engineering in college and as a career.
There may have been one earlier fleeting impetus in this direction. I recall at one of the Thursday evening band concerts being aware of a visitor to the community, one Jack Sederholm, who was described as an electrical engineer. He was a cousin I believe of a Robert Blomgren, ahead of me by one year in school. He struck me as an intriguing inhabitant of a strange enticing world and I wonder now if it may not have been the initial nudge toward the engineering field. Robert Blomgren eventually ended up as an engineer, though in what field I don’t recall.
In my growing up years I was exposed to such popularized applications of science and engineering as the Tom Swift books; to what extent these Tom Swift books broadened my horizon I can’t really say. The source of the Tom Swift books was my relative Harold Renquist (a sort of shirt-tail relative — I believe he was the child of a cousin of my grandmother’s). Harold was enough older than I that he was not in high school even when I was a freshman. Though older than I he was never condescending toward me in his attitude and I have always had a fond recollection of the association I had with him.
He lived with his parents in Gowrie at the east edge of the town. His parents and he were often included in the Sunday dinners at my grandmother’s house and in other family gatherings. I can remember being at their house for a supper meal. There were also relatives of my grandmother’s who lived in Dayton, a nearby town or on farms in the Dayton area. We visited these families on occasion and they in turn were occasional guests at my grandmother’s or with us.
I can’t recall for sure their surnames now, but one family was named Blomquist. One couple had one child, a girl, and I believe the husband had been a farmer but had moved into Dayton. The other, more congenial couple, lived on a farm; there were two sons, the younger, Paul, being just about my age. He also was an individual that I always liked and have pleasant memories of. But I doubt I’ve had any contact with him since I left to go to school at Iowa.
There were also relatives of my grandmother’s near Madrid, Iowa (Madrid is more or less on a line between Gowrie and Des Moines). These were “uncle” Frank Anderson and family. As children we always enjoyed any visit with uncle Frank, who was a jolly, likable, friendly individual. I cannot recall visiting them in Madrid but he appeared periodically in Gowrie at family gatherings. One of his goals in later life was to live to be 100 years old which he managed to do; he didn’t however survive to his 101st year.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
HIgh School Curriculum
As a sophomore my required subjects were English, English literature, world history and geometry. As a junior they were English (?), American literature, American history, Latin I, commercial law/bookkeeping. Somewhere along the way I had a second year of Latin. Actually my recollection in what order I took the subjects listed for my sophomore and junior years is a little hazy and I suspect the order I have shown may be somewhat wrong.
Whatever history it was that I took as a sophomore, it had Mrs. Knapp (the junior high principal when I was in eighth grade) as the teacher. History the following year may have had someone else as teacher — Mrs. Knapp left Gowrie during this period. Literature as a sophomore (again either English or American) was taught by Miss Morris who was primarily the home ec teacher — she was mediocre at best as a literature instructor.
Geometry was Mr. Gerber’s province; there may have been a third semester of algebra somewhere along the line that was also his responsibility. English after Miss Amlie was taught by Edith Marine Anderson, a cheerful, rather rotund person who I seem to recall was some sort of shirt-tail relative of our family (on my father’s side). She also taught Latin and she may have succeeded Miss Morris in the literature department. At any rate I certainly recall going through some of Shakespeare’s plays under her tutelage. It was probably in her Latin classes that I was first in close and continued contact with Howard Nelson, with whom I have been a good friend over the years.
Gladys Swenson was the teacher I had for commercial law/bookkeeping and later when I was a senior for typing. Mr. Millard taught the civics/American problems class for seniors, Mr. Gerber the physics class and there must have been some sort of English class. I do know that I took all the classes offered in the high school, other than home ec and the agri. ed classes. This involved taking five classes during several of the years.
Whatever history it was that I took as a sophomore, it had Mrs. Knapp (the junior high principal when I was in eighth grade) as the teacher. History the following year may have had someone else as teacher — Mrs. Knapp left Gowrie during this period. Literature as a sophomore (again either English or American) was taught by Miss Morris who was primarily the home ec teacher — she was mediocre at best as a literature instructor.
Geometry was Mr. Gerber’s province; there may have been a third semester of algebra somewhere along the line that was also his responsibility. English after Miss Amlie was taught by Edith Marine Anderson, a cheerful, rather rotund person who I seem to recall was some sort of shirt-tail relative of our family (on my father’s side). She also taught Latin and she may have succeeded Miss Morris in the literature department. At any rate I certainly recall going through some of Shakespeare’s plays under her tutelage. It was probably in her Latin classes that I was first in close and continued contact with Howard Nelson, with whom I have been a good friend over the years.
Gladys Swenson was the teacher I had for commercial law/bookkeeping and later when I was a senior for typing. Mr. Millard taught the civics/American problems class for seniors, Mr. Gerber the physics class and there must have been some sort of English class. I do know that I took all the classes offered in the high school, other than home ec and the agri. ed classes. This involved taking five classes during several of the years.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Basketball Games
I mentioned that Clarice and I would sometimes attend Gowrie basketball games, probably riding into town with my father when he went to work at the Johnson lumber company in the evenings. I may also have mentioned previously that both Clarice and I would occasionally help my father in some aspects of his work.
The Johnson lumber company not only sold lumber and other building materials but they were also active building contractors. In the latter aspect of their business they would either contract to do some project for a specified price or they would simply bill the purchaser for material and labor (all items of which contained a markup to give them their profit and working margin). When this would be done the purchaser would expect and would be provided an itemized statement of materials and labor. This statement was compiled from a daily ledger in which Axel Johnson (the partner who handled the record keeping and retail sales etc. part of the business — C.J. or as he was called John, the other partner supervised field and shop activities) had listed the items and labor furnished. Both Clarice and I could simply copy this information on to a statement to be given the purchaser — my father simply indicated the ledger entries to be included by us. While we were doing this he would perform the more sophisticated tasks of the bookkeeping job.
The office at the company was not well heated and on winter evenings there I often wished for a better source of heat than the small electric or gas heater (I forget which it was) provided.
As I believe I’ve also mentioned, across the road from us as we lived on the farm, lived Will and Annie Lines, along with old man Woodard (Annie’s father) and the orphaned Woodard boys (sons of Arthur, the deceased brother of Annie). After John got his driver’s license, sometime during his early high school days, he would occasionally be given permission by his uncle Will to take their Model A Ford to drive to one of the small towns adjoining Gowrie when Gowrie was playing a basketball game there. He would ask me to go along with him, perhaps one of his younger brothers would also go along.
I also remember on one occasion that John and I were invited to ride along with Darwin Liljegren (a class ahead of us in school) to one of these out-of-Gowrie games. Darwin drove his dad’s car and it developed mechanical trouble on the return trip — we finally ended up back on Gowrie around 11 p.m. or so. At that time the Liljegrens lived adjacent to my grandmother’s house. John and I were faced with the problem of getting from there out to our respective farm homes. Someone suggested that I try to rouse my uncle Carl to drive us home, but I wasn’t about to try any such maneuver.
Eventually John and I walked the 4-plus miles home. Actually the night was not too cold and it probably took us only a little over an hour or so. I don’t recollect now if I ever told my parents what had transpired that evening — everyone was sound asleep when John and I got home and I just went upstairs and crawled in bed alongside Vincent.
The Johnson lumber company not only sold lumber and other building materials but they were also active building contractors. In the latter aspect of their business they would either contract to do some project for a specified price or they would simply bill the purchaser for material and labor (all items of which contained a markup to give them their profit and working margin). When this would be done the purchaser would expect and would be provided an itemized statement of materials and labor. This statement was compiled from a daily ledger in which Axel Johnson (the partner who handled the record keeping and retail sales etc. part of the business — C.J. or as he was called John, the other partner supervised field and shop activities) had listed the items and labor furnished. Both Clarice and I could simply copy this information on to a statement to be given the purchaser — my father simply indicated the ledger entries to be included by us. While we were doing this he would perform the more sophisticated tasks of the bookkeeping job.
The office at the company was not well heated and on winter evenings there I often wished for a better source of heat than the small electric or gas heater (I forget which it was) provided.
As I believe I’ve also mentioned, across the road from us as we lived on the farm, lived Will and Annie Lines, along with old man Woodard (Annie’s father) and the orphaned Woodard boys (sons of Arthur, the deceased brother of Annie). After John got his driver’s license, sometime during his early high school days, he would occasionally be given permission by his uncle Will to take their Model A Ford to drive to one of the small towns adjoining Gowrie when Gowrie was playing a basketball game there. He would ask me to go along with him, perhaps one of his younger brothers would also go along.
I also remember on one occasion that John and I were invited to ride along with Darwin Liljegren (a class ahead of us in school) to one of these out-of-Gowrie games. Darwin drove his dad’s car and it developed mechanical trouble on the return trip — we finally ended up back on Gowrie around 11 p.m. or so. At that time the Liljegrens lived adjacent to my grandmother’s house. John and I were faced with the problem of getting from there out to our respective farm homes. Someone suggested that I try to rouse my uncle Carl to drive us home, but I wasn’t about to try any such maneuver.
Eventually John and I walked the 4-plus miles home. Actually the night was not too cold and it probably took us only a little over an hour or so. I don’t recollect now if I ever told my parents what had transpired that evening — everyone was sound asleep when John and I got home and I just went upstairs and crawled in bed alongside Vincent.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Extracurricular Activities
Entrance in high school was accompanied by an “initiation” that was administered buy the sophomore class. The initiation was held one evening in the school gym, and included for the boys running through a gauntlet of the sophomore boys, each armed with a large flat wooden paddle. This mild hazing must have been discontinued at about that time — I have no recollection of being one of the sophomores who administered the initiation to the class after mine.
The principal extra-curricular activity in the highs school was boys’ basketball. I did not participate in this activity; not only was I not very good at this kind of sport but our living out in the country (plus my farm duties such as milking, etc.) mitigated against nay participating.
Clarice and I did attend the basketball games when at Gowrie; I suppose we rode into town with my father when he sent to his second job as bookkeeper at the Johnson lumber company. The games were usually on Friday evenings and sometimes there would be“pep” rallies at school in the last period of the school day — typically these would be held in the general assembly hall for the high school.
Gowrie had one of its better basketball teams the year I was a freshman. The center was Vernon Telleen in my class, three members were seniors and one was a sophomore, in addition there was a sixth player, a sophomore who was almost the equal of the others. They won the sectional tournament, but not the district so they did not compete in the state tourney. The fortunes of the team declined with the graduation the following year of the three senior members of the team. In subsequent years Gowrie also had a girls’ basketball team but this was after I graduated, maybe after I’d left for California.
There were a few other extracurricular activities; two I recall were glee club and the declamatory contests. I started out in the glee club but I was never much for singing so I dropped out after a few months. I seem to recall that I participated in the declamatory activity. The participants would choose whether their presentation would be oratorical, dramatic or humorous. The speech or presentation would be memorized and presented before the assemblage of judges, family members and others. A winner would be adjudged in each of the three categories, but I don’t remember whether the competition was carried beyond this point to involve other schools.
The junior and senior classes would each present a class play. Typically this would be a somewhat humorous presentation. I never was in the cast for any of these though I sort of recall witnessing the performances. The performances were held in the school gym — the far end of which was a stage for this purpose (as well for the declamatory contests). At the time I considered these plays as quite significant dramatic productions; in retrospect they appear to be amateurish efforts as they doubtless were.
During our early days in Gowrie, family members virtually never went to the “movies.” My earliest recollections of seeing a movie was in connection with one of the junior/senior banquets that were held each year. These banquets were prepared by the juniors (or more correctly by their mothers) and were held in the room in the basement of the school building that was used as a lunch room at noon for those students who brought their lunches. After the meal at the banquet there might be some sort of program or talk, but as to this my recollection is rather vague.
The principal extra-curricular activity in the highs school was boys’ basketball. I did not participate in this activity; not only was I not very good at this kind of sport but our living out in the country (plus my farm duties such as milking, etc.) mitigated against nay participating.
Clarice and I did attend the basketball games when at Gowrie; I suppose we rode into town with my father when he sent to his second job as bookkeeper at the Johnson lumber company. The games were usually on Friday evenings and sometimes there would be“pep” rallies at school in the last period of the school day — typically these would be held in the general assembly hall for the high school.
Gowrie had one of its better basketball teams the year I was a freshman. The center was Vernon Telleen in my class, three members were seniors and one was a sophomore, in addition there was a sixth player, a sophomore who was almost the equal of the others. They won the sectional tournament, but not the district so they did not compete in the state tourney. The fortunes of the team declined with the graduation the following year of the three senior members of the team. In subsequent years Gowrie also had a girls’ basketball team but this was after I graduated, maybe after I’d left for California.
There were a few other extracurricular activities; two I recall were glee club and the declamatory contests. I started out in the glee club but I was never much for singing so I dropped out after a few months. I seem to recall that I participated in the declamatory activity. The participants would choose whether their presentation would be oratorical, dramatic or humorous. The speech or presentation would be memorized and presented before the assemblage of judges, family members and others. A winner would be adjudged in each of the three categories, but I don’t remember whether the competition was carried beyond this point to involve other schools.
The junior and senior classes would each present a class play. Typically this would be a somewhat humorous presentation. I never was in the cast for any of these though I sort of recall witnessing the performances. The performances were held in the school gym — the far end of which was a stage for this purpose (as well for the declamatory contests). At the time I considered these plays as quite significant dramatic productions; in retrospect they appear to be amateurish efforts as they doubtless were.
During our early days in Gowrie, family members virtually never went to the “movies.” My earliest recollections of seeing a movie was in connection with one of the junior/senior banquets that were held each year. These banquets were prepared by the juniors (or more correctly by their mothers) and were held in the room in the basement of the school building that was used as a lunch room at noon for those students who brought their lunches. After the meal at the banquet there might be some sort of program or talk, but as to this my recollection is rather vague.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Freshman Year
For algebra I had Mr. Gerber who was also the school athletic coach. Typically high school teachers had to teach various subjects in which their proficiency was secondary. Mr. Gerber was primarily the coach, secondarily the high school math teacher. I can still see him coming to the classroom carrying the text and looking through the book to find where he had left off the last time and reviewing hastily in his mind what he thought he should cover in the current class period. Perhaps this incident occurred in the geometry class which I had with him as a sophomore.
Farm shop was taught by Mr. Millard, who was also the instructor for our class in general science. Mr. Millard more or less spent his entire teaching career in the Gowrie school. I can recall him coming to the town — this was before I was in high school, and I think he roomed at a home, along with other teachers, not far from the school. In addition to the two classes I had with him as a freshman, I had him for a senior class called “American Problems.”
My final, fourth, class as a freshman was English, and I believe this was taught by a Miss Elizabeth Amlie. She was a somewhat older teacher — maybe 35 years of age or so, and she worked for a time as a reported in the newspaper field. She was an excellent teacher, and had probably retreated to teaching from reporting due to the Depression conditions. Teachers of her caliber did not remain long at Gowrie and early in my sophomore year when she was again my English teacher, she had the offer of a position in the Des Moines school system and the local school board allowed her to break her contract and leave.
It was either during my freshman or sophomore year that I entered an essay contest (I believe it was statewide but I don’t recall who the sponsor was) and I chose the subject of immunization as my topic. It may have been that the topic was specified. I suspect that it was Miss Amlie who steered me into participating. I placed third in the context and my prize was $5, quite a sum for me in those days and for our financial condition. My father cashed the check for me, the cash being in the form of five silver dollars.
I still had them at the time my mother broke her glasses. She broke down and cried and I recall offering them to her to comfort her and help defray her loss. She refused my offer but I think it helped her regain her poise. I had the five silver dollars for some time, but I don’t remember what I used them for. The following year I again entered the same contest but this time my effort achieved no recognition.
Farm shop was taught by Mr. Millard, who was also the instructor for our class in general science. Mr. Millard more or less spent his entire teaching career in the Gowrie school. I can recall him coming to the town — this was before I was in high school, and I think he roomed at a home, along with other teachers, not far from the school. In addition to the two classes I had with him as a freshman, I had him for a senior class called “American Problems.”
My final, fourth, class as a freshman was English, and I believe this was taught by a Miss Elizabeth Amlie. She was a somewhat older teacher — maybe 35 years of age or so, and she worked for a time as a reported in the newspaper field. She was an excellent teacher, and had probably retreated to teaching from reporting due to the Depression conditions. Teachers of her caliber did not remain long at Gowrie and early in my sophomore year when she was again my English teacher, she had the offer of a position in the Des Moines school system and the local school board allowed her to break her contract and leave.
It was either during my freshman or sophomore year that I entered an essay contest (I believe it was statewide but I don’t recall who the sponsor was) and I chose the subject of immunization as my topic. It may have been that the topic was specified. I suspect that it was Miss Amlie who steered me into participating. I placed third in the context and my prize was $5, quite a sum for me in those days and for our financial condition. My father cashed the check for me, the cash being in the form of five silver dollars.
I still had them at the time my mother broke her glasses. She broke down and cried and I recall offering them to her to comfort her and help defray her loss. She refused my offer but I think it helped her regain her poise. I had the five silver dollars for some time, but I don’t remember what I used them for. The following year I again entered the same contest but this time my effort achieved no recognition.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Farm Shop
In farm shop, relative to woodworking we sharpened various tools, such as blades of planes. bits, scrapers, saws. Since then I have sharpened saws on occasion, but nowadays I have a saw-filer do the work.
Other shop instruction was in the tying of various kinds of knots (most of which except for the square and the bowline I’ve completely forgotten) and in the splicing of ropes; in harness repair (here I was amazed to find that the proper repair involved sewing — uncle Carl’s harness repair was typically to use a couple of rivets); and in the repair of small gas engines. Some members of the class even pulled an old car along the outside of the shop and worked on it but I didn’t participate in this. I seem to recall that there was some elementary instruction in drafting but I’m not at all sure as to this.
In connection with the farm shop there was a competition between teams from the smaller high schools sponsored by Iowa State college down at Ames (the school is now Iowa State University). Various subjects were covered in this competition. The year I took farm shop Vernon Telleen, Dale Coffin and I represented our class. The only think I recall about the competition was the part on making concrete. This had not been part of our class instruction but Mr. Millard, our teacher, had given the three of us some oral instructions in case we had to do this in the test.
As it turned out we were asked to make a home plate for a softball diamond, prepared the form and mix and “pour” the concrete. Part of the assessment was making just the right amount of concrete with a minimum of excess. I don’t know if our excess was too much, but overall in the entire competition we were rated “superior” so I don’t suppose we did too badly.
The last time I ever received a “C” grade was in farm shop. I seems that during one six-week period I idled away too much time.
Other shop instruction was in the tying of various kinds of knots (most of which except for the square and the bowline I’ve completely forgotten) and in the splicing of ropes; in harness repair (here I was amazed to find that the proper repair involved sewing — uncle Carl’s harness repair was typically to use a couple of rivets); and in the repair of small gas engines. Some members of the class even pulled an old car along the outside of the shop and worked on it but I didn’t participate in this. I seem to recall that there was some elementary instruction in drafting but I’m not at all sure as to this.
In connection with the farm shop there was a competition between teams from the smaller high schools sponsored by Iowa State college down at Ames (the school is now Iowa State University). Various subjects were covered in this competition. The year I took farm shop Vernon Telleen, Dale Coffin and I represented our class. The only think I recall about the competition was the part on making concrete. This had not been part of our class instruction but Mr. Millard, our teacher, had given the three of us some oral instructions in case we had to do this in the test.
As it turned out we were asked to make a home plate for a softball diamond, prepared the form and mix and “pour” the concrete. Part of the assessment was making just the right amount of concrete with a minimum of excess. I don’t know if our excess was too much, but overall in the entire competition we were rated “superior” so I don’t suppose we did too badly.
The last time I ever received a “C” grade was in farm shop. I seems that during one six-week period I idled away too much time.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Woodworking Projects
As a freshman I took farm shop, algebra, English and general science. Farm shop was the first class of the day (home ec for the girls) and the class period was for one-and-a-half hours, as compared to one hour for my other classes, perhaps because there was never any outside studying to do. The name “farm shop” was sort of misnomer as the things we did and learned to do related only in part to farm activities. Now that I think of it I was exposed to shop instruction in the elementary grades.
The superintendent, Mr. Leistra, in addition to a few calisthenic activities, also gave the boys a few beginning lessons in woodworking. I can still picture him, a thin intent figure, with a gray sweatshirt instead of his normal suit coat, planing away on the flat surface of his sample piece of wood. Do one face first, then an edge, then an end, and repeat in reverse, ending up with the second face.
Woodworking was a significant part of farm shop in the ninth grade and I still have several of the items I made there. One item I made was a toolbox — my father gave me various woodworking tools (he got them through the Johnson lumber yard where he was the part-time bookkeeper), and I made a box to hold them.
Toolbox
Once when I was back in Gowrie, either on vacation or on a stopover on a Shell trip, my mother must have mentioned that it was up in the hayloft of the barn back of the little brown house along with the remnants of the toy farm machinery that I had made while we were living on the Peterson farm. I found it and the toy remnants and sent them to California by railway express, I wonder if it wasn’t after my father died that it happened. He it was who gathered up the toy remnants when my parents left the farm after the war was over. Now it no longer has my tools in it, rather my stock of nails, screws etc.
Wooden toys
My present toolbox I began while I was rooming at the Wilsons’ on 411 Bonnie Drive while I was still unmarried. I bought the tools I now have off and on, most were purchased before my marriage, at least the large tools.
I guess this liking for tools and woodworking developed from my farm shop experience. On the farm there was a small room at the northeast corner of the house, just off the back hall. Here it was that I kept my toolbox and tools, and where I often worked making the toy tractors, other implements and the buildings for our model farms. In the room was a large cabinet that I seem to recall my parents having purchased when the old church building and its accoutrements were disposed of when the new church was built. It housed my toolbox with my tools.
Several years ago, Vincent gave me a small book shelf or bookends (the whole thing was in one piece) which he had saved from when my mother’s furniture was disposed of after she had died. It had been with them until they cleaned out their belongings after they sold the farm acreage they owned. Or maybe Vincent did not send it but rather gave it to me and I packed it up and mailed it to Oregon.
Bookends
Since then I have refinished it, correcting some of the inadequacies of my youthful efforts and repairing a place where it had been broken and glued back together again unevenly. I’d made the bookends of oak, which was the wood ai also used for a table I made — the last time I saw it it was standing in the boys’ room on the farm near the east window. What happened to it I have no idea.
While we were on the farm I found in the loft of the old granary the old sewing machine that my grandmother had had in the early days on the farm. The wooden parts were black walnut. There was a sort of cover that was placed over the machine when it wasn’t being used and I used this to make a sewing box for my grandmother. This was one of my farm shop woodworking projects. Later after my grandmother died, my mother had it, I think she used it to store photos in etc. I reacquired it when she too died. I refinished it, put on some better hinges and I use it for storing various odds and ends. It sits on my dresser in our bedroom.
Wooden box
The superintendent, Mr. Leistra, in addition to a few calisthenic activities, also gave the boys a few beginning lessons in woodworking. I can still picture him, a thin intent figure, with a gray sweatshirt instead of his normal suit coat, planing away on the flat surface of his sample piece of wood. Do one face first, then an edge, then an end, and repeat in reverse, ending up with the second face.
Woodworking was a significant part of farm shop in the ninth grade and I still have several of the items I made there. One item I made was a toolbox — my father gave me various woodworking tools (he got them through the Johnson lumber yard where he was the part-time bookkeeper), and I made a box to hold them.
Toolbox
Once when I was back in Gowrie, either on vacation or on a stopover on a Shell trip, my mother must have mentioned that it was up in the hayloft of the barn back of the little brown house along with the remnants of the toy farm machinery that I had made while we were living on the Peterson farm. I found it and the toy remnants and sent them to California by railway express, I wonder if it wasn’t after my father died that it happened. He it was who gathered up the toy remnants when my parents left the farm after the war was over. Now it no longer has my tools in it, rather my stock of nails, screws etc.
Wooden toys
My present toolbox I began while I was rooming at the Wilsons’ on 411 Bonnie Drive while I was still unmarried. I bought the tools I now have off and on, most were purchased before my marriage, at least the large tools.
I guess this liking for tools and woodworking developed from my farm shop experience. On the farm there was a small room at the northeast corner of the house, just off the back hall. Here it was that I kept my toolbox and tools, and where I often worked making the toy tractors, other implements and the buildings for our model farms. In the room was a large cabinet that I seem to recall my parents having purchased when the old church building and its accoutrements were disposed of when the new church was built. It housed my toolbox with my tools.
Several years ago, Vincent gave me a small book shelf or bookends (the whole thing was in one piece) which he had saved from when my mother’s furniture was disposed of after she had died. It had been with them until they cleaned out their belongings after they sold the farm acreage they owned. Or maybe Vincent did not send it but rather gave it to me and I packed it up and mailed it to Oregon.
Bookends
Since then I have refinished it, correcting some of the inadequacies of my youthful efforts and repairing a place where it had been broken and glued back together again unevenly. I’d made the bookends of oak, which was the wood ai also used for a table I made — the last time I saw it it was standing in the boys’ room on the farm near the east window. What happened to it I have no idea.
While we were on the farm I found in the loft of the old granary the old sewing machine that my grandmother had had in the early days on the farm. The wooden parts were black walnut. There was a sort of cover that was placed over the machine when it wasn’t being used and I used this to make a sewing box for my grandmother. This was one of my farm shop woodworking projects. Later after my grandmother died, my mother had it, I think she used it to store photos in etc. I reacquired it when she too died. I refinished it, put on some better hinges and I use it for storing various odds and ends. It sits on my dresser in our bedroom.
Wooden box
Monday, February 13, 2012
High School Classes
The school day was divided into six one-hour periods, three in the morning, and three in the afternoon with an hour off for lunch. The morning schedule was for two hours of classroom attendance with one hour as a study period (either the second or the third hour).
In the afternoon the first two hours were for classes and the last period of the day was either a study hour or wholly or partly some general meeting of all the high school students in the assembly hall. This might be a pep rally for a basketball game in the evening, a performance by the high school glee clubs, or am information talk by the principal or the superintendent.
Students took four subjects normally and this led to enough credits for graduation. For a couple of the years I was in high school I was permitted to take five subjects. In this way I was able to take all the classes offered in the Gowrie high school (except for agriculture which was designed for boys intending to be farmers or home economics which was virtually dominated by the girls).
Thinking back I believe that I would have been interested in the ag classes, but attending them would have conflicted with the other offerings which interested me more at the time. I believe that I would have been happy as a farmer, but for whatever reasons I didn’t consider it at the time.
As a matter of fact my ending up as an engineer was largely a matter of drift and happenstance. There were few discussions related to vocational possibilities except in one of the senior classes and it was there that the subject of engineering came up. For some reason I had become intrigued with the subject of chemistry, though the study was not included in the Gowrie list of subjects.
In some way I obtained a sample chemistry text (also a second physics text beyond the edition actually used) from the superintendent. I guess I read enough in these to steer me in the direction of engineering when I went to junior college.
The third vocation in which I would have been happy and done well was accounting I took a class in bookkeeping in high school and I liked it. But I did not even consider this when I was in high school — certainly my life would have been different had I gone in that direction. Actually the example was just before my eyes in the work that my father did. And I had assisted him in some of the work he did at the Johnson lumber company.
I was acquainted with two students at junior college who went to Iowa at the same time I did who took courses in the College of Commerce, which I suppose involved accounting as a major part. I seem to recall that there was one boy who took home ec for some reason. His name was Marvin Sells and I believe he was either an orphan or otherwise sort of “one his own.” Perhaps it was that he needed to fend for himself that he wanted instruction in cooking. Though physically well formed his face was marked by a very large birthmark which perhaps stamped him indelibly in my memory.
In the afternoon the first two hours were for classes and the last period of the day was either a study hour or wholly or partly some general meeting of all the high school students in the assembly hall. This might be a pep rally for a basketball game in the evening, a performance by the high school glee clubs, or am information talk by the principal or the superintendent.
Students took four subjects normally and this led to enough credits for graduation. For a couple of the years I was in high school I was permitted to take five subjects. In this way I was able to take all the classes offered in the Gowrie high school (except for agriculture which was designed for boys intending to be farmers or home economics which was virtually dominated by the girls).
Thinking back I believe that I would have been interested in the ag classes, but attending them would have conflicted with the other offerings which interested me more at the time. I believe that I would have been happy as a farmer, but for whatever reasons I didn’t consider it at the time.
As a matter of fact my ending up as an engineer was largely a matter of drift and happenstance. There were few discussions related to vocational possibilities except in one of the senior classes and it was there that the subject of engineering came up. For some reason I had become intrigued with the subject of chemistry, though the study was not included in the Gowrie list of subjects.
In some way I obtained a sample chemistry text (also a second physics text beyond the edition actually used) from the superintendent. I guess I read enough in these to steer me in the direction of engineering when I went to junior college.
The third vocation in which I would have been happy and done well was accounting I took a class in bookkeeping in high school and I liked it. But I did not even consider this when I was in high school — certainly my life would have been different had I gone in that direction. Actually the example was just before my eyes in the work that my father did. And I had assisted him in some of the work he did at the Johnson lumber company.
I was acquainted with two students at junior college who went to Iowa at the same time I did who took courses in the College of Commerce, which I suppose involved accounting as a major part. I seem to recall that there was one boy who took home ec for some reason. His name was Marvin Sells and I believe he was either an orphan or otherwise sort of “one his own.” Perhaps it was that he needed to fend for himself that he wanted instruction in cooking. Though physically well formed his face was marked by a very large birthmark which perhaps stamped him indelibly in my memory.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
The Layout of the High School
The high school section of the school building was on the second floor. In the center of the floor was the assembly hall. At the front (south) end there was a slightly raised area fitted with a desk at which would sit the teacher who happened to be in charge of the hall at any given time. I am fairly sure that there was some teacher, or the principal, in attendance throughout the school hours.
At the rear of the hall there were some study tables and shelves on which various reference books were kept. These include encyclopedias. In between were the desks for the students, arranged in long rows parallel to the long (north/south) axis of the room. Freshmen were assigned seats closest to the inside wall of the room, senior being near the window side of the room (the windows extended all along that side of the hall). Opening off of the inside wall was a door leading to the library. I really have little recollection of what books and periodicals (if any) that were in the library. I seem to remember that it was open only at certain times during the school day.
On either end of the assembly hall were doors leading to short halls from which there was access to the stairs to the floor, the rest rooms (boys’ at the south end, girls’ at the north end, same as on the first floor and the basement), classrooms and cloakrooms. The cloakrooms also had doors directly to the assembly hall. One cloakroom was for the boys (the south one), the other for the girls.
Off the south hall were two classrooms, one of which I remember as being used for English and Latin classes, and maybe also for some literature classes, the other for physics, general science, and I believe the agricultural classes. There were also two offices, one the principal’s office, opening off the end of the hall and the office for the “ag” teacher, opening off the rear of the physics classroom. I was never in the agriculture classes — they may have actually met in the “ag” teacher’s office.
At the north end of the assembly hall there were three classrooms, one a general purpose room, one for typing and the third for home economics. I believe the home ec teacher had an office off of this room.
At the rear of the hall there were some study tables and shelves on which various reference books were kept. These include encyclopedias. In between were the desks for the students, arranged in long rows parallel to the long (north/south) axis of the room. Freshmen were assigned seats closest to the inside wall of the room, senior being near the window side of the room (the windows extended all along that side of the hall). Opening off of the inside wall was a door leading to the library. I really have little recollection of what books and periodicals (if any) that were in the library. I seem to remember that it was open only at certain times during the school day.
On either end of the assembly hall were doors leading to short halls from which there was access to the stairs to the floor, the rest rooms (boys’ at the south end, girls’ at the north end, same as on the first floor and the basement), classrooms and cloakrooms. The cloakrooms also had doors directly to the assembly hall. One cloakroom was for the boys (the south one), the other for the girls.
Off the south hall were two classrooms, one of which I remember as being used for English and Latin classes, and maybe also for some literature classes, the other for physics, general science, and I believe the agricultural classes. There were also two offices, one the principal’s office, opening off the end of the hall and the office for the “ag” teacher, opening off the rear of the physics classroom. I was never in the agriculture classes — they may have actually met in the “ag” teacher’s office.
At the north end of the assembly hall there were three classrooms, one a general purpose room, one for typing and the third for home economics. I believe the home ec teacher had an office off of this room.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Mr . Sigurdson, the Janitor
While I am on some of the ancillary aspects of the Gowrie school, I must mention the janitor. Mr. Gunnar Sigurdson filled the post and he and his family lived in a house on the school grounds, actually right adjacent to the school building. The house was of distinctly older vintage than the school building and I suppose it was on the site when the school was built and was perhaps retained intact with the object in mind of having it for the janitor’s use.
I suppose having someone on the premises was a safety measure in protecting the school buildings from possible vandalism, although such activities in the community were rare at the time. About the only time vandalism would occur was at Halloween. Then there would be a spate of upended outhouses.
Mr. Sigurdson was I think a Scandinavian immigrant, probably Swedish although I am not sure of that. The Sigurdson family did belong to the Lutheran church which had few if any Scandinavians other than Swedish as members.
There were two sons in the family, Morris and Arthur. Maintaining the school building was quite a task for just one janitor, and Mr. Sigurdson used Morris and Arthur (both somewhat younger than I) to do some of the janitor work. On occasion he also employed other help and I think Mrs. Sigurdson was pressed into duty sometimes.
Mr. Sigurdson was the groundskeeper as well, though that involved little more than mowing the lawn in front of the school building periodically and perhaps in the winter shoveling snow from the walks when it snowed.
Sweeping the floors and the halls was one of the more apparent janitorial activities and I can still see Mr. Sigurdson scatting the sweeping compound around and than sweeping after it. Usually this took place right after school let out, at least in the classrooms themselves.
Summertime activities included painting and varnishing and repair of the schoolroom desks. In the winter keeping the furnace going was quite a chore — originally the furnace was fired with coal and I don’t think there was a mechanical stoker. So Mr. Sigurdson had to “bank” the coal in the firebox overnight and even so had to get up during the night to replenish the fuel.
The furnace room was on the west end of the building beyond the gymnasium. I recall a large door near the furnace where the coal was delivered. Natural gas came to Gowrie about 1930 and I suppose the building was soon after converted to gas heat which would certainly have been a boon to Mr. Sigurdson. I can remember how I watched with interest when the gas pipes were being laid around town. Service was extended to the little brown house and my mother had a two- or three-burner gas plate installed. But she continued to use the old range, fired either with cobs or coal as the principal cooking stove.
After the new Lutheran church was constructed, Mr. Sigurdson and his family also took over the janitorial duties there for awhile. Later old Charlie Youngquist was the janitor at the church. My most vivid memory of Charlie was when he was fulfilling one of his custodial duties. Several minutes prior to the start of the Sunday morning service he would come in from the minister’s study and light the two candles on the altar. He would open the door to the study, walk over to the altar, take a match from his pocket, light the math either by scraping it on the sole of one of his shoes (or perhaps drawing it rapidly over his pants leg) and then light the candles. His procedure, earthy and mundane in character, was visually at odds with the elegance of the altar area and symbolically at odds with the reverence that this part of the church was regularly accorded. It was a far cry from the candle lighting by an acolyte that has developed over the years since.
I suppose having someone on the premises was a safety measure in protecting the school buildings from possible vandalism, although such activities in the community were rare at the time. About the only time vandalism would occur was at Halloween. Then there would be a spate of upended outhouses.
Mr. Sigurdson was I think a Scandinavian immigrant, probably Swedish although I am not sure of that. The Sigurdson family did belong to the Lutheran church which had few if any Scandinavians other than Swedish as members.
There were two sons in the family, Morris and Arthur. Maintaining the school building was quite a task for just one janitor, and Mr. Sigurdson used Morris and Arthur (both somewhat younger than I) to do some of the janitor work. On occasion he also employed other help and I think Mrs. Sigurdson was pressed into duty sometimes.
Mr. Sigurdson was the groundskeeper as well, though that involved little more than mowing the lawn in front of the school building periodically and perhaps in the winter shoveling snow from the walks when it snowed.
Sweeping the floors and the halls was one of the more apparent janitorial activities and I can still see Mr. Sigurdson scatting the sweeping compound around and than sweeping after it. Usually this took place right after school let out, at least in the classrooms themselves.
Summertime activities included painting and varnishing and repair of the schoolroom desks. In the winter keeping the furnace going was quite a chore — originally the furnace was fired with coal and I don’t think there was a mechanical stoker. So Mr. Sigurdson had to “bank” the coal in the firebox overnight and even so had to get up during the night to replenish the fuel.
The furnace room was on the west end of the building beyond the gymnasium. I recall a large door near the furnace where the coal was delivered. Natural gas came to Gowrie about 1930 and I suppose the building was soon after converted to gas heat which would certainly have been a boon to Mr. Sigurdson. I can remember how I watched with interest when the gas pipes were being laid around town. Service was extended to the little brown house and my mother had a two- or three-burner gas plate installed. But she continued to use the old range, fired either with cobs or coal as the principal cooking stove.
After the new Lutheran church was constructed, Mr. Sigurdson and his family also took over the janitorial duties there for awhile. Later old Charlie Youngquist was the janitor at the church. My most vivid memory of Charlie was when he was fulfilling one of his custodial duties. Several minutes prior to the start of the Sunday morning service he would come in from the minister’s study and light the two candles on the altar. He would open the door to the study, walk over to the altar, take a match from his pocket, light the math either by scraping it on the sole of one of his shoes (or perhaps drawing it rapidly over his pants leg) and then light the candles. His procedure, earthy and mundane in character, was visually at odds with the elegance of the altar area and symbolically at odds with the reverence that this part of the church was regularly accorded. It was a far cry from the candle lighting by an acolyte that has developed over the years since.
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