Fourth Grade

Fourth grade was taught by Juanita Johnson — medium height, medium build, dark and sort of curly hair, a pleasant face. Here I don’t recall at all where I sat but the pupils did face north, as in third grade, with the windows on the pupils’ left.

About the only incident I remember from this grade was the time the class was competing at the blackboard to see who could do arithmetic problems fastest. At one point I was paired with a Bill Jones and I was pressed to outdo him but as I recall I did. Bill was the eldest son of a rather shiftless farmer and my main recollection was that he apparently didn’t have a bath very often since he carried with him a distinct aroma.

He was in my class all the way through school and we graduated together. He was one of the give (out of a class of 28) who didn’t show up for our 50th class reunion and I believed he had died. I think he was in the trucking business, a small-time operator like several others in the community who hauled grain, coal etc. For awhile he resided on the outskirts of Fort Dodge in the vicinity of where Vivian and Gene owned the little blue house near the Des Moines River south of the city.

Third Grade

Third grade was directly across the hall from second grade and Josephine Geddes was the teacher. My vague recollection is of a rather plump lady, at least around her central torso. Miss Geddes’ desk was at the north end of the room and of course behind it was the blackboard. My seat as I recall was near the back in the row closest to the hall.

Again I have one recollection that sticks in my mind. Occasionally the class would have a period of instruction in art and the incident I remember was one where the pupils were provided with an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of blue construction paper and the project was to depict a snowstorm, using a piece of chalk. I, along with most of my classmates attached the assignment with vigor, jabbing the chalk to make little white spots on the blue paper. Two boys however, the Stillman twins, were more imaginative and proceeded to carefully make large, fluffy snowflakes. Miss Geddes noticed this and called the pictures the twins had produced to the attention of the class, with the implication that she considered them more thoughtfully considered than those the rest of the class had produced. I felt somewhat chagrined.

Second Grade

Second grade was at the opposite end of the hall from first grade but on the same side of the central hall running through the building. The teacher was Mrs. Wood, but beyond having a vague recollection of sort of a matronly woman I retain no picture of her.

The classroom was arranged so that the teacher had her desk at the far side of the room from the entrance from the hall. Thus it was just opposite from orientation in first grade. The desk I used, at least as I remember was one or two rows from the windows (on the north side of the room) and about midway from front to back. Behind me sat “Bud” Patton, oldest son of the publisher of the local newspaper (I guess he was publisher, his father, Bud’s grandfather, was the owner but whether he was still active in the operation of the paper I don’t know).

Somewhere along the line through the elementary grades Bud was kept back a year, so he thereafter was a year behind me. Retention of a pupil in a grade for a second year was not uncommon in the Gowrie school, a reflection I suppose of My. Leistra’s emphasis on scholastic performance.

In my classes through high school were the oldest three of the Victor Telleen children — Vernon the oldest, June next younger and Ruth, my age. Vernon had been kept back twice and June once. As I recall Vernon’s problem may have been that his eyesight was deficient and the condition was not realized. But this holding back of children was seemingly not objected to, at least publicly and no one felt that any particular stigma was attached to being retained.

Bud was a likable, tomboy type of individual, who in his high school days was one of the mainstays of the school basketball team. He did not go to college, married a girl from my confirmation class (the Pattons were Methodist and the union was a bit unusual since marriages outside the particular church membership were the exception at the time I was growing up in Gowrie), was drafted and was killed in Europe in WWII.

Lorraine Carlson, his wife was pregnant at the time of his death [so] Bud never saw his one offspring. Sort of sad.

One incident stands out in my memory of second grade. Each year the school building hosted what was generally called the “Corn Show.” The downstairs of the building, such as in the shop and home economics rooms, and some other rooms were used for display of farm produce items, such as ears of corn, sheafs of oats or hay, actual chickens, various homemaker items such as baked and canned goods, sewn items and the like. Prizes were awarded to the farmer individual who, for example, had the best ears of corn (in those days, one of the open-pollinated varieties such as Reid’s Yellow-Dent — it was well before the time of hybrid corn).

My mother at one time won a prize for a winter coat she had made for me from a discarded coat belonging to one of ny aunts (I suppose Aunt Ruth or Aunt Esther). Somewhere in the old photographs I seem to have acquired over the years there is a picture of me wearing this coat.

Sometimes there were other exhibits such as a rather large Erector set construction. This latter happened to be included in the corn show when I was in second grade.

Elementary pupils were conducted on tours through the corn show displays, but they were instructed not to visit the displays independently, such as during the noon hour. When the second grade was conducted past the Erector set construction I was fascinated. One of the desired I had as a child was one of the larger Erector sets (which would permit devising something of the order of the corn show display) but all my parents felt they could give me was one of the smaller sets.

Anyway one of my second grade classmates, Dale Hauser, dared me into going with him to view the Erector set display during the noon hour and our presence was noted by one of the teachers monitoring the event. So Mrs. Wood told Dale and me to remain after the class was dismissed for the day and reprimanded us. It was the only time during my school days when I received this treatment, which is perhaps why I recall it. I daresay Dale was not similarly impressed by Mrs. Wood’s rebuke. I don’t think there was any further punishment beyond the chastising in words.

I don’t know how long the corn show continued, but eventually it stopped. It and the Webster County fair were victims of the increased mobility people had with increased use of automobiles. The state fair replaced them but I have the impression that even these are of declining interest nowadays, certainly so in Oregon but perhaps not in Iowa.

Recess

As I have already mentioned the grades 1–6 had a 15-minutes recess mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Grades 1–3 had their recess together, followed by the higher grades. When the class left for recess there was the practice, instructed or implied, for the pupils to visit the restroom. At the end of the recess everyone lined up (in two rows) for a drink of water at the two fountains just outside the restrooms. There was always a teacher assigned to supervision of the recess, as well as during the noon hour for those students who brought their lunch.

Whether we were restricted as to where we played, to the area south of the school where the swings and merry-go-round [were] I don’t recall. We were however definitely told to stay off the lawn areas in front of the school building.

The playground, directly south of the school building had as equipment some swings and a merry-go-round. The area was not sown to grass, it was covered with sand or gravel that had compacted with use to a rather hard surface. There were six swings — initially the supporting members were straight round iron bars terminating in a heavy board seat. The bars had typically become slightly bent at the top where they were attached to the supporting structure. This had resulted from the older students swinging so high that the pivot at the top of the bars passed the level of free turning. Later on the bars were replaced by sort of chain link supports.

The playground was also the scene of softball games with sides chosen up under the teachers’ direction. As I was sometimes left over after the teams were chosen I was delegated to be the umpire, calling balls and strikes. A less felicitous choice could hardly have been made and my calls were frequently disputed (though accepted). The calling outs on base runners was not a matter that was officiated — usually the outcome was tacitly agreed on.

The playground was also the place where boys played marbles in spring and fall. Marble were also played on the fringes of the city park on the way to and from school.

In winter recess play was in the gymnasium. I have no recollection as to what the play consisted of, perhaps there was a certain amount of playing at basketball for the boys.

Whether the boys started playing marbles and the girls jacks in first grade I don’t remember. I’m sure though the games were being played by second grade.

Academic Performance and Reading

Well, so much for the athletic side of the Gowrie school and back to my experiences in the classroom.

I’ve summarized what I did scholastically in all the grades, and if one conclusion can be drawn it is that I tended to start in a mediocre way and steadily progress. This was certainly the case in the first few grades when I would do better as the school year wore on. It was also true of the entire twelve years.

Through my freshman year in high school I tended to be a good student, after the first few grades, but it wasn’t until my sophomore year that I started to consistently have “A” grades (except for an occasional B). This level of achievement pretty much lasted through my college years though there was a dip in my first semester at SUI. However during this time I had more “B” grades that in high school and of the five terms I was at Iowa, there were only two that were straight A.

Although I did well in college I always had the feeling that I was not really a top-notch student. I was capable and excelled over my classmates in general but I lacked the final edge of capability that marked a really good performer.

In addition to the summary of my standing in my classes at Gowrie and the mention of the teachers I had, there are recollections I have from my school days in grades 1–12 that occur to me.

Miss Rice whom I had in first grade was a sort of willowy person, actually with a kind of vague similarity to my aunt Ruth. The desks faced the blackboard which was on the wall facing the hall. Miss Rice’s desk was in the middle of the front of the room facing the rows of students. At least part of the time my desk was on the right (facing the teacher) probably midway in the last row. In the back of the room there was a model of a castle which we were instructed not to touch. It had a moat around it with a little drawbridge. I had the vague feeling that some high school students had made, for a reason that was not disclosed.

Students in the class, as far as reading was concerned, were divided into two sections based in their performance. I was in the red birds, the better group; the other group was called the blue birds.

I have the vague feeling that in first grade (at least) the school day may have started with the teacher reading a selection from a book to the assembled pupils. Possibly the selection could even have been from the Bible. I have always had the feeling that there wasn’t, in my childhood experience in Gowrie in school and elsewhere, the emphasis on keeping all religious elements out of the school operation that now appears to be the case. Of course the people of Gowrie were a rather homogeneous group and of similar backgrounds and upbringing so that conflict was less likely to arise.

High School Basketball

I did not participate in any of the school athletics in high school, which consisted mainly of basketball. The coach preceding Archie Gerber had mounted a track program, but that rapidly disintegrated under Gerber. And other sports such as football were not included at all. There were a couple of tennis courts out behind the school, near the garages for the school buses, but they were either not used at all or very seldom. Softball as a sport was limited to the elementary or junior high level.

The high school basketball team played the small adjacent towns primarily, typically on Friday evenings. On occasion I would attend such games, perhaps in company with some of my siblings. My father, as a member of the school board had a pass to the games which he seldom if ever used. At the time I considered it a misfortune that the pass was not transferable.

I can recall being rather caught up emotionally in the games, as were the other students. And often the townspeople, merchants and the like were even more involved and the coach was under considerable pressure to field a winning team. At the penultimate event of the season there would be a tournament of the smaller high schools in the county which (I think) would be invariably held at the Gowrie school because it had the largest gymnasium and seating capacity.

Because of its size Gowrie was more often than not the victor, although a town Lehigh on the Des Moines River and having a populace somewhat steeped in violence prevailed on occasion. I remember attending one of these county tournaments when I was in elementary school — my aunt Laurine provided Clarice and me with tickets to the games (costing as I seem to remember about a dollar). Both Clarice and I were eager to attend. The largest school in the county, Fort Dodge, was not included in the tournament as it was beyond the others by a considerable margin in size, so that its inclusion was inappropriate.

The final events in the basketball season were the sectional, district and state tournaments. Gowrie I think may have won a couple of sectional tournaments but they never passed the district level to participate in the state tournament. These statewide tournaments were I believe arranged in several levels of school size, so that even here Gowrie would not compete with the larger schools. Perhaps at the end there was a playoff between the different classes as the affair seemed to produce a so-called state champion. I wonder now if the smaller earlier county tournament was discontinued during my later school years in junior and senior high. I don’t remember attending or even hearing of them in this period.

After Gerber arrived as coach I believe girls’ basketball was introduced and I can remember seeing a few games in the school gymnasium. Actually I think the Gowrie girls’ team was more successful than the boys’, measured by how they progressed in the statewide tournament.

Grades and Teachers

Summarized on the two pages which follow is the record of the teachers I had from Grade 1 through high school along with a recap of my learning performances. The latter is based on the report cards I received which somehow or other I still have. How I managed to keep these I have no recollection. I can certainly recall having them through the years in school in Gowrie, but how they were preserved when I left home to go to school at Iowa City or to work for Shell or how I again got them into my possession is a mystery. I’m certain there was a period after I left for California that they just laid in a drawer somewhere in the Peterson farmhouse. Somehow or other I must have retrieved them.

I have mentioned that P. A. Leistra was responsible for the scholastic standard in the Gowrie school and the quality of the teachers. But the quality of the teachers did nonetheless vary somewhat. The two teachers that impressed me most were a Margaret Nagel who was one of the two teachers I had in eighth grade and a Miss Amlie in ninth grade. Miss Nagel was a woman of rangy physical build and a very no-nonsense instructor. Miss Amlie who taught English for me in ninth grade (and for a short while at the start of my tenth[-grade] year) was an ex-reporter. Both of these teachers were in Gowrie only for a year (actually Miss Amlie started a second year but she received an offer of a better teaching position and was released from her contract).

What happened of course was that though Leistra tried to secure the best teachers he was competing with larger schools and the advantages they could offer in pay and position.

Perhaps the poorest instructor I had was Archie Gerber in highs school. He was the teacher in all the math classes I took (algebra, geometry, third semester algebra, business arithmetic) as well as physics. I can recall him coming into geometry class and opening the text as if just then was he considering how to conduct the class. He had been hired primarily for his qualities as a coach, but because of the size of the school he had to perforce teach several other classes.

Mrs. Knapp whom I had in eighth grade and later for history in high school was a very earnest individual, but she was not up to the standard of Miss Nagel. I liked Edith Irene Anderson, who succeeded Miss Amlie as English teacher in high school. I also had her for Latin. She was a plump person with a happy disposition and enthusiastic about her teaching even though she wasn;t perhaps the most competent.

In reviewing what I indicated in the summary of my performance of the teachers I had I find that I must have been mistaken in the English instructor in the freshman and perhaps the sophomore year. I’m sure that at some time I had Vera Morris for Literature (either or both, American and English). As in the case of Mr. Gerber’s hiring she had been hired primarily as the home ec teacher and girls’ basketball coac and she had to fill in as literature teacher. She was really an uninspired teacher and worse than Mr. Gerber if that is possible.

In junior high there were occasional classes for the boys in manual training and physical training. These were taught by Mr. Leistra himself. I have rather vivid memories of him telling the class how to “square up the board” — by trimming up one face, then a side then one end and reversing the sequence to complete the process. And I can see him demonstrating the use of a plane in doing it. My memory of physical training was of him in front of the class leading us in calisthenics. For this he had replaced his usual suit coast with a gray sweatshirt. These sessions took place in the gymnasium.

In the fall and spring months there was softball in the two diamonds back of the school and I believe he was the instructor here also. These involved choosing up teams, and characteristically I was always one of the last to be chosen — an entirely valid assessment of my athletic ability. I was invariably placed in right field where there was the least likelihood of a hit coming in my direction. There were periodic games with junior high teams from neighboring schools and in these the team members had to be of satisfactory academic standing. This sometimes meant that the better players, who also tended to be those having scholastic difficulties or lack of performance were unavailable to play on the team and I was perforce recruited to be on the team.

I can sort of recall some of these games but one in particular is etched in my memory. We were playing the neighboring team of Farnhamville (I think) and I had been assigned right field. Whether by design or accident a looping fly ball was hit in my direction and I ran in the direction of where the ball would land and somehow managed to catch the ball. The ball diamond was adjacent to the track field and I recall wondering as I ran to the ball if I was going to run into a cement post that was used as some sort of a market. Who was more surprised at my feat — me, or the assembled teams and spectators — I’m not sure.

Anyway, in anticipating of my not catching the ball the runners had advanced and had them to scramble back to the bases they had left. Whether the runners were thrown out I don’t recall but I do remember being called on the throw the ball in quickly. My feat was notable enough so that it was mentioned in an account of the game in the Gowrie News. It was my one moment of glory athletically.