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.