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In the mid-1940s, my parents decided to move to a farm south of Benson, Minnesota. This was a big move in my mind because I had lots of friends, the tumbling team and I was in second grade thinking I was a lot older. So when they announced we would be moving – in the middle of the school year – and that we would be moving to a farm and I would be going to a one-room country school… .
I didn’t object to the country school, I just didn’t want to move!
I started to be extremely difficult about the move but my parents were very wise. They arranged for me to live with my tumbling coach. When I learned the news, I thought thank heavens! I’d won that battle. I guess I lasted a week; likely, it was only three or four days before I became lonesome for Mother and Dad and my sisters and brother. My “I’ll show you” strategy backfired and my parents came back to Clara City to get me.
By third grade, I adapted to the one-room country school in District 45, Cashel Township. My sister Donna attended with me; my sister, Sandy, would start the following year. I think there were probably nine or ten children in the school, which offered grades one through eight. Some grades had one or two students, other grades had none. In my grade, there was only one other girl. My sister had two others in her grade.
School was a half-mile down a tiny gravel road that looked somewhat like a driveway running between two farms – the one we rented and a farm operated by the Antolick family.
Oftentimes, we walked to school but after awhile my dad got a big horse that we named Midnight. It was a huge, black workhorse, although Dad didn’t use it for farming. So we would jump on Midnight and ride her to school. We didn’t need to tie her while we were in class; she just grazed in the little yard by the school and then we would ride her home at night.
My first teacher at the one-room school was Mary Ann Goggins. She was nineteen and very pretty; it was her first year teaching. (At the time, teachers didn’t need a college degree.) Miss Goggins would welcome us in for the day, then call recess and out we’d go outside to play. We would be outside for hours and never realized at the time that we weren’t being taught much of anything. I think we were on recess for about five hours and maybe in school for two hours. During our recess, Ms. Goggins always laid her head down on her desk and slept. She was always tired.
We never told our parents, but eventually enough parents passed by the school yard often enough to realize we were not in school very much. Something was awry! After checking into Mary Ann Goggins it was discovered she was having a very good time during her evenings and never getting the rest she needed.
Well, she was let go and Mrs. Clara Walla, who was just the opposite, became our teacher. Mrs. Walla had taught for many years; she was a grey-haired lady, and strict; we learned and learned because she taught well. She was just a wonderful teacher. |
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