BILL NIX

PEGGY GAMBILL BRIDGES

Peggy Ann Gambill Baker Bridges, born March, 15, 1932, died Feb. 6, 2010.

Peggy was born in the Jenny Lind community to Lena Marie Gambill and Hershel Gambill. She spent her childhood in Fort Smith and lived her adult life in Dallas. Upon retirement, she returned to Fort Smith before moving to Longview in 2005 to be near her daughter. She was a member of Fellowship Baptist Church in Longview.

Peggy was a supervisor for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. at the time of her retirement in 1983. She enjoyed many hobbies, one of which was painting. She was an active member of the Crawford County Art Museum of Van Buren for many years.

Peggy is survived by a brother, Bobby Joe Gambill of Arkoma; a daughter, Debbie Silverthorne and son-in-law Darrell of Longview; a son, Randy Baker and daughter-in-law Barbara of Espanola, N.M.; seven grandchildren, Bryan Silverthorne, Angela Bussey, Renee’ Robertson, Melissa Baker, Allison Baker, Tristan Baker and Trevor Baker; and three great-grandchildren, Aubrey and Pete Silverthorne, and Reid Robertson.

She was preceded in death by first husband, Donald Dan Baker; father Hershel Gambill; second husband, Bob E. Bridges; and her mother, Lena Marie Gambill.

Knowing her love of children, she would have been honored to have memorials be made to the New Mexico Boys & Girls Ranch, P.O. Box 9, Belen, NM 87002-9901, or to Alpine Christian Academy, 610 E. Loop 281, Longview, TX 75605.

STANFORD THOMPSON

William Stanford Thompson, 77, died November 12, 2009. Stanford was born in Fort Smith on February 18, 1932. He served in the U. S. Army during the Korean conflict, worked in the family business of Thompson-Blackwell Realty, and subsequently made a career in the field of law enforcement, retiring in 1996 after serving 27 years with the Nueces County Sheriff's office, when he moved to Leakey, Texas. He is survived by his wife, Melissa, and his son Jerry of Corpus Christi, Texas, predeceased by his daughter, Melissa Suzann Thompson Wheeler. He has one granddaughter (Tanya Horton) and three great-grandchildren (Brandon Wheeler, Carlie Horton and Colby Horton), all of Harper, Texas.

Fuzzy Farnsworth

I certainly knew that heading would get your attention. It most definitely got mine when I received an Email recently with that name in the subject line! . The message came from Herb Huber, a member of our Email Fort Smith History Posse. (That's worth another later Blog entry). Herb had received a copy of a great little book written by former Fort Smithian Warren Berkley, now a pastor in McAllen Texas. Warren was kind enough to send me a copy. I was delighted with his account of my father teaching his father and later as Warren's firm but fair high school principal. When a young boy,Warren had attended Daddy's Stay at Home Summer Camp for several years. Some of you Nifty Fifties might remember that, too, at the junior high... now called Darby.

Why was I happy to read this message.... headlined by my father's most hated nickname? Because it was honest and entertaining and not the least bit insulting to my dad. So now I pose a question to all of you: Where did the name "Fuzzy" come from? That is an unsolved mystery at this point. Perhaps you have a story to tell about your relationship to "Fuzzy". I'd love to hear it. There are many theories about this name, but I really reject any theory that has to do with his hair. My father's hair was never curly or "fuzzy" .... thin by the time he retired, but he was never truly bald, either. I think it was just a word that began with the letter F...not good, but not too bad either. Probably no one ever used it to his face, but he certainly knew about it., and I think in retrospect many of you men think of the name with affection. Am I right?

The nickname my father truly loved was "Skipper". I am not sure when that started, but probably with his Boy Scout Troop 12 in the 1940's. By the time I was in high school, that affectionate term was in common use and continued until his death in 1981. All his grandchildren and son's in law called him Skipper. He was never called Grandpa.... he was Skipper.... and the most fun grandfather any child could ever hope to have. My parents spent long summer vacations with us in California and my children benefitted from his many varied interests from visiting every California mission to cooking amazing dutch oven meals as we camped in the Sierras. He was always ready to see something new, learn something new, and teach us something new. Life with Skipper (Fuzzy) was never boring.

I'll look forward to hearing from any of you great Nifty Fifties!

Rosemary Farnsworth Erickson
Email: lse12@cvip.net or on this Blog.

JOAN GUTENSOHN DAVIS

Joan Gutensohn Davis, 77, died Wednesday, July 1, 2009, in her home. She was born March 27, 1932, attended Fort Smith Senior High School, and was the widow of Robert "Bob" Davis. She was survived by her two sons, Robert and Scott Davis, both of Fort Smith; her sister, Gena Walker of Johnson County, Kansas; and two grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the Sebastian County Humane Society, 3800 Kelley Highway, Fort Smith, AR 72904.

DALE POGUE TO BE IN FS ON JUNE 5-6

To: Nifty-Fifty group and any other interested person.
Dale Pogue plans to visit FSM on June 5th and 6th. His sister Dorcie is married to Glenn Caldwell and his 100th birthday is June 2. There is a birthday celebration at Goddard UMC between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. on Saturday the 6th. They were married in 1986. They were both widowed and this is a second marriage for both of them (23 yrs.).
Dale and his wife Ann will hopefully be staying with me and he would like to see as many of his friends from the classes around 1950 as he can.
We have reserved the small room at Furr's buffet for 9:00 a.m. 6/6/09 (breakfast) for the Nifty Fifty group.
Please try to make it if you can.
See you there.
Eddie Coffman

Earl "Gene" Armstrong

Earl "Gene" Armstrong, 76, of Moffett passed away
Sunday, Feb.8,2009,in Moffett.He was a member of
the Moffett Baptist Mission, an active member of
the MoffettTown Council, volunteer fireman and a
member of the American Legion. He graduated from
Fort Smith High School in 1950 and served in the
Army. He worked for Kaiser Steel in CA for several
years and Wright Service Station.

Services were held Thursday, Feb. l2, 2009, at
Moffett Mission in Moffett with burial at Forest
Park Cemetery in Fort Smith under the direction
of Fentress Mortuary in Fort Smith.

ANNE KASTEN NELSON CONTRIBUTES BOOK TO UAFS

A copy of the new book titled “The Policy Makers: Shaping American Foreign Policy from 1947 to the Present” has been given to Boreham Library at the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith by Anna Kasten Nelson, who graduated from UA Fort Smith in 1952 when it was Fort Smith Junior College.
Dr. Nelson, who is Distinguished Historian in Residence at American University in Washington, D.C., edited the book and wrote one of the seven chapters in it. “The Policy Makers” was published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., an academic and scholarly publisher of trade books and textbooks.
At American University, Nelson teaches courses related to U.S. foreign policy. She is the author of more than 30 articles, essays and reviews and served on the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board from 1994-1998. She visited UA Fort Smith in November to speak on Kennedy’s assassination.
Dr. Nelson sent the “The Policy Makers” to Anne Thomas, director of alumni affairs at UA Fort Smith, with a note to give it to the university library. She autographed the title page with “Best Wishes from a former student at UAFS, Anna Kasten Nelson.”
The book, which has a 2009 publication date, talks about U.S. policy makers who have wielded influence, largely behind the scenes, since World War II, when the advent of the Cold War brought new problems of national security for the United States. As a result, U.S. presidents no longer sat down with their secretaries of state to determine the nation’s foreign policy. They instead reached out to individuals in the intelligence and military organizations and to advisers in the White House. “The Policy Makers” examines seven. Nelson’s chapter in the book is titled “Senator Henry Jackson and the Demise of Détente.”
Authors of the other chapters include Steven L. Rearden, historian with the joint chiefs of staff; Chris Tudda, historian in the Declassification and Publishing Division in the Office of the Historian, Department of State; Lloyd Gardner, research professor of history at Rutgers University; Patrick Vaughan, American historian and scholar currently teaching at the Institute for American Studies and Polish Diaspora at the Jagiellonian University in Poland; John Prados, analyst of security, intelligence and diplomacy and a senior fellow at the National Security Archive; and Walter LaFeber, the Andrew and James Tisch University Professor Emeritus at Cornell University.
Other “policy makers” who are featured include Paul H. Nitze, Robert Bowie, Walt Whitman Rostow, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Bill Casey and Colin Powell.
After Dr. Nelson graduated from Fort Smith Junior College, she received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Oklahoma and a doctorate in history from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She has also previously taught at George Washington University, Arizona State University and Tulane University.
More information about the book is available at the publisher’s Web site, http://www.uafortsmith.edu/shell-cgi/redirect.pl?go=http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com/, where it can be purchased. “The Policy Makers” is also available at http://www.uafortsmith.edu/shell-cgi/redirect.pl?go=http://www.amazon.com/.

JOHN C. BAKER

John C. Baker, Sr., 76, of Fort Smith, Arkansas passed away January 29, 2009 in Fort Smith. He was a member of Goddard United Methodist Church, and the “Nifty Fifties”. He retired from the United State Air Force after 20 years. He served during the Korean War and was a missile launch master. He also retired from Civil Service after 23 years.

He is survived by his wife Peggy Hinds Baker; one daughter: Helen Kay Martin and her husband Alan of Fort Smith; one son: John Clay Baker, Jr. and his wife Jamie of Denver, Colorado; three step-daughters: Marcia Flocks and her husband Carl of Claremore, Oklahoma; Nancy I. Bartlett and her husband Paul of Springdale, Arkansas; Ann Grimes and her husband Dennis of Fort Smith; one step-son: Robert Hinds and his wife Suzette of Dallas, Texas; step sister: Louise Rodgers of Fort Smith; eleven grandchildren and two great grandsons. He was preceded in death by his brother Francis Baker.

Memorials may be made to Goddard United Methodist Church 1922 Dodson, Fort Smith, Arkansas 72901. To place an online tribute please visit http://www.edwardsfuneralhome.com/

JANELLE YOUNG HEMBREE

Janelle Young Hembree, 76, died Jan. 3, 2009, in her home. She was born on Oct. 31, 1932, in Fort Smith and was a graduate of Fort Smith High School. She attended Stephens College in Columbia, Mo., where she earned an Associate of Arts Degree, and she attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where she received a Bachelor of Science Degree in business. She was the former owner of Janelle Y. Hembree Stables-Breeding and Racing Thoroughbreds, past director of the Merchants National Bank of Fort Smith and past director of Trans-States Lines Inc. in Fort Smith. She was a sustaining member of the Junior League of Fort Smith, a member of the Baden-Powell World Fellowship, International Scouting, Geneva, Switzerland, past director, Arkansas Community Foundation, Little Rock, and she was a past board member of the National American Cancer Association and past president of the Fort Smith Chapter of the American Cancer Association. She was a member of the Pi Beta Phi Sorority, St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Dallas and she attended St. John’s Episcopal Church in Fort Smith.
Janelle is survived by her husband of 52 years, H.L. Hembree III; two sons, H. Lawson Hembree IV and his wife Debbie of Fort Smith and Scott Hembree and wife Karen of Fort Smith; one brother, Robert Young III of Fort Smith; and four grandchildren, Lawson Hembree V, Christopher Hembree, Sara Elizabeth Hembree and Katelyn Suzanna Hembree, all of Fort Smith. She was preceded in death by her parents, R.A. Young Jr. and Vivian Curtis Young; and her sister, Marilyn Young Speed.
Memorials may be made to the Winthrop R. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, 4301 West Markham St. No. 623, Little Rock, AR 72205 or St. John’s Episcopal Church, 215 N. Sixth St., Fort Smith, AR 72901.
To sign an online guestbook visit http://www.edwardsfuneralhome.com/.

BETTY JO GRIMES STEM (Class of 1950)

Betty Stem, 76, of Fort Smith passed away Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008, in Fort Smith. She was born Jan. 25, 1932. in Bentonville to Charles and Melinda Grimes. She was a member of Calvary
Baptist Church.

She was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Bill Grimes; and her sister, Ann Bentley.

Funeral service was Friday January 2, 2009 at Edwards Funeral Home Chapel with burial at Forest Park Cemetery under the direction of Edwards Funeral Home.

She is survived by her husband, Luther M. Stem Jr. of the home; one daughter, Debra Stem of Fort Smith; two sons, Luther M. Stem III and his wife, Karen of Fort Smith, and Wendell Stem of Fort Smith,; two brothers, Bob Grimes of Fort Smith and Charles Grimes of Greenwood; six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Memorials may be made to St. Edward Hospice, 730l Rogers Ave., Fort Smith, AR 72903.
To place an online tribute, please visit www.edwardsfuneralhome.com .

DECEASED NIFTY-FIFTY MEMBERS September 30, 2008

Click to Enlarge

NORA BROWN - MISS PEP

Grizzly - Oct 30, 1953
Click on image to enlarge

BOB DAVIS

Robert G. “Bob” Davis, 76, died Monday, Sept. 22, 2008, in Fort Smith. Bob was born Feb. 1, 1932. He attended Fort Smith High School, Marion Institute Junior College and University of Arkansas, and was a retired construction estimator and project manager. Bob is survived by his wife, Joan Gutensohn Davis; two sons, Robert and Scott Davis, both of Fort Smith; and two grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the Sebastian County Humane Society, 3800 Kelley Highway, Fort Smith, AR 72904 or First Presbyterian Church, 116 N. 12th St., Fort Smith, AR 72901.

CLASS OF 1966 HOMECOMING REUNION OCTOBER 17, 2008 (Click to Enlarge)

PAT DAY CASNER

Pat Day Casner died on September 28, 2007 in San Antonio, Texas. Pat was born on October 10, 1932 in Eden, Texas, graduated from Fort Smith High School (where she was elected vice president of the student body and head cheerleader) in 1950, and from Oklahoma State University, where she met and on August 14, 1953 married Keith Casner, her husband for 54 years. She was survived by her husband Keith of 9106 Fox Briar Lane, Boerne, Texas 78006-5594, and her four children: Kay Casner Overley and her husband Steve of Hondo, Texas; Richard Casner and his wife Penny of Lubbock, Texas; Steve Casner and his wife Carmen of Bartlesville, Oklahoma; and Amy Casner and her husband Gregg Cox of Austin, Texas. She had seven surviving grandchildren; her two surviving brothers, Dr. John Day of Boise, Idaho and Dr. Jim Day of Great Falls, Montana; and numerous nieces and nephews.

JOYCE FOX

Joyce Fox, beloved wife of our 1950's classmate Otis Fox, died suddenly on July 14, 2008. A Memorial Service celebrating Joyce's life was held at Dove Christian Ministries.
Joyce, who grew up in Texas, met Otis in 1951 when he was attending La Tourneau Technical College in Longview, Texas. After marrying in August of 1952, Otis finished college at Hardin Simmons University in Abilene. Otis spent 20 years as a church pastor and the last 30 years as a Christian Pastoral Counselor.
Otis and Joyce moved to California in 1955 and have lived in Oxnard, California since 1967.
Joyce was a graduate of Golden State Seminary. Their three children have presented them with five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Joyce was a woman of varied and unique interests. Otis knew one of her dreams was to own a Thunderbird automobile. On Mothers' Day 1988, Otis gave her the surprise of her life when he presented her with her own T-Bird. Traveling in the T-Bird became a special part of their fun together with the Gold Coast T-Bird Club. That was not the only traveling this couple enjoyed together. Their goal of visiting all 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska, was achieved along with visits to Europe, England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales!
Memorial gifts will be used to complete installation of windows in a Christian church in Nigeria, a project that was a special interest to Joyce, and an ongoing mission project of Otis and Joyce's church in California. Otis's telephone number is 805-240-3299. His email address is oejoya@aim.com
-- Rosemary Farnsworth Erickson

Combined 57th/58th Annual Reunion of FSHS 1950/51 Classes on Saturday, Sept 27, 2008

The combined 57th/58th Annual Reunion for the 1950 and 1951 FSHS Classes will be at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 27, 2008 at Fianna Hills Country Club, #1 Essex Place, Fort Smith. Dress is casual.

There will be a Cash Bar and a Heavy Hors d'oeuvres Buffet, including fresh veggies and fruit, assorted cheeses, deviled eggs, cocktail shrimp, Swedish meatballs, fried chicken filets, crab-stuffed mushrooms, egg rolls, petit quiche, carved beef with rolls and spreads and more. The cost will be $22.00 per person.

Reservations (including checks) for both classes should be made not later than September 15, 2008 with Sue Epperson McGee, P. O. Box 3924, Fort Smith, AR 72913-3924. Checks for both classes should be payable to "Class of '51". Please indicate the names (including maiden name) of the class member and spouse/guest to place on name tags, together with class member's current home address, telephone number and email address.

Questions should be addressed to Sue Epperson McGee at 479-783-7864 or skmcgee@cox.net.

PHIL SNEDECOR [FSHS Class of 1951]

PHILLIP ALSTON SNEDECOR JR., born in Fort Smith, Arkansas on June 30, 1933, passed away May 24, 2008 after a long battle with Alzheimer's. His beloved and devoted wife Mary Ann was constantly at his side during his final days. Phil graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in electrical engineering. He was a member of the Kappa Sigma and Theta Tau fraternities. After graduation, Phil served as First Lieutenant in the Air Force. After his discharge, he went to work at Texas Instruments and later followed his passion for computers to Poughkeepsie, NY, where he worked for IBM. He later came back to Dallas, where he was instrumental during the 1970s and '80s in marketing innovative technologies such as the early ATM for a number of firms. He was active for many years in the Rotary Club and the Lion's Club. Phil loved his family, his many friends and business associates, and playing tennis and golf. He is survived by his wife of forty-nine years, Mary Ann, his son Phil (III) and wife Jan, grandchildren Erin and Jim of Crofton, MD, his son Mark and wife Ingrid, grandchildren Ben, Luke, and Cate of Granite Bay, CA, and stepdaughter Lynne Weber, grandchildren Michael and Hope Hagar of Dallas, TX., and his sister Frances Vestal of Dripping Springs, TX. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, May 29 at 10:30 A.M. at Cox Chapel, Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, TX. Burial at 2:00 pm at Dallas Ft. Worth National Cemetery. Memorials my be made to the Alzheimer's Association. Ted Dickey West Funeral Home 8011 Frankford Rd, Dallas, TX 214-356-0472 [from the Dallas Morning News, May 28, 2008]

Memories of DuVal School

Memories of DuVal School
Fort Smith, Arkansas
by Rosemary Farnsworth Erickson

April 8, 2008

DuVal was a very important part of my childhood years. Until I was seven years old, we lived on 13th Street only a block from the school which was on the corner of North 14th and L Streets. It became the personal playground of the two Farnsworth girls and all our neighborhood friends, too. I started to DuVal first grade in 1938. My sister Patricia, who was one year older naturally began first grade before I did. It seems I was very lonely at home without her, and sometimes went to school with her and sat in Miss Lola Allen's first grade room, too. It is amazing that she allowed that. I could hardly wait to get to start school, and I loved every year! No wonder I became an elementary teacher.
DuVal was an impressive building built in 1888 and rebuilt in 1 911 after a fire. A very wide cement walkway led up to the front door and a wide stairway of about 7 or 8 steps took you to the big double front doors. Over the doors was ornamental concrete work which added to its imposing appearance. It definitely was an attractive entrance with the school name above the doors. To my sorrow, DuVal was demolished in 1984. When a friend told me that DuVal would soon be gone and there would be an auction, I asked her to try to buy a child's chair for me, or perhaps a teacher's chair. She did go to the auction, but there were no children's chairs left, so she bought what she thought was a teacher's chair. It was definitely not the large desk chair I remembered from my teaching days, but was actually probably from the school kitchen. She shipped it to me, all paint stripped and repaired.... a cute old chair with criss cross wire bracing
underneath. I later painted it and had trailing ivy painted on it
and it proudly sits in my ivy papered kitchen. It is a precious DuVal reminder I get to live with every day.
DuVal was a red brick rectangular shaped building with three floors and a basement. The front door faced west and was on North 14th Street. I attended DuVal from first through 6th grades and then after graduating from the University of Arkansas in 1954, I taught first grade there for one year. That no doubt accounts for why I remember the building so well. Some of the same wonderful teachers who had taught me were still teaching there. Not surprisingly, the most important teacher who was still teaching there was first grade teacher Lola Allen. After a very "progressive" type teacher training at the University of Arkansas, Miss Allen literally taught me how to teach. I am forever grateful!
DuVal had a very wide central hall with classrooms on both sides, interior stairways on both the north side and south side in the center, and a stairway also at the east end of the hall. The staircases went from basement to third floor, but by the time I began first grade, the third floor was not in use. I remember just once going up there with a teacher to get something out of storage. It was spooky. I have always wondered why it was not used and if it was considered unsafe. Certainly in the 1940's when our classes were HUGE...sometimes as many as 50 students in a class, the teachers needed the extra space. The large enrollment came because of the influx of WWII military families at Camp Chaffee. Sunnymede housing development on O Street brought many new students to DuVal.
The classrooms were very large and each one had a 'cloak hall' beside it with hooks for our coats. Being banished to the cloak hall was a very common form of punishment. Sometimes spankings were administered by the teacher in the cloak hall, too. Classroom windows were huge and let in lots of light. Everything was bright and cheery inside because of those big windows. Most of the teachers had lots of plants growing in pots along the windows. The first floor had two large classrooms and the office complex on the north side, and three classrooms on the south side. At the east end behind the stairway was the teachers' lunch room and rest room. Upstairs the entire west side was one long large room with the school library in the south half and classroom seating with a stage on the north side. There were four more classrooms on that second floor. The stairways were wide and spacious. In fact everything was wide and spacious!
The basement at Duval School had the boys' restroom on one side and the girls' restroom on the other. The cafeteria and kitchen were on the southeast corner. The northeast corner had a large cement floored room where we had indoor games, square dancing and folk dancing where (eek) we had to dance with boys, and other bad weather group activities. I remember playing dodge ball in that room. All the mechanical equipment and heating boilers, etc. were in the basement on the north side of the building and it always looked VERY scary in there because you could feel the heat and see flames in the furnace. A 1984 news account of the school demolishing tells that the original boiler was still operational when the school came down. Outside access to the basement was from large double doors on the north and south sides where the stairways were..... and at the east end at ground level near the cafeteria where delivery trucks came and went.
The "Girls Side" play area was on the South, and the "Boys' Side" was on the North. In the 1940's and 50's each side had swings. climbing bars, teeter totters, and a baseball diamond area with a back stop. There were plenty of large trees for shade and a wide sidewalk around the south side of the building where we played jacks and jump rope. The boys played marbles, but we girls never did. We girls also never ventured on to the boys side. I remember playing Red Rover, Red Rover, let someone (name here) come over. That person tried to crash through our clasped hands. We also played 'Mother May I', Follow the Leader, etc.
The teachers had a yard duty schedule and there was always someone around to keep order and stop occasional fights. We did not have a scheduled recess time. School was serious business but we did have a PE period each day. Our other play time was at noon and before and after school. The playground was not fenced, so occasional neighborhood dogs would be roaming around for us to play with. The school faculty in the late 1930's and 1940's was a remarkable group of bright dedicated women. I do not remember the principal, but I believe one was named Spencer. I think the principal changed several times in those years because it was war time. The truth is, I know that the staff ran the school.... and did it very well. Our dear family friend, Coach Frank Jones was the principal in 1954 when I graduated from college and taught first grade at DuVal.
These are the teachers I remember well:
First grade - Lola Allen
Second grade - Minnie Hubbard
Third grade - Fredericka Upchurch
Fourth grade - _Ina(?) McCarroll
Fifth grade - Vera Heard
Sixth grade - Lois Dorcas and Rena Arnold
Library and "Auditorium" - Mrs. Mildred Mayo
I remember a Miss Martha Youmans who perhaps taught PE.
SPECIAL MEMORIES
Armistice Day, November 11, was always a special observance at DuVal. I remember the entire student body gathered in the big central hall and a patriotic program was presented on the west stairway. We had the flag salute, and always sang several patriotic songs like America the Beautiful and My Country 'Tis of Thee. At 11 AM, we observed several moments of silence because that was the exact time that the Armistice of WWI was signed.
Valentines Day was a favorite day for me! I remember making Valentines for days ahead and each teacher had a large decorated Valentine box in her room.....usually made out of a hat box I suspect. Paper doilies and crepe paper were key ingredients. There are many aspects of those celebrations that I am now uncomfortable with. I did not give a Valentine to everyone in my class.... and I don't think very many children did. It really became a popularity contest as I recall. The teacher took the Valentines out... one by one... read the name aloud and we went to the front to get our Valentines. Did some children receive no Valentines? I actually do not remember, but it is very possible. The number of Valentines received was the important part to selfish little me, and I remember going home and my sister and I would compare Valentines to see who had the most. A Valentine from a special boy with perhaps a lolly pop attached was a big thrill!
Miss Heard's 5th grade class was truly memorable because she was very very artistically creative in unusual ways. The things we did in that classroom could NEVER take place in any elementary school today! Miss Heard had two small power saws in her room, and when our class work was finished, we could saw and build things with hammer and nails and paint them, too! Can't you imagine the fear of lawsuits in this day and age? She also taught us to weave baskets in several different ways. These were skills I used years later as a Girl Scout leader and parent, too. What a marvelous year that was!
Miss Upchurch's third grade class was also special. She was very 'modern' in her teaching techniques for that day and age. I'll never forget our outstanding study of George Washington Carver. I still remember details of his life....all learned in the third grade. Because Carver introduced the cultivation of peanuts to the poor blacks in the deep south, we visited a Fort Smith peanut butter factory. That is the only field trip I ever remember taking in elementary school, and it was so exciting. Then we used the school cafeteria and made peanut butter cookies one day. Oh yes.... Miss Upchurch was very progressive, but she was totally traditional in the teaching of the core subjects. I remember spelling bees, and memorizing all the state capitols, too, and lots and lots of quizzes. Being a good student but really quite shy, I think I remember these because I could show off a bit.
Miss Allen's first grade classroom had a large child size playhouse, well furnished with little dishes, and dolls, etc. Again, when our work was finished, we were allowed to play quietly in the play house. We also got to do that when the weather was too bad to be outside. Miss Allen taught us to read by letter sounds, later called phonics. I am eternally grateful that I learned that way. She had made up a story about Tommy Brown for every letter sound, and the soft and hard sounds of the vowels. When I taught with her years later, I typed up all her stories and used them when I taught first grade in California. She was a creative innovator, and those stories and her methods should have been published.
Second grade with Miss Hubbard was a relaxing gentle year it seems. Maybe because Miss Hubbard read aloud to us every day! What a treat that was! We sat at tables and I recall putting my head on the table after lunch and listening to the Bobsey Twins, the Box Car Children, etc. She was a lovely lady and was the aunt of my best friend Sally Savage. Sally and her mother lived with Miss Hubbard and I sometimes played at her house on 15th Street.
Mrs. Mayo was a beautiful teacher who presided over the school library and small 'auditorium' stage area. In first through third grades we stayed in our classroom with the same teacher all day. In fourth grade, we "traveled". This meant we had a home room for half the day for basic subjects, and the other part of the day we went for other subjects in other rooms. Several days a week we got to be in the library to read. I don't even remember doing homework there or research, but perhaps we did. In the auditorium part of the huge room we had mock meetings and learned Roberts Rules of Order, had little debates and sometimes an educational movie. I thought Mrs. Mayo had the ideal job! One year, Mrs. Mayo introduced a project that had a huge impact on my later life as well as my sister's teaching career, too. She decided that we should make "puppets". What we actually made were marionettes. She gave us patterns and we did most of the work at home, but we did sew and stuff, and paint faces at school. We could make any sort of 'puppet' we wanted, and then we put on a show for the entire school.... and perhaps parents, too. Our father was a teacher at Junior High, and that school had a wonderful large marionette stage with real velvet curtains, footlights, etc. Daddy loaned DuVal the stage and so we puppeteers put on a marionette variety show. Patricia and I had made lady puppets in lovely pastel silk dresses, and to the strains of "Blue Danube", played on the piano by our friend
Sally Tisdale, the two puppets did a graceful dance. I am delighted to say, we were judged the best of the show..... or somehow I definitely remember we were the best. That began a hobby for us that carried over immediately into our Girl Scout troop and a group of us started a little business in high school. We were paid to put on 'puppet shows' for school carnivals, church events, birthday parties, etc. Later, in California with my daughter's Girl Scout troop we did the same thing with great success for years. Sister Patricia taught 5th grade in Pennsylvania and every year in the spring her class created puppets, wrote, produced and presented original marionette shows. Thank you Miss Mildred Mayo!