Identity – Childhood Memories Alphabet – T

T is for Teachers

    For my grade school years, I remember best my teachers at Halsey Grade School which I attended for grades 3 through 8. My first two years were spent at Shedd Grade School. We never moved but lived halfway between Halsey and Shedd. During these six years at Halsey, I had four different teachers.

    My 3rd grade teacher was Mrs. Minnie Cross. Her sister-in-law was Mrs. Donna Cross, who was my piano teacher. I called each of them Mrs. Cross, so sometimes my folks didn't know which one I was talking about. My Dad would sometimes substitute the name, Mrs. X. I thought my school teacher Mrs. Cross was really an old woman when I started the 3rd grade in Halsey. Doing genealogical research I discovered that she was 55 years old and now that really doesn't seem that old. She taught for a number years at Halsey, so often had children of parents she had taught. She was a much loved teacher. However, I was rather shy. When I had been in the second grade at Shedd we printed our work. At Halsey they had learned cursive writing in the second grade, so it seemed everyone else knew how to do cursive writing in the third grade. I didn't want to admit that I didn't know how to do it, so taught myself cursive writing by looking at the letters on the wall above the chalk board. I guess I did all right because I received all 1s in penmanship on my report card. We studied about the Oregon Trail in her class and had a wagon train in the Achievement Day program near the end of the year.

  

     In the 4th grade, my teacher was my Dad's first cousin's wife, Mrs. Esther Albertson. Her son, Eldon, my 2nd cousin, was also in our class. It seemed a little funny to have a teacher with the same last name that I did. She also attended our church so I already knew her before I was in her class. One thing I can remember is that she read to us everyday from some storybook. One I really liked was Little House on the Prairie.

    For the 5th and 6th grades, Mrs. DeArcy Evans was my teacher. Her sister was married to one of my Mom's cousins so was almost related. Mrs. Evans was thought by many of the students to be very strict. She was called "Old Lady Evans" by some behind her back. But since I tended to be obedient and cooperative I got along with her OK. Some of the things we did in her class were creative and interesting. Everyone learned to crochet a square, so that we made an afghan for someone in the Veteran's Hospital. We made some murals as a group, one year we did pictures representing countries in South America. I can remember my country was Ecuador. Then another mural was about transportation. I chose to draw a bus, like a Greyhouse. I thought that was easier since it had many straight lines. We also did puppet shows with homemade marionettes. One of the plays was about animals and I made a goose out of grey flannel. We put cardboard in the wings so the strings could make him look like he was flying. Another play was a melodrama and my character was the villain. My grades in her classes were mostly 1s, except for 2s in penmanship and drawing. For Achievement Day in the 6th grade, 4th, 5th & 6th were together in the program and did a Mexican style dance. One of the boys in our class was of Mexican descent.

 

    Mr. Clifford Gunderson was my teacher in the 7th and 8th grades. It was the first time I had a man for a teacher. In the 7th grade we had two grades in the same room, so there were over 30 students. I liked it better when we just had one grade in the room in the 8th grade. I thought Mr. Gunderson was a good teacher and I learned a lot. We would do some experiments for math and science classes. In the 8th grade a highlight was a trip to Salem to visit the State Capitol and also a visit to some other businesses (the Oregon Statesman newspaper, Coca-Cola Bottling Company and Cherry City Baking Co who baked Master bread). In the Achievement Day program when I was in the 8th grade, we had a Hawaiian theme. We made "grass skirts" out of burlap bags dyed green and all attempted to dance the hula.