I vaguely remember first grade. It was on the ground floor-west of the old primary building. Our teacher was Miss Stover, a memory that hangs with me because on the first day of school my mother asked me the name of my teacher when I got home.
I couldn't really recall but since we were standing in the kitchen by the stove where Mom was fixing supper I said, "I don't know, Miss Stove or something like that." I only remember it because Mom thought it was so cute and told the story repeatedly over the years. Like only a mother would.
What brings it to mind at this point is the attached photo that comes courtesy of Richard Holstad, who has quite the photo archive, apparently, including some like this one by Dr Forland as well as those he has gotten from the Northwood Anchor.
Doc Forland took a lot of photos way back when, developing them in his own dark room, and you can tell from the quality of this photo that his camera was a superior model. Richard's comment on the shot is "This is the class of 1963 . . . the teacher is posing with LaVonne . . . The class is using the Dick and Jane textbook . . . Larry Patterson is sharpening his pencil up by the window . . . one of the Thone girls is easy to recognize . . . Patty Reeder is just behind the teacher . . ."
And you will notice without even trying that the direction of the shot is west and on the ground floor since that would have been the only classroom in the building that would qualify for this orientation. What you may or may not notice in the picture or recall is that Miss Stover did not have any fingers on her right hand, a disability that probably caught our attention right away but was forgotten as we got to know her.
(BLOG-MASTER'S NOTE: if you click on the photos they will open enlarged in a new window and you will notice the high quality of the photo and be able to identify the people Richard mentions.)
You remember the very well worn wooden floors all around including in the hallway, the "old building" smell, the staircase that was not handicap-accessible, and restrooms in the basement. You will certainly also recall that there was no way you could sneak around the building because the wooden floors creaked like crazy. My recollection is that we didn't sneak much, we just kind of ran around. And created lots of childhood memories.
BadgerHawk -
ReplyDeleteI believe you can now click on the images above and a larger image will open .... these two larger images will give your readers a sample of how wonderful the quality is of Dr Forland's work. I posted the second photo of the school bus because you can see the same neighborhood through the window where Larry Patterson was sharpening his pencil.
I have several other classroom photos (By Dr Forland) that are just hilarious ..... Larry Patterson's name is on the black board clear as a bell in one of them. I asked Larry what he did to get his name was in the board ..... he claims it was for some outstanding contribution he made that day to the class that the teacher wanted to give him credit for.....
BadgerHawk - Between you and me, I can't think of better detective than Larry P. to find out exactly where that 911 red light was mounted above the Gildner-Johnson store. Larry KNOWS where it was; he is just holding out, not wanting to seem "too knowledgeable on certain subjects."
Another Dr Forland classroom photo is so darn fun to put up on the big screen because there are at least a half dozen mini-dramas going in the classroom all at once .... our teachers had to be "Saints In Street Clothes" in order to keep their sanity.
Please tell your readers of this blog again how much I treasure having them share their photos with me.
Lavonne Forland confirmed with me last week that she has read this blog and she knows that a couple of Doc's photos have been posted here. With her specific permission, I would love to post more for you.
Richard Holstad