Calling All Smith School Alumni

Across the Fence #282

Attention All Smith School alumni! It’s time for a reunion. Hear ye, hear ye. If you were a student at Smith School, located at the corner of Highway 14 and Smith Road, south of Westby, consider yourself invited.

After many years of saying we should have a reunion, Alan Berg finally took the bull by the horns and called several of us to attend a meeting at his house to discuss it. It’s been forty plus years since the door closed and the last students exited that small, one-room school, and walked down the steps for the last time. All of us who attended the meeting agreed that it’s time to get together and remember and celebrate what it was like to attend a rural, one-room school.

It was a wonderful experience for most people. I think everyone who attended a country school experienced a few bumps along the way, but most of the memories are good ones. I did talk with one former student who said she wouldn’t be attending. She had a lot of unpleasant memories because she had been picked on and bullied by another student. I can understand her not wanting to revisit those days, but other former students can’t wait to get together again.

I think country schools were a special experience. All eight grades occupied one room. One teacher taught every subject in all eight grades. Most of those country schools had 20-25 students. Some years there were less.

In most cases you were a big, extended family. You were together each weekday for nine months of the year. Just like any family, you worked together, played together, ate together, and sometimes you fought together too.

Country schools were unique. I think we lost some of our sense of community when they were closed and everyone was bused to one big school in town, where each class was separate. The country school was the hub and gathering place in a rural community. You belonged to the Smith School district, or Seas Branch, Unseth, Natwick, Clockmaker, Gilbertson, Rongstad, Round Prairie, and the list goes on and on. I think the closing of country schools was more than just shutting the doors on rural education. It was also the end of a way of life and the dissolution of rural communities, as we knew them when we were young.

We plan to remember and celebrate that way of life with this reunion. It will be held on Saturday, August 7, 2010, from 1:00 – 5:00 pm in the basement of the Westby Coon Prairie Lutheran Church on Main Street in Westby. A lunch will be served at 3:00. Weather permitting, those who want to can walk over to the Seas Branch one-room school that’s been moved and preserved, next to the Westby Elementary School. Some Smith School students attended Seas Branch before it was closed and they were transferred to Smith. The inside is like it was when school was in session. See if you can still fit into a desk! I hear Anita is even bringing a Dick and Jane reader. Remember those simple stories that taught you how to read? “Run Spot, run. Oh Look. See Jane run. See Jane run after Spot.” It doesn’t get any better than that! I wonder what happened to all the old Dick and Jane books? I wish I had one.

Last year I wrote a story about flip stick. Many of you couldn’t remember playing it. We won’t play the game because we don’t want to poke anyone’s eye out at this stage. We made it through school without major injuries. I’ll bring a couple sticks and we’ll demonstrate the fine art of Vippe Pinne. Now if that doesn’t get you excited and want to attend, I don’t know what will. Maybe we’ll have to put up a curtain and bring a fishing pole. Remember when you went fishing and someone behind the curtain put a prize on your line and gave it a yank? That might be a great way to give away some door prizes.

If you have photos, books, those little annuals, or any memorabilia that would be of interest, bring them along. We’ll have tables to display the items. Start digging through the basement and attic and dust off those old items from the past!

We’d also like to invite any teachers who taught at Smith School. We aren’t sending out invitations to teachers or students. It would be a major project just assembling the addresses. We’re relying on the printed page and word of mouth. If you were a Smith School student, consider yourself invited. If you have siblings, relatives, or friends who were students, let them know. Our alumni are spread out all over the state of Wisconsin and the country. This is your opportunity to return home for one day, renew old friendships, swap stories, tell lies, and remember a simpler time when we were one big family.

Smith School and all the one-room schools are gone, but the spirit lives on in the memories of those students who attended them.

If you have questions or are planning to attend, let me know. We’d like to have some idea of how many people to plan for. You can contact me by e-mail at: skjerpe@mwt.net, or if you don’t have e-mail, we’ve paid our bills so our phone works too. 608-634-6874.