Smith School Reunion and Memories

Across the Fence #300

I’ve always maintained that rural schools were the hub of a community and the students who attended each of those schools were like one big, extended family. Our recent Smith School reunion reinforced those thoughts in my mind.

This was the first ever Smith School reunion. After operating for 99 years, the school was officially closed after the spring session ended in 1966. That’s 44 years since the door closed on rural education in that one-room schoolhouse. It’s been 52 years since Donna Gilbertson Kjelland, Margaret Lee Hanson, Janice Lee Thompson, and I graduated from eighth grade. It was the last class that went all eight years to Smith School, and all four of us attended the reunion. After our class, the seventh and eighth graders were transferred to Westby Elementary School.

For many years people had talked about having a reunion, but nothing happened. This spring, Alan Berg called four of us Smith School “alumni,” Donna, Margaret, Sharon Midtlien Gilbeck, and me. We met and decided it was time, and the planning began. On August 6th it became a reality when 26 former students, and one former teacher, got together to renew old friendships and reminisce about the good old days of one room schools.

Marilyn Lavold Berge, Blanch Peterson Garrity, Darlene Peterson Kingslien, and Marjorie Steenberg Haugen were from the 1930s. Arden Sherpe was the youngest attendee from 1964, two years before it closed.

Many stories were told, but we could have visited and told stories for many more hours. It’s interesting that not everyone remembered the same events. Several stories were told that I have no recollection of. Some things that I remembered were not among the memories of students I went to school with. I guess we all have selective memory.

At least I can now say I know someone who put his tongue on the pump handle and got stuck. Kay Carlson Holte told the story, but James Fremstad maintained that she dared him to do it. I’ll give him credit for having the guts to try it. We never did find out how he got his tongue free. I’ll have to check into that.

A good memory that Cynthia Hanson Haar brought up was having school on Birch Hill on a beautiful spring day. Classes were held on the “Teacher Rock.” While each class was being held, students in the other grades could play among the rocks and woods. Those are good memories for me too.

We talked about Flip stick, also known as Yippa Penna in Norwegian, and I demonstrated how we used to “pinkle, not “tinkle.” Milo Kilen remembered how we played hockey on our pond without skates. I don’t think any of us owned skates. We used tobacco laths for hockey sticks. We have no idea what we used for a puck–maybe a frozen cow pie. There was also talk about playing Fox and Geese in the winter, and of course building forts and having snowball fights. Some people claimed that Sharon and I got into a fight and she ended up with a black eye. All I remember is a snowball hitting her in the face. I may have thrown it! I wonder if the statute of limitations has expired?

Richard Kilen brought up the game Mumbley-peg, and most of us guys remembered playing it. That was where we stood opposite one another with our feet shoulder-width apart. Each player threw a jackknife and tried to stick it into the ground, as close to his own foot as he could. The player who came closest was the winner. Sticking it into your foot was not recommended. If you tried that on the playground these days you’d be hauled off to jail and expelled from school for assault with a deadly weapon. We decided that most of the games we played would be banned today.

There was also talk about Christmas programs. It was one of the highlights of the year. Marjorie Haugen told of her experience in 1931, She said Sadie Roiland, a relative of ours, was teaching at Smith School. Marjorie was only four years old and would start school the next fall. Sadie sent a note to her parents asking if she would take part in the Christmas program. She had to memorize a “piece.” She and her mother would say that “piece” over and over. She still remembers it to this day. We asked her to recite it for us.

“Of all the Santa Claus pictures that I have seen in my young days – there is one thing about them that I would really like to know! Does he travel with a wagon when there ain’t no snow?”

The other part she remembers about that evening was Santa coming with a bag of candy for them. She wondered why Santa wore a barn jacket instead of a red one?

The only teacher who attended was Corrine Fredrickson Zable, who taught from 1955-59. Many reunion attendees were her students. It must have been quite a shock for her to see her “little” students all grown up. We had changed a bit in 50 years! We remembered how much Miss Fredrickson cared for each student and how passionate she was about education. She wanted every one of us to be ready for the next step. We were her first students after graduating from Viroqua Normal School, where she credits Naomi Flugstad Bekkum with encouraging her and teaching her how to be a good teacher. We all agreed that they both succeeded.

At the end of the day, many of us visited the Seas Branch Schoolhouse. It’s now a museum, showing what a one-room school was like. It was a trip back in time, back to our roots, and a fitting place to conclude a wonderful reunion.