RURAL SCHOOLS OF CLARKE COUNTY
Effie Crawford was very much involved in preserving facts and memorabilia of the Clarke
County Schools. She wrote the following brief history:
The first schools in Clarke County were subscription schools, that is, those who had children of school age paid the teacher's salary. That was the only expense, as the school was held in the various homes and the children used whatever textbooks they could find.
In 1846, Mormon families established what was called Lost Camp. It later became the town of Green Bay. In 1850, the Bernard Arnold family moved on to a rented farm in the area and his daughter, Eliza Jane Arnold, became the first teacher in Clarke County. She started teaching in the fall of 1850 in one of the Mormon shanties. This school was located in the center of Green Bay Township and eventually the school was called "Faith."
The first school house was built in 1857 by Josiah and Thomas Trent. It was a frame building and was located two miles northeast of Osceola. The first teacher was Jesse Lewis.
By the 1900s there were 103 rural schools in Clarke County. They were located nine to a township and spaced every two miles. Doyle Township had seven schools, Murray took up two of its schools. Franklin and Green Bay Townships each had eight schools.
Rural schools in Clarke County were reorganized in 1958 and became a part of Murray, Osceola, LeRoy, Grand River, Afton, New Virginia and Truro school districts. Four schools were kept open as a part of Clarke Community Schools in Osceola until the new high school was completed in 1961. The old high school then became the Junior High, and West Ward became the four-six grade school.
Our rural schools can be summed up by a statement made by Ralph Evans, the last true superintendent of Clarke County schools. "For those who have a twinge of nostalgia over the passing of the one-room rural school in Clarke County, let it be said that the rural school definitely served its purpose. Many fine people secured the basis of their education in the oneroom schools of Clarke County and went on from there toward great achievements in all walks of life. The family-type situation and the close teacher-pupil relationship in a one-room school is hard to duplicate anywhere."
In 1996, the Clarke County Retired School Personnel Association (formerly Retired Teachers Association) and the Clarke County Historical Society researched rural schools still standing in Clarke County. At that time there were 36. Leslie, Knox No.6, is still standing on its original site and is used as a community center. Lipsett, Knox No. 8, was moved into Osceola as a private school attached to the rear (northeast comer) of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, which at the time was in the 300 block on South Park Street. When the new church was built, and the old church made into a home, the Historical center moved the school to its present location, on the south edge of Osceola, highway 69. It is open for tours.
Brush College, Madison No.5, has been moved to become part of the antique complex in downtown Murray. It was a complicated venture. Before the school was moved, the support beams underneath were discovered to have rotted, the floor had sunk, and had to be propped up. Replacement beams were not available so they used some from a Baptist Church that was over 100 years old when it was tom down. This had to be done to protect the porch from falling off.
The chimney was too tall to go under light wires so it had to be torn off, the old shingles
replaced, and electricity installed. The planners, however, brought in the old kerosene lamps, old desks, etc. It, too, is open for tours.
The two groups from 1997-1999 researched and published 13 books on the rural schools in Clarke County, one for each township and one general book. There is a 14th book which contains all the 8th grade tests. Copies of these books can be found in the State Historical Building in Des Moines, the Clarke County Historical Building in Osceola, or the Osceola Public Library. They average over 400 pages per book
We were well repaid for our efforts by the compliments we received when we turned our work in to Bill Sherman of Des Moines, head of rural schools for the state. He said ours was the best, most comprehensive of any. He was the one who, in the fall of 1996, instigated the program to find the rural schools presently standing in each county.
In Clarke County, the leadership for the project was the Clarke Area Retired School Personnel Association and the Clarke County Historical Society. Numerous people became involved: Mary Gardner was made chairperson from the Historical Society and I was the chair from the retired teachers' group. We started in January 1997, and established a committee to research the schools still standing. We assigned one person to each township, and eventually added more. The final list of members of the committee were: Effie Crawford, Mary Gardner, Margaret Alley, Mildred Ashley, June Lohr, Maxine Woods, Enid Kendall, Marie White, James Yawn, Margaret Reeves, and Eva Shannon.
When this project was complete, many people thought there should be a book. New committees for each township were set up. They were Jeanne Miller, Gertrude Benedict, and Cleo O'Neall for Liberty; Margaret Alley for Fremont, Marie White and Mary Gardner for Washington; Louise Mason for Madison; Mildred Ashley, June Lohr, Eva Shannon, Meryle Saddoris and Effie Crawford for Troy; Meryle Saddoris for Ward, Effie Crawford and Joan Barton for Osceola; Effie Crawford, Wilda McCann and Margaret Mitchell for Jackson; Margaret Alley for Franklin; Doris Linder and Maxine Woods for Green Bay; Effie Crawford, Margaret Penn, Jeanne Evans, Enid Kendall, Marie White and Carmelitta Liggitt for Knox; Mildred Ashley, June Lohr, Effie Crawford and Betty Ogbourne for Doyle; and for the General Book, Effie Crawford, Margaret Alley and Marie White. Due to her job, Mary Gardner could not help but was kept in the loop by phone. These committees were to contact people in their township for stories, pictures, and memorabilia.
In the summer a committee was formed to research the rural school records at the Clarke County Historical Center. The list of students and teachers were copied from "Teachers' Annual Reports," and a list of board members and township officers was taken from the "Register of Teachers Employed in Clarke County Schools." Co-chairpersons for this were Margaret Alley and Merle Saddoris. Other committee members were Mildred Ashley, Maxine Woods, June Lohr, Effie Crawford, Margaret Fenn, Glenda Bright, Doris Linder, Margaret Reeves, and Jeannie Evans. Margaret Alley also searched for stories, pictures and other memorabilia that she could find at the museum. Louise Mason researched newspaper articles from the Murray paper, and Marie White, Margaret Alley, Merle Saddoris, Mildred Ashley, June Lohr, and Jeanne Miller researched the Osceola papers at the library.
We found people throughout the county eager to participate in this absorbing and gratifying project, many remarking it should have been done a long time ago. Whole packets of memorabilia came from so many homes - stories of happenings - humorous and sad - names of children who attended, pictures galore, all so precious, all important for portraying the lifestyle of rural schools. We gave credit in the books to those who contributed.
We began getting so much material, we decided the chairwomen would meet once a month and go over what we'd found. We have the lists of all the students from 1929 on. Before that time they were stored in the basement of the courthouse, and were buried when the new courthouse was built. Tommy Twombley from Knox Township and someone from Franklin Township had all theirs, but the majority of the records begin with 1929-1930. It wasn't long before we realized that one book would not suffice. We adjusted our thinking to four books, and finally one for each township, with another which we called "The General Book." We did all the covers with pictures of schools on the front.
Our first goal was to discover schools still standing, and we found 36, although not all were on their original spot. We realized that this probably would not be done again so we attempted to be thorough and accurate. Adjustments to the plan can be checked in the books. For instance, if there were nine rural schools in each township, there should have been 108 instead of 102. We accounted for this because in Troy township, Murray took up two schools. In Osceola township, Osceola took one. In Jackson Township there were nine rural schools, plus Woodburn. In Doyle there were only eight rural schools, because in the beginning Hopeville was a high school and later became No.9. Because of the rivers and timber in Franklin Township, there were only seven, and Green Bay combined two schools to make Hebron, so that township had only eight.
The Leslie school was the only one that still had furniture in it. The best preserved school was the one on Ron Fouche's farm, but it is private property, not open to the public. Lipsett, the one on the Historical Society ground, was brought in from Knox Township. Brush College, No. 6 in Madison Township, was moved into Murray and has been preserved over the years.
In 1899-1900 the state required that the schools be two miles apart and numbered according to a pattern. It is not hard to imagine the upsetting nature of this ruling. A lot of schools had to be rebuilt and some renumbered. Doyle Township would not change their number. There were people who thought school No.1 was the first school, but that was not always the case. The first row is numbered east to west, the second row west to east, the bottom row goes east to west again and the center school, in lots of cases No.5, would be called Center School.
As I recall, in Clarke County, people were mostly Protestant, and mostly Caucasian. There was one black school - Fremont Township No.7. The Wilson family and several other black families lived there. Mickey Thomas discovered where they are now, contacted them and did an article about them. Otherwise there weren't black children in any of the schools, but the black families in this area were well accepted. The Wilsons were a nice family, Don Curley was in school with my husband, Jim Crawford. Don was a good athlete and his mother was a teacher with a college degree.
My schooling didn't begin in Clarke County. I went to Pine School in Buchanan township, Page County, where my great, great-grandfather homesteaded in 1843. He had 10 children with his first wife, and she died. He remarried, had 10 children with his second wife, and migrated with all of them from Kentucky. I can only recall two of the kids in my class I went to school with all nine years, who were not my cousins. I wrote a 200 page book on Pine School and had no trouble with my research.
I graduated from Braddyville High School and from Northwest Missouri State University in 1950, when I came here to teach Vocational Home Economics. I earned my masters degree in 1971 at Iowa State University. In my job as a Home Economics teacher, I visited my students in the summer, so when I did the research, I knew who went to which school and where they lived. I retired from Clarke Community schools in 1991.
RURAL SCHOOL TEACHERS
A lot of our teachers were barely older, sometimes not as old, as the kids they taught. At first all they needed in order to teach was to show they had read so many books. Later, they could be qualified for two years if they took a Normal Training Course in high school, so a lot of teachers didn't go back to teach after two years. Teachers signed contracts for three-month periods and changed three times a year. A teacher might teach in school No. 1 for three months, school No.2 for three months, and No.3 for three months. At the end of three months, she could negotiate for a penny or 2-5¢ cents more. A lot of men taught in the winter quarter when women were reluctant to do so because of having to build fires. That was the arrangement when my mom and dad taught in Page County. Mom taught during the summer quarter, and Dad taught the winter quarter. They graduated from Amity College in College Springs in Page County. It no longer exists.
Farm work affected the school schedule. To start with there were not two but four semesters - fall, winter, spring, and summer. The boys couldn't go in the fall because they had to help with harvest, and during planting time in the spring, they would have to drop out but then they would go to summer school.
My dad was the secretary for rural school teachers in Buchanan Township, Page County from 1919-1956. That gave me an opportunity to observe the pattern. Teachers were paid $40 a month. For this amount (usually her) responsibility was not only to teach the children but to be disciplinarian, custodian, director of extra-curricular events or any other situation that arose. The teachers came to our house on the fourth Friday of each month, Dad wrote out a voucher for them, which they took to the treasurer of the Board, and he wrote their check. If they had missed any time, the director would call and tell my dad, "You are to subtract one day's pay" or whatever. In Clarke County, teachers would sometimes take turns, picking up vouchers for one another. However, even when they had their checks, it might be another week before they would get to Osceola to deposit the money, because they had to ride the train. I looked forward to Friday and all the teachers coming, but then the process changed and their checks were mailed to them.
There was a time when married women did not teach. If a teacher married after she had signed, she had broken the contract and had to quit teaching. Some women got married and kept it a secret until the end of the year. When I first taught, if a woman got pregnant, she had to quit teaching.
BUILDING ARRANGEMENT
In many schools, just inside the front door was a cloak room. In the winter, it was very cold but that is where the coats and boots were left. Inside the larger room, in addition to the teacher's and pupils' desks, most schools had a piano. There were book shelves with library books. Many of the schools had what now are called lawyers' bookcases, with glass doors which lifted up so the books could be removed. There was the old type school clock on the wall, and always a picture of George Washington. In front of the room was a recitation bench, which may have been one of the best features of rural schools. Every class, beginning with kindergartners - in early years called "primary," came for the teacher to hear them recite and/or teach them for about 10 minutes, during which time the other students did their homework. Then there would be first, second grades, and so on. Each class went up during each of the four periods, and during that time the others studied. The little ones had work books. Once they had them done, they could play in a sandbox. If the teacher had all eight grades - nine including primary, it was a challenge to get to all the subjects within the allotted time.
The beauty of it was that the entire school listened to each grade recite. They were taught the same things for nine years. One aspect a lot of students remarked about was when the younger kids got their work done, they would listen to the older ones recite and learn from them. It was a learning experience for younger ones and a review for the older because the advanced grades listened to the little kids. An 8th grade boy was listening while a younger group was doing math, and all of a sudden he said, "Now I've got it!" He'd never understood that particular mathematical function until then.
There was, of course, the heating facility. In former days it was a stove set in the middle of the room. Keith Davis told about taking a thermometer and noting the temperature in the center of the room was 95°, he kept moving back and by the time he got to the wall it was 45°. That was eventually corrected when they put the stove in a comer with a big cover around it. That radiated the heat up and around, but on real cold days the kids went over and sat by it. Burning wood and later coal meant these items had to be carried in from a shed built for that purpose. The Liberty school had a basement and the coal was put in their basement. It was eventually made into a tworoom school. It was much easier for the teachers when they started having oil burners.
The stoves were put to double service because lots of times the kids brought potatoes to lay on the top to bake, or they brought left-overs which the teacher put on top of the stove or furnace to warm. They had to be careful about lunch meat because it could spoil, so there were lots of peanut butter sandwiches. Roberta Touet told one of her memories of being the oldest of her siblings, which meant she had to get up early and pack lunches for all her brothers and sisters. She took one big lunch and they all ate together. In some schools the mothers took turns coming in and fixing a hot meal on a kerosene stove. One of my cousins always brought ice cream in the winter and put it in the snow outside.
TRANSPORTATION
People generally walked. We were taught which side of the road to walk on. Some kids rode horses, and there was always a pony or two in the school yard. The teacher who taught my brothers and sisters lived in Center township, and we were No.6, which was kitty-corner, meaning she had four miles to go, and her dad built a shelter for her pony. Alice Edwards rode a pony four miles to teach. She lived in Murray and rode into Madison Township every day. When bicycles became popular, some kids had bikes to ride; and when cars were available, some parents would drop off their kids. We very seldom missed because of bad weather. The teacher usually lived in a house close to the school, in some cases just across from the school, and banked the fires, so she was always there early enough to have the room warm.
OTHER NECESSITIES
Some of the schools didn't have a well so they had the older boys go to the neighbors' every morning with buckets and bring water to fill the water cooler. In early days there was a dipper and everyone drank from the same dipper. People began to be health conscious in the 20s, when my brother was starting to school. His teacher said everyone was to bring their own cup. The teachers had just that year been trained about getting germs from drinking after other people. There was a wash pan and all the kids washed their hands before they ate their meal. However, everyone used the same towel. The schools' health consciousness was slow to catch on in other places. We went to Braddyville where there was a well in the center of the road and if you were thirsty, you pumped the handle and filled the dipper. Everyone drank from the same dipper. The schools, of course, had no plumbing so there were outdoor toilets, one for boys and one for girls.
SCHEDULE
School hours were nine to four, with an hour at noon, and morning and afternoon recesses. The day began with "opening exercises," which included the pledge of allegiance and usually the Lord's Prayer. (Religion was part of the school.) Then usually the teacher read. Our teacher read books to us, and each morning she would read one chapter, followed by music. At the noon hour, when we returned, to calm us down before classes started, she read a little more in the book. Then we had our recitation and study period, interspersed with recesses. When I was in school, the last period of the day each Friday was the art period.
Just as now, recesses were favorite times of the day. We chose up sides for lots of our games, but basically, we all played together. One of our favorites was baseball work-up; another was what we called Handy Over, where we threw the ball over the school house and the other side caught it. We had teeter-totters, which have kind of gone out of acceptance now because of their danger. We played a lot of "Black Man." I think somewhere in our research, we found it started with slavery. I suppose so, because we would yell, "Black Man coming through." The other side would try to catch us and if we got caught, we went on their side. When I was in school (1934- 1943), kids brought their sleds and we did a lot of sledding. The school was on a slope so that was great fun. One real good story from Jackson Township involved a farmer who always came over during recess. One of the girls asked him if he wanted to ride down the hill with her. He hopped on top and she couldn't steer with that extra weight. They got to the bottom of the hill, flew over the bank, and landed on the other side.
SPECIAL EVENTS
The rural school was the community center, used for a variety of purposes. Leslie was definitely one that was used a lot, as was Jamison, which was a little town but it was also a rural school. Another was Brush College, where Alice Edwards taught. Prior to sports events, there was other competition. There were conservation contests for which the kids wrote papers that were sent in and judged. There were Declamatory Contests and Spelling Bees. Those began in the local schools and were attended by parents and other relatives. I will not forget the event when the first word I got in a Spelling Bee was "bureau." I flubbed up, and went down on the first word, which was humiliating because, having won the previous year, I thought of myself as a good speller. Aletha Eddy won the county in 1932 and Merrill Proudfoot in 1937. Marilyn Lewis Foster and her sister, Alice June Lewis Fleming, attended Center school in Knox Township and told about Gladys Cartwright, who qualified for national competition. This was an exciting achievement because the contestants had to win in their own school, then over each school in the township, county, and state to get to the national competition, in which she placed sixth. Gladys's parents moved during her last year in rural school, and rather than having her change schools, they arranged for her to stay in Harold (''Pete") Lewis' home. The girls' mother, Hazel Lewis, coached her spelling as she did her own daughters. It paid off and Gladys and her mother, Gertrude, had this wonderful trip in order for her to compete nationally.
Some of the schools in Clarke County had traveling music teachers. This was true in Jackson Township. As I recall, they came at night and all the people would gather at the school to meet with them. Some schools had box socials for which the girls brought lunches in decorated boxes. They were auctioned off and the boys, supposedly not knowing whose box it was, bought them and thus couples were formed to eat together. Or there were sometimes adult versions of the socials. The money was given to the school, so some of the purchasers were quite generous.
The exception to there being no athletic competition between schools was that sometimes a couple schools got together on a Friday afternoon and played baseball. When I was in school we had Shambaugh Play Day, named after the lady who at that time was the main person at the head of rural schools in the state. It was an all day event and county schools from all around would go and compete in spelling bees, math, 3-legged and wheelbarrow races, and the boys played baseball. We just had a good time with competition at each grade level.
Not all schools had Halloween programs, but in all schools there was always a Christmas program, and the last day of school was traditionally a picnic to which parents came and brought picnic lunches. In all the programs, every child had some part - a song, a poem, whatever was appropriate for his/her level. This was the important part- that each child participated. Other features were that Mothers brought pie and made coffee, one o the dads was Santa Claus, we drew names and had gifts. Each child went home with a gift. My dad was secretary of our township so we were invited to Christmas programs in each rural school in the township. We also went to the one in the Missouri school, where he had attended his first six years of school.
8TH GRADE GRADUATION
The rural schools were required to test 8th grade students. The "powers that be" didn't think rural school children were getting the education they should, so they were the only ones required to take the tests. They went into town for them, which took a whole day. The kids in town did not have to take them. Only the students who passed were allowed to graduate, the others had to repeat the grade. This heightened the importance of their being prepared, and in several months prior to test time, the teacher spent many extra hours working with the 8th graders. There obviously were no free periods during the day, which meant the teacher usually spent a ½ hour or more with the students after the normal school day ended. The tests came from the state department and covered every area of study. Teachers felt obligated to prepare the students, not only for their sakes, but their doing well reflected on her ability and the reputation of the school. We made an entire book of the tests.
Thelma Tinnell, who attended Pine School in Page County, contributed a test from the early 1900s. It was composed of questions on Grammar, Reading, Geography, Arithmetic, Composition, Civic Government, Physiology, and Spelling. Sample questions:
(Grammar) Define active voice, passive voice. Write a sentence in the active voice and change it into the passive. Decline: she, me, thy. How are sentences divided according to use? According to form?
(Reading) Read the following stanzas: ''Under a spreading chestnut tree The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands; And the muscles of his brawny arms Are strong as iron bands. His hair is crisp, and black, and long, His face is like the tan; His brow is wet with honest sweat, He earns whate'er he can, And looks the whole world in the face, For he owes not any man." Paraphrase the above mentioned selection. Give the titles and authors of four famous poems.
(Geography) Distinguish between a grand division and a country. Name the grand divisions in
order of their size. Name five countries. Give your national, state, and county capitals. Also the names of two important officials that reside in each. Define equator, axis, poles, circumference, horizon.
(Arithmetic) Find the value of2/5 of a day in integers. Multiply 40,000 by one millionth. A note of
$375, dated August 4, payable in 30 days and discounted at 6%. Find date when due, bank discount and proceeds.
(Composition) Give and illustrate five rules for the use of capitals. Make out a bill in correct form
for five articles, and receipt it. What is a topic? theme? paragraph? subject? sentence?
(Civil Government) What is a breach of peace? Misdemeanor? Describe a polling place and why is it so called? What is meant by incorporating a village?
(Physiology) Trace a drop of blood through the body. Name five juices of the body and tell the function of each. Describe the brain and give the functions of each division.
The actual transition to high school varied according to circumstances. There were many young people who elected to stay in school an extra year or two. My brother did that, rode a horse his first year of high school, then he was old enough to drive a car. My sister, who was two years younger, passed the test, but stayed in rural school two years until my brother was old enough to drive and she could ride with him.
THE END OF AN ERA
It surely goes without saying that a lot of people didn't want the rural schools to close for several reasons, one being the attention the pupils got. They would not get the same in a larger school where there might be 20 in a class and each child would be one of 20 instead of in the rural schools where they would be one of one or one of two in a class bidding for the teacher's attention. But it is thought of as "progress."
Clarke County completed closing its rural schools in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. In 1958, Clarke County was reorganized and rural schools became apart of Osceola, Murray, Leroy, Grand River, Afton, New Virginia, and Truro school districts. They kept the rural schools in Osceola Township open until the new high school was built. We kept four rural schools open to keep grades one through six. In 1959, we brought in the junior high. In 1961-62 we opened the new high school. The four rural schools closed at that time, with the exception of Ward Center which was open for "special ed" - the trainable kids. This became the forerunner of Bethphage. Mary Delk: was the teacher for the longest period of time. In the course of time those young people were brought in and went to regular classes, with some who had extreme learning and behavioral problems being taught by a special teacher, for some years Don Nevius.
Several school buildings were bought, moved, and made into houses. This is what became of the Fremont School, which is now a house that stands behind the former high schooL Over the years, the designs changed to a degree. Jackson Township had some unique ones.
COMPLETION OF OUR PROJECT
Our work is in 14 books in the genealogy section of the Osceola Public Library, and at the Historical building. They can't be checked out because they can't be replaced, but people can make copies of anything they want. We started with a printing of only 50 books per township, altogether 750 books, because there was no funding for the project. It was necessary for the chairwomen to pay for everything out of our own pockets, and we couldn't afford to print more than we felt we had an opportunity to sell. We sold all we had of some and reprinted, of others we have a smattering left - about 27 copies (at the time of this printing, none are available). Marie White, Margaret Alley and I believe we put in $5,000 over that three-year time. Most of the ladies involved put in close to $1,000. Of course, we charged nothing for our time. We finally had probably $2,000 profit which we divided between the Retired School Personnel Association and the Historical Society. The former gave their share of the profit to the genealogy department of the Osceola Public Library. We stipulated that this money was not to be used for furnishings, like bookshelves. The money was to be used for things people can research.
In the General Book we have some things about the history of the schools. We have an article by Thelma Tinnell on the early American Schools, a map showing where the schools were, a map of the settling of Clarke County by Clarence Graves, Margaret Adams wrote a story of early Iowa schools which is in her book on Leslie. There is a chapter on 8th grade graduation from 1912 to 1959. All the County Superintendents, First Teaching Certificate, Normal Training Institutions with copies of certificates, Clarke County Contests (spelling, speaking, and conservation), and Outhouses are other features of the book along with a list of rural schools still standing in the spring of 1997, newspaper articles from 1884 to 1963 with a finale: The end of an era. To put my mark, on the very last page of the book, there is a picture of the rural school I attended before it was tom down.
Our research yielded the names of each of the teachers who taught in the school system, a list of each of the students who have been taught in each school system, and the directors for each district each year listed. We have pictures and stories sent to us by people who went to school in the various schools. We also have the plat mats and any articles in the Osceola paper that pertained to the various schools are in the appendix. We have all the records that were preserved by the school unfortunately, as already explained, some of the records prior to 1929 were destroyed.
There is still an organization for rural schools that meets in Iowa once a year, as well as holding an annual national meeting. A former local resident, Susan Voss Webb, whose father operated the J. C. Penney store, majored in Theater Art and taught it in the Chicago schools. After moving, they lived in Alabama for awhile when her husband ran a Penney's store there. In the 1960s-70s, along with other women, Susan made children's dresses, and sold them for a big price. With her sewing skills, she later made vintage outfits. She became the teacher in one of their preserved rural schools in Connecticut. They brought in kids, dressed in the vintage clothes, for a whole day and she taught them as the pupils were taught in the olden days. She wrote her own textbooks, and I have several of them.
They moved back to Alabama because that was where their children lived and she continued to do this. At a national meeting, she put on an hour teaching program dressed in costume. In 2005, Eldora wanted a tape of the rural school they had preserved and wanted a teacher teaching it. Bill Sherman arranged for Susan to come back to Iowa for three days. She did a day there and made a video, which will be played on Iowa Public Television. Then she came to Osceola, researched our rural school books, and took stories written by kids in her class that she will share at her 50th class reunion. Her mother was a rural school teacher and Susan has done a lot to preserve the memorabilia. She is someone we can be proud of.
This picture of the 1948 8th grade graduation pupils was contributed by Marian Steams
| 8th Grade Commencement | ||||
| Clarke county Eighth Grade Commencement exercises will be held | RURAL CLASS ROLL | |||
| Friday evening, May 14 at 8 o'clock at the Christian church in Osceola, | ||||
| it was announced this week by Ada Tillotson, County Superintendant | LIBERTY TOWNSHIP | |||
| of schools. | ||||
| Leroy Brammer | Irene Haltom | |||
| Music and recitations and an address by J. Scott Everton | Allen Halverson | Raymond Wilkins | ||
| of Grinnell college will make up the program. | ||||
| FREMONT TOWNSHIP | ||||
| There will be 52 graduates from the rural schools, 48 from Osceola, | ||||
| 22 from Murray and two from Woodburn for a total of 124. | Gene Barnard | Gary Lutz | ||
| Jackie Chandler | Joan McGee | |||
| The names of the graduates follow: | Wanda Jones | Mary Swegle | ||
| Marian Kearney | Janice Young | |||
| OSCEOLA JUNIOR HIGH | ||||
| WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP | ||||
| Patricia Anne Akes | LeRoy Mason | |||
| Marie Deloris Barger | Lola June Mateer | Curtis Eggers | Mary Scadden | |
| Barbara Jean Boggs | Shirley Joy Millsap | |||
| Lyman L. Boggs | Billy Lorraine Mongar | MADISON TOWNSHIP | ||
| Alecia Vaniece Campbell | June Lavisa McCarl | |||
| Inez Irene Chumbley | Wayne E. McIntire | Clayton Bierce | Bonnie Olson | |
| Donald Leo Cline | Murwoyn E. Neveln | Juanita Miller | Velda Searl | |
| Carol Davenport | Patty Lou Overton | |||
| Robert Dobson | Daryl B. Paschall | TROY TOWNSHIP | ||
| Ruby Dohrn | Merle D. Patterson | |||
| John Feight | Max Persels | Merlin Davis | Baunadine Perry | |
| Harry L. Fisher | Donna L. Poortinga | Charles Jones | Everett Whitehead | |
| Daleth JoAnn Glenn | Clementine C. Putney | |||
| Patricia Joan Goodrich | Ronald L. Rowland | WARD TOWNSHIP | ||
| Larry Arthur Handley | 0. Duane Silliman | |||
| Carrie Lucille Harger | Wanda Rose Smith | Beverly Aringdale | Carol Kearney | |
| Wilene Holden | Norman L. Squier | Wilma Goodrich | Bonnie Overton | |
| Floyd Dee Howell | Dorothea D. Stevens | |||
| Hoyle R. Hubbard | Myron L. Swan | OSCEOLA TOWNSHIP | ||
| Marian Anita Jessen | Selma S. Taylor | |||
| Connie Lee Keeler | Joy Darlene Todden | Evelyn Page | ||
| Keith Kerns | Delores J. Vaughn | |||
| Helen Lawyer | Lena Mae Weaklend | JACKSON TOWNSHIP | ||
| Gary Dean Leatherman | Rosemary A. Westhafer | |||
| Monty Grimm | Derschel Pennock | |||
| MURRAY JUNIOR HIGH | Stanley Martin | George Weber | ||
| Dorothy Marie Brown | Emma Louise Iiams | FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP | ||
| Max Leroy Clevenger | Gilbert Leroy Leeps | |||
| Constance Erdeen Cole | Darrell Lee Long | Carolyn Carper | Donley McKimpso | |
| Beverly Ann Conard | Barbara Ann McConnell | Donna Horton | Richard Wright | |
| Robert Louis Day | Fonda Mae Osborn | |||
| Carolyn P. Emerson | Bettie Jean Paxton | GREEN BAY TOWNSHIP | ||
| Lola Marie Farr | Barbara L Siefkas | |||
| Max Russell Flaherty | Elvin Ray Soll | Ronald Kerr | Dwight Osenbaug | |
| Kenneth Levi Forbes | Alice Josephine Staubus | |||
| Geraldean Marie Green | Robert Russell Watson | KNOX TOWNSHIP | ||
| Twyla Jean Gonseth | Eldon Eugene Thurman | |||
| Phyliss Blanchard | Robert McNeal | |||
| WOODBURN JUNIOR HIGH | Everette Carson | Robert Siefkas | ||
| Tharon German | Colleen West | |||
| Naomi Duree | Betty McClure | Donald Glazebrok | Donald West | |
| Darlene Woodward | ||||
Administrator note::: No year was given for these 8th grade graduates, however, based on people I know in this group, I place this as 1948.
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Last Revised September 11, 2013