School District 42

SCHOOL DISTRICT #42
Alfreda (Stute) Schroeder

My first grade experience excitement for me I had a pretty young teacher, Bonita Kirkman She had fun incentive programs where we could earn play money by doing good school work, helping with chores to keep the school and yard clean and on certain days the “store” would be open for us to spend our money to purchase pencils, erasers, etc. This was in 1943.

The school was south of a piece of land that had been broken to farm. However, it was very sandy and on windy days the sand would sift into the school room so bad you could hardly breathe am the windows would hum like paper over a comb when you blow it harmonica style.

In the fall of the year when we’d go back to school, the yard was filled with gourds and sand burrs. We were always picking them out of our socks and sometimes a Mexican sand bur would pierce through my shoes.

Sometimes our school room would be perfumed with skunk odor if one got under the schoolhouse.

On cold days, we’d warm our feet by the stove in the middle of the room. Mid-morning the teacher would put a pan of water on the stove to warm our hot lunches, (usually frozen as the coat room that also stored lunches and our crook water cooler was unheated.) We also used this room to practice reading out loud.

Fun time winter activities were fox and geese in the snow, sledding on the hill south of the school and fun inside games such as clap—in and clap—out. Outside games in nice weather were soft ball, dare base, animal chase (we’d go look in the encyclopedia to find unusual names so we could stump the opposing team), pump, pump pull—away, ante over the schoolhouse, swings, merry-go-round and a new slide.

A highlight was on Arbor my when e planted two trees in front of the school. Today (1984) that is the only evidence of where my school stood.

Other teachers were: Miss Anna Mae Stamm, who the next year became Mrs. Anna Mae Kiesla, Joe Stamm (her brother), and Zella Wolfe. Our “school bus” was a car driven by Esther Walter and later a station wagon driven by Raymond Sampson.

After my sixth (?) grade we took the bus and went to “town school” in Haigler,
—--Alfreda Schroeder
--re-typed from Dundy County Country Schools book.