Published: June 05, 2009 11:00 am      

Looking back at the one room school

The Scott school was near the Valley Chapel, the little church that has been moved to the Marion County Historical site. Three former students who contacted me all mentioned that it was often called the Valley school.

Frances Brees Kain writes that her last four years were spent at this school. “I always thought it was such a pretty area, located about six miles south east of Knoxville in a quiet valley with lots of singing birds and pheasants that would startle you as you walked down the dirt road and past the little country church.”

Maxine Kline Bruinekool also mentions trudging down that road with boots caked with mud. She says that while playing baseball some of the farm boys hit the ball so hard it could knock you over. One day a ball hit her nose which bled the rest of the afternoon. She also recalls that when it was her turn to take the wagon to the neighboring farm for drinking water she was afraid of the dog that came running out to greet her.

Zella McDonald Brown also mentions having to carry water which was used to fill a large crock with a push button spigot. Zella came from a family of nine children, all of whom attended Scott school. Not all the children of her parents Henry and Ethel McDonald were in school at the same time and some of them dropped out early to work. When Zella started to school after Labor Day in 1936 there were five siblings in attendance. It was a very traumatic day for her because her pony had just been killed in a barn fire stared by a lightening strike. Now she would have to walk to school. Zella went barefoot as soon as it was warm enough in the spring until it cooled of the fall. One fall day it snowed early and she walked home barefoot in the snow.

Many country schools were part of close knit communities where there was no controversy about which daily rituals should be followed, therefore, Zella was surprised to find that two new students who were Jehovah Witnesses could not pledge allegiance to the flag. ( In 1954 when I was teaching in Monroe I too was surprised to be called into the Principal’s office and told that I had offended half the community by reading the Christmas story from the New Revised version of the bible rather than the King James version.)

Zella keeps a journal and writes letters to many. She still hears from some of her grade school teachers, four of whom are still living. Like many of us who attended country school she credits her teachers with giving her a good start in life. Here is the list of teachers known to have taught at Scott School: Julia Ruckman, Blanche Welch 1895, Katie Brennen, Katie Jones 1898, Nellie Roberts 1899, Estella Jenkins 1900, Lula Townsend, Connie Brennan 1901, Nannie Hyatt, Anna Ridenour, Walter Bone 1903, Doris Ervin, Edythe Hartness 1904, Edythe Hartness, Walter Kester 1905, Bessie Steen 1906, Irmagaarde Braun, Estella Brubaker 1907, Art Betterton, 1908, Estella Brubaker 1909, Cora Rankin 1910, Stella Brubaker 1911, Lizzie McKinney, Ethel Jones 1912, Ethel Jones 1913-14, Nellie Johnson 1915, Ferne Rowland 1916-17, Charlee Sceele 1918, Ferne Rowland 1919, Hazel Chivers 1920-22, Avis Van Loon 1924, Fern Brause, 1925, Myrtle Van Loon 1928-29, Clara Ridlen 1931-33, Geneva Van Loon 1934, Arlene Covey 1935, Betty Whaley 1936, Maxine Covey 1938-39, Marjorie Litton 1940-43, Betty Wing 1944, Mrs. Carolyn Sween 1945, Mrs. Helen Moore 1948-51, Mrs. Catrenich 1952, Minnie McDonnell 1953, Minnie McDonnell Davis 1954-55, Pauline Stittsworth 1956-57, Gertrude McCullough 1958.



The next school will be Shiloh in Liberty township. Contact me at 641-628-4716 or helenboertje @iowatelecom.net