ONE ROOM SCHOOL

By Nancy Karnes

 

I went to Reed School in the corner of Pierce County Grades 1 Ð 3. I went there because my older cousin, Carol, was in 8th grade and she helped me along being I was only five years old when I started. Orval Knegendorf, Wilbur Fuhrman, and Delores Freiberg were all in my class there. I canÕt remember much except walking to school and home in the winter. The older boys Ð Freiberg boys Ð would pull me on their sleds. Sometimes my Dad picked me up with the horses and sleigh.

In third grade I went to Cady Lucas School when my sister Kathryn started school. It was in the corner of Dunn and St. Croix Counties. There were four kids in my class. My teacher, Mary Simon, was very strict, old maid teacher. She would slap our fingers with a yardstick and sit you in the corner. We had a wood stove in the classroom and we all carried wood from a woodshed. It had pans of water on the top and kids would bring jars of food and heat them there for lunch. There was no well, so a farmer delivered the water in milk cans.

We played games outside like fox and goose, tag, softball, and sometimes weÕd play other schools. The last day of school was always softball and good food for picnics. We had a real stage, with a curtain, for the Christmas programs and we would practice and practice. I had piano lessons so I would play for the programs and be scared and nervous!

After eighth grade graduation I went to SVHS, where I met up with Delores, Wilbur, and Orval. We all rode the Wilson bus to SVHS.

    My sister and I joined other kids and walked home from school, biked when we were older, and sometimes skied in the winter cross country.