There were two fifth grade teachers at Woodsdale School: Miss Fritz the "nice teacher" who gave kids rides in her Cadillac and had parties in her room all the time. And then, there was Mrs. Woods, the "mean" teacher who looked like a snowy egret and ate children for breakfast. Everyone in my family older than I am had Miss Fritz and according to them she was the angel of teacherdom.
The first day of school, we stood outside on the steps waiting for our room assignments from Mr. Hile. When he said I was assigned to Mrs. Wood's class, I made up my mind to quit school rather than be tortured. IT JUST WASN'T FAIR!!! So I turned around and walked home. Where my dear, patient mother asked why I was there. "I quit school", I told her. I explained the inequity of my getting Mrs. Woods and her only reply was "Your father will be home tonite and you can tell him about it".
When Dad came home and I explained my plight, he showed little sympathy and told me we would talk further in the the morning. I went off to bed thinking he would make it all right. The next morning he said, "I've decided you can quit school, but you have to go tell Mr. Hile why".
The prospect of facing Mr. Hile, the principal was daunting. He looked like Abe Lincoln and though nice, was a bit scary. I sat in a leather wing-back chair in his office and told him that I just could NOT have "the mean teacher". After a long pause, he said, "Well, your father says it is alright if you quit school, but I think you owe it to Mrs. Woods to tell her why you are leaving".
The bottom fell out of my world! My heart was racing and so loud I could hear it screaming in my chest. Noooooooooooo! This was a fate worse than death, but I was determined. I tiptoed down the stairs to the first floor. All the doors were shut as classes were in session. Meekly, I knocked on Mrs. Woods door. After a few minutes she opened it and stuck her beak out. I asked if I could talk to her privately. She set the class to work and came out in the hallway. I explained that I was quitting school. She asked why I didn't want to be in her class. I replied, "Because you are "the MEAN teacher". She asked how I would know that since I had never been in her class. I was perplexed but told her EVERYONE knows. Eventually, she suggested that I should give her class a try before quitting so that I would have a sound basis for my decision.
That sounded fair to me, but she stipulated that at the end of the week, after school on Friday, we would talk about how the week went. I agreed. Well, that first week, I was a hero to all my classmates for standing up to her, but I soon began to see just how great she was at teaching. By Friday, I knew I wanted to stay, but I'd be damned if I was going to admit that I was wrong.
Friday came and during our interview I asked her if I could have another week as I still wasn't sure. This went on every week for the whole school year!
On my birthday, I got the shock of my life when she let my mother bring cupcakes and ice cream into the classroom. I learned so much that year, especially in geography and history, but was still not going to admit she was the best teacher I ever had. Meanwhile, the kids in Ms. Fritz' class got rides in her Cadillac, but I felt I had something better....a love of learning and a good teacher.
Many years later, I had to give a speech to 800 people at my graduation for Teachers' College. I recounted this story. But, that is not the end of the story....I found out that my father had called Mr. Hile and Mrs. Woods and explained that his daughter was stubborn, but not stupid and would give a teacher a chance to prove herself. Thanks to the MEAN TEACHER I learned a valuable life lesson which I used with my high school classes for many years.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
On the Ball
Woodsdale school had an amazing lady named Eleanor Ball who taught English to recalcitrant junior high students for many, many years. She taught my mother, all my aunts and uncles, and my four older brothers and sisters before I had the "privilege" of being her student.
Basically she was mad as a hatter and terrified her students. She was tall, thin, white haired and was a bit bird-like in appearance. Her specialty was embarassing students who either couldn't or wouldn't learn what she had to offer.
To illustrate what a direct object was, she would throw an eraser at you! She talked to the window blinds and any unfortunate insects that happened into her classroom. We were required to memorize every prepostion in the English language and to this day, I'd say most of her students can still recite them. Diagramming sentences on the blackboard was particularly stressful, but by golly, it helped me understand the parts of speech.
One gimmick that she used as an "incentive' was her sticker clubs. For every success in grammar she would reward with a sticker to be placed on your special page which was usually prominently displayed in her classroom. I always found it embarassing.
Having said all that, I have to admit that to this day I thank her for her lessons. I cringe at mis-use of grammar and always think of her when I see it.
Now, the end of the story: When she was retiring, Miss Ball asked a friend of mine (who was a new teacher at the school and had been her pupil) to help her clean out her desk. In the drawer was a bottle of "cough syrup" which the wiley old lady admitted was a bit of vodka that would "help her through the bad days". Thank goodness for the Miss Balls of this world.
Basically she was mad as a hatter and terrified her students. She was tall, thin, white haired and was a bit bird-like in appearance. Her specialty was embarassing students who either couldn't or wouldn't learn what she had to offer.
To illustrate what a direct object was, she would throw an eraser at you! She talked to the window blinds and any unfortunate insects that happened into her classroom. We were required to memorize every prepostion in the English language and to this day, I'd say most of her students can still recite them. Diagramming sentences on the blackboard was particularly stressful, but by golly, it helped me understand the parts of speech.
One gimmick that she used as an "incentive' was her sticker clubs. For every success in grammar she would reward with a sticker to be placed on your special page which was usually prominently displayed in her classroom. I always found it embarassing.
Having said all that, I have to admit that to this day I thank her for her lessons. I cringe at mis-use of grammar and always think of her when I see it.
Now, the end of the story: When she was retiring, Miss Ball asked a friend of mine (who was a new teacher at the school and had been her pupil) to help her clean out her desk. In the drawer was a bottle of "cough syrup" which the wiley old lady admitted was a bit of vodka that would "help her through the bad days". Thank goodness for the Miss Balls of this world.
Woodsdale Kids' article in Magazine
Good News! An article with stories from this blogsite will be featured in Goldenseal Magazine in their Summer 2013 issue. If you are not familiar with this magazine, it is a publication of West Virginia Culture and History Department and has been around a LONG time. It features only stories about West Virginia and it's people. Check it out at the library, I don't think it is online. I also have another article in their next issue about Billy Sunday's 1910 visit to Wheeling. The people of Wheeling built a "tabernacle" for him that seated 8,000 and they built it in FOUR days.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
The Green Thing
Author Unknown:
Checking out at the supermarket, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days." The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles, and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocers and didn't climb into a 200-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 2000 watts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV or radio in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Rhode Island. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gas just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working, so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then.
When we were thirsty we drank from a tap instead of drinking from a plastic bottle of water shipped from the other side of the world. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical socket in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest fast food restaurant.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
Please forward this on to another selfish, grumpy old character who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart-aleck young person. Remember: Don't make old people mad. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to tick us off.
Checking out at the supermarket, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days." The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles, and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocers and didn't climb into a 200-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 2000 watts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV or radio in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Rhode Island. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gas just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working, so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then.
When we were thirsty we drank from a tap instead of drinking from a plastic bottle of water shipped from the other side of the world. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical socket in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest fast food restaurant.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
Please forward this on to another selfish, grumpy old character who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart-aleck young person. Remember: Don't make old people mad. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to tick us off.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The Streets Where We Grew Up
The top photo is of Poplar Avenue about 1918. The first visible house on the right is the Squibb's, one of the first built. Next door is Anne Brown's family home. The bottom picture is of Maple at Woodlawn Avenue. The first visible house would be where the famous Wheeling musician Kim Butler grew up. The house (not visible) with the hedge next door was Goodwin's, my grandparents. How lucky we were to grow up in a neighborhood where the streets were often our playground, everyone knew each other, and crime was unknown. Our neighborhood is now on the Register of Historic Areas.Saturday, January 14, 2012
Good OLD Woodsdale
This is a postcard of Woodsdale as it appeared between 1907 and 1918. In the foreground are the trolley tracks that eventually ran thru what we now call Lovers Lane or the Pig Path. You are looking at the rear of the houses on lower Maple. Woodlawn Ave and the Trolley Station would be to the right of the fifth house. Goodwins, my grandparents, lived across from the Walkers whose house is sixth from the left.
Up on the hill, behind the houses is the Stratford Hotel. It was located just off of Edgwood Street. At the time ,it was one of the largest spas east of the Mississippi. It had 84 rooms, three sun parlors, two dining rooms, a spacious lobby, a tennis court, pool, and a billiard parlor. It had an on site power plant and a phone in each room.
One dining room seated 300 and was the site of many luncheons including one for the WVU football team. Invited guests included the Welty's, Speidels, Eckharts, Hazletts, McLures and Franzheims. Lily List, the manager and Pres. of the Corp that owned the hotel was said to be the most beautiful woman in the city.
The hotel was popular with high society and it was cheaper for them to live there in the winter than heat their houses. They brought their own furnishings, enjoyed delicious meals, drank the spa water, and best of all....enjoyed the many masked balls held there. It cost $15 a week for a suite.
On January 13th, 1918 a spark from a gasoline engine in the ice department set waste nearby on fire. The fire spread quickly, but there was little that the fire department could do as they only had one steamer to supply the hoses and the water froze as it hit the building. Ms. Meek, who taught many of us English at Triadelphia told me that she watched the fire from her bedroom and her father went to help fight the fire. No lives were lost, but the building was a total loss.
I have much more information about the hotel and the springs. If you are interested, feel free to contact me, but be prepared to write a post for this blog spot in exchange.
Oh, and by the way the correct spelling is Edgwood Street...it is a combination of the names Edgington and Wood, the families that owned the properties originally .
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Linda Rogers Owen
We mourn the passing of Woodsdale Kid Linda Rogers Owen, sister of Nancy Rogers Rea and Judy Rogers Towns.
Linda Rogers Owen, age 69, of Allens Creek Road, Waynesville, NC passed away on Tuesday, November 22, 2011.
A native of Wheeling, West Virginia, she had previously resided in Hollywood, Florida before moving to Haywood County in 2006. She was the daughter of the late Edward and Dorothy McColloch Rogers and was also preceded in death by her husband, Don R. Owen, who died in 1995 and a sister, Ellen Tharpe.
Linda worked as a nutritionist and was a professional artist. Linda was devoted to all God’s creatures, especially her cat, Charlie.
She is survived by her daughter, Traci Owen, of Waynesville; one son, Travis Owen and his wife, Carol, of Port St. Lucie, Florida; two sisters, Nancy Rhea and Judy Townes, both of Crystal River, Florida; one brother, Bob Rogers of Plantation, Florida; and two grandchildren, Kyle and Kady.
Memorials may be made to SARGE’S Animal Rescue, P.O. Box 854, Waynesville, NC 28786.
Linda Rogers Owen
Born in Wheeling, West Virginia
Departed on Nov. 22, 2011 and resided in Waynesville, NC.
Linda Rogers Owen, age 69, of Allens Creek Road, Waynesville, NC passed away on Tuesday, November 22, 2011.
A native of Wheeling, West Virginia, she had previously resided in Hollywood, Florida before moving to Haywood County in 2006. She was the daughter of the late Edward and Dorothy McColloch Rogers and was also preceded in death by her husband, Don R. Owen, who died in 1995 and a sister, Ellen Tharpe.
Linda worked as a nutritionist and was a professional artist. Linda was devoted to all God’s creatures, especially her cat, Charlie.
She is survived by her daughter, Traci Owen, of Waynesville; one son, Travis Owen and his wife, Carol, of Port St. Lucie, Florida; two sisters, Nancy Rhea and Judy Townes, both of Crystal River, Florida; one brother, Bob Rogers of Plantation, Florida; and two grandchildren, Kyle and Kady.
Memorials may be made to SARGE’S Animal Rescue, P.O. Box 854, Waynesville, NC 28786.
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