A compilation of the various experiances and memories of an additional six Mendon school students.
I attended school in 1914 in the old red schoolhouse. The pot bellied stove with a guard around it furnished the heat. The principal was David Winn. My first teacher was Miss Bushman and Marie Burdneau. Then Preston Maughan became principal. My third teacher was Lillian Jensen; my fourth grade teacher was Adelia Lemmon. Fifth grade teacher was Gladys Hughes. The sixth and seventh grade teachers and principal was Henry G. Hughes. I enjoyed my years at the old Mendon School.
Things I remember of the old school days in Mendon. I attended school at the old school only a short time, one and one-half years. Our room had a pot bellied stove in it. It was hot enough to cook a couple of wood ticks plucked from the students near the stove and cold if you were a ways away from it. Veda Sorensen was my teacher 1933-1934. Lois Schiffman and her sister Della were Holy Terrors. On one occasion they chassed the little kids with a snake. Bessie Mae Muir rode in a swing as it went clear over the top and around the pole.
We would make dirt houses at recess. I got a piece of steal in my eye while sweeping our playhouse. I had to wear a bandage for several days. Enjoyed all the attention I received from all the children. We would roller skate around the church house. We were fascinated with the old jail house. Well such as the history of the old school days. I have enjoyed all who have contributed to the compiling. Gladys Hughes (Nelson); Annie Buist; Jemima R. Forster; Lottie Barrett (Baker Richards); Clella Ladle and others.
I started school at six. My sister Cora Hardman (Sorensen) was my first teacher and Eulalia Sorensen (Welch) my second. Adelia Lemmon was my teacher in the middle room, I liked Delia best of all my teachers. She could get more work out of me than anyone else.
Arithmetic was my best subject, I could do that easily, but reading and spelling came hard. My interests were more in sports than academic studies. I usually came out first in athletics. My father also encouraged me in this. At home dad fixed up a track and pole vault and each morning I would run around the block. When we got into the big room our school had the best basketball team in the valley. Afton Bird, LaVern Larsen, Percy Taylor, Theo Whitney and Osmar Baker comprised this team. David Winn was principal and coach.
When Clifford Watkins was principal he tried to teach me to sing, but he didn't have any success. He always wore pointed toed shoes and when he was angry he would give us a kick with those pointed toed shoes. We played basketball in the old back room in the winter and outside in good weather. We played our (basketball) games in Richards Hall.
Mendon school house in 1899 and 1900. The old school bell was used to summon the children to school. It rang at eight-thirty and at nine o'clock in the morning. George Gardner, a cripple was the janitor. The children were kept orderly by a ruler. The first basketball team was organized in this old building. Emer Richards introduced this game in town for the first time. Some of the teachers were Eva Williamson, Rachel Parker, Emer Richards, Peter Larsen, Jesse T. Reese, Leroy Reese, Charles E. Embley, D.A. Boyer and Herbert H. Thompson. The school was supervised by a school board.
In 1934-1935 First and second grades, Miss Veda Sorensen was my teacher. In the middle of the year of 1934, we moved to the new schoolhouse. The first grade was held on the stage. On the last day of school we had a May Walk. We would each bring our lunch. Each teacher would take her group to a different place. My first and second grade teacher was Veda Sorensen; third grade, Miss Jones; fourth grade, Hilda Andersen; fifth and sixth grade, Jennie Richards. In this grade we put our first radio program on the air. Seventh and eighth grades, Durrell Hughes. I have lots of lasting pleasant memories of my days at the Mendon School.
My first recollection is starting in the beginner's grade at six years of age. There were beginners, first and second grades, in the little room. Miss Louise Abuscher I remember being so proud that my name was the same as my teacher, "Rhoda Louise." When she went down the aisle asking our names I was happy to tell her. My aunt was my second grade teacher. Eulalia Sorensen. Each year the room planned a surprise party on the teacher. We each gave a little money for a present. I remember hiding behind Sister Wood's door (that's where Miss Abuscher lived) to jump out and yell surprise!
The whole school used to run away on April Fools' Day. We usually made it up to the rock slide and back. In May the school would have a May walk and go down to the meadows and gather flowers. Adelia Lemmon was my teacher in the third and forth grades. Ronella Watkins in the fifth. David Winn in the big room. I liked all my teachers, got along fine and enjoyed school. The school bell would ring at eight-thirty a.m. and again at nine. When the principal would sound the triangle we would all line up according to room and march into a march, played on the piano. I always thought that would be the height of excellence to be able to play the march. I well remember the day that Percy and Phyllis Taylor came to school first. The principal called us all together and told us to be very kind to them and not laugh because they dressed and talked different than we did. At election time bigger kids would set the losing ones on the fountain.
Our favorite games were prisoners base, pomp pomp, pull away and at spring we would sit on the grass and play mumblety-peg. It was always a treat when mother would let me take my lunch to school. When I reached the seventh grade there were just Wayne Willie, Orval Bird and I. Mr. Winn decided if we did some summer work we could join the eighth grade in the fall. I had the honor of giving the valedictory address on the graduation exercises. I still remember most of it. My mother made me a beautiful dress and sent me to Montgomery Ward store for my shoes. I became so worried for fear the shoes wouldn't arrive in time and sure enough they didn't. I had to wear my old shoes to the exercises. Wayne Willie was such a good reader that the teacher almost always called on him to read aloud during our recreational reading period. In retrospect they were "Happy School Days."