Sunday, January 29, 2012

TIME MACHINE ... School Days!

(Reader-friendly viewing of newspaper archives material)


August, 1958

School faculty members were announced for Pocomoke City schools for the 1958-1959 school year:

Pocomoke High School


Leon N. Timmons, Principal

Verlin C. Krabill

Betty Jane Burton

William C. Carey, Jr.

Lucille G. Hatfield

Louise Holbrook

J. Nelson Jester

Clothilde H. Kellogg

Gladys N. Lankford

Louis Malkus

Elizabeth P. Marshall

Mary E. Matthews

Marilyn P. Melendy

Charles S. Murphy

Rheba Alice Palmer

Pauline L. Robertson

Marian G. Severance

Phillip W. Slacum

Luella H. Tatam

Jacquelyn E. Trader

Lawrence A. Powell


Pocomoke Elementary School

John W. Tatem, Jr., principal

Violel Chesser

Ruth Cropper

Dorothy A. Elliot

N. Mae Ellis

Katherine S. Etchison

Anna E. Meyers

Margaret V. Stoffers

Pauline P. Tyndall

Agnes B. Willard

Ruby T. Wilson

Blanche D. Wright


Pocomoke Primary School

Anne L. Ross, principal

Sara S. Dallas

Martha W. Duncan

Zella C. Lamdem

Pearl P. Mariner

LaReine T. Powell

Julia E. Robertson

Footnote: From a little earlier I recall Barbara Lee Tull (later active in Pocomoke business and civic affairs) as one of my Junior High teachers...possibly her first teaching job(?). -tk for PPE



February, 1964

Winners were announced in a contest in which high school students in Worcester County vied for honors for bringing in Civil War relics. Pocomoke High School winners were: Mike Bloxom placing first for an 1858 Colt .44 revolver; Jack Tatem, second, with a Springfield rifle and a Civil War era postage stamp; Melissa Jackson, third, with a Civil War sword that was used by her great-grandfather. The contest was jointly sponsored by the Worcester County Historical Society and The Maryland Civil War Commission.


June, 1941

With the closing of the one-teacher school in Westover Miss Mary Ritzel, the teacher in charge, was retiring from active duty. When school resumed the Westover students would be transported by bus to Princess Anne.


April, 1946

School news reported by students in the "PHS Speak's" column in Pocomoke's Worcester Democrat newspaper included items about a month long competition among home room classes for cleanest rooms...the annual Commercial Day program under the direction of Miss Mary Emily Matthews...an Easter Party being planned by Miss Pearl Bratten's 5th and 6th grade classes...a victory garden project under the direction of Mrs. Wilson...a fried chicken dinner for faculty and Chef Club members, directed by Miss Mable Jones...the organization of an Aviation Club to make model airplanes and collect information about important flights, under the direction of Mrs. Mae Taylor...and the organization of a Camera Club under the direction of Mrs. Cutright.


March, 1949

A fire broke out at the old Pocomoke school building on Walnut Street where some 190 first through third graders were attending classes. They filed out safely under the supervision of Principal Miss Annie Ross. Pocomoke firemen had the blaze under conrol in about 30 minutes. The 70-year-old three-story structure sufffered roof and water damage. An overheated flue was believed to be the cause of the fire.




Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of interest your parents or grandparents told you about? It can be just a line or two or more if you wish. Your name won't be used unless you ask that it be. Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting!

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:27:00 PM

    Of the thirty ladies listed I can count at least seven of the older ones who never married. Back then, before political correctness, we called them spinsters or old maids. Anne Meyers didn't count: she was young at the time and would shortly marry William Taylor.

    Your friend,
    Slim

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5:00:00 PM

    Where on Walnut Street was the old Pocomoke school building?

    ReplyDelete
  3. tk, this is a wonderful post -again!

    I believe the Pocomoke school was where the Senior Center is and the health dept. Between Cedar and Walnut, 4th and 5th.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous5:32:00 PM

    Yes, the primary school, grades one and two, was located where the current senior is. Grades three and four were located in the old wooden building on the same lot that served as the high school many, many years ago. That building was demolished approximately 1958. Overflow classrooms were located in the Masonic Temple on Walnut Street, a few blocks south of the primary school. When the current high school was completed third through sixth grades were housed in the building located where Hartley Hall is now. Kind of like a Chinese fire drill until they got everything sorted out.

    Your friend,
    Slim

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was in Sara Dallas's first grade class the day of the fire. The new elementary school (current Health Department building) was under construction at the time. We were in the new building the next year. Mary Lee Moore was my second grade teacher. She and Klein Leister were married during that school year. Julia Robertson was my third grade teacher. Fourth grade was in the old building Slim refers to; my teacher was Agnes Willard. The next year it was off to the building connected to the west end of Pocomoke High at 10th & Market Streets where fifth and sixth grades were located. As Slim indicates, classes in various buildings varried over the years.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great memories, Slim and TK! I've learned alot of things I never knew.

    Slim- Councilman Malloy laughed at the comment you made about him- just thought you would like to know.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous7:37:00 AM

    ??? I don't recall a comment regarding Councilman Malloy. He has my highest respect.

    Your friend,
    Slim

    ReplyDelete

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