Looking to the new year ahead... 90 years ago this week-
January, 1921
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Worcester Democrat
January, 1896
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Peninsula Enterprise
December, 1950
Salisbury Times
December, 2013
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Chincoteague Beacon
December, 1988
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Salisbury Daily Times
TRANSCRIPT EXCERPTS FROM 1982 INTERVIEW
(Continued from last week)
INTERVIEWER: How ‘bout school?
MARAH: From the time I was little?
INTERVIEWER: Yeah, yeah, Pocomoke High School as a student.
MARAH: Okay. When I went to high school, it was in an old building which
was where the Mac Center is now.
INTERVIEWER: Where it burnt down …
MARAH: Where it burned, mhmm. And in fact, the oldest building that was
built in about 1905.
INTERVIEWER: Right …
MARAH: They had about two stories.
INTERVIEWER: I know what you mean.
MARAH: And I came to the school from a brand new junior high school in
Baltimore.
INTERVIEWER: Oh.
MARAH: And my impression was that the halls were so dark, and the floors
were oil, in order to keep them clean. Now, I don’t know what the procedure
was, but it definitely gave the impression of being very dark and dungeon-
like.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, right.
MARAH: When I first went, we had Latin classes in the hallway between the
main rooms,
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs.)
INTERVIEWER: Oh, right.
MARAH: But it was fun.
INTERVIEWER: What year did that burn down? Do you remember?
MARAH: I don’t know what year. The building I went to high school in burned
… I don’t remember. I don’t think … I might’ve been away at school ... I’m not
sure.
INTERVIEWER: So that was the …
MARAH: I started teaching in ’30 … ’33.
INTERVIEWER: Here?
MARAH: Mhmm.
INTERVIEWER: At the high school?
MARAH: No, the elementary school, primary school.
INTERVIEWER: Mhmm.
MARAH: But this building was gone at that point.
INTERVIEWER: But then after that building burnt down, they built the one on
Market Street that burnt down.
MARAH: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, Now I understand. I forgot about that one.
MARAH: Yeah, the building that I went to high school in, the building next to
it, where I had home economics in the basement. The building where I had
home economics was the one that burned when I was teaching. Probably in
the late 30’s or 40’s.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. You graduated from Pocomoke.
MARAH: I graduated from Pocomoke, and the graduation ceremony was in
the Mar-Va Theater.
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs) In the Mar-Va?
MARAH: In the Mar-Va Theater.
INTERVIEWER: Why didn’t they have a …
MARAH: Because they did not have an auditorium.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
MARAH: And, of course, our class was not as large. Maybe 46, 48 in the class.
INTERVIEWER: Bigger than the others, I think.
MARAH: Mhmm.
INTERVIEWER: Let’s see. How about discipline. In school.
MARAH: In school … I don’t remember any problems with discipline, really.
INTERVIEWER: I know you didn’t have any problems, did you?
MARAH: I don’t know. (Both laugh.)
INTERVIEWER: Were the teachers, do you think, more strict than they are
now?
MARAH: I think they were probably respected more.
INTERVIEWER: Mmm.
MARAH: And of course there were problems, I’m sure, but not, not problems
that you have today.
INTERVIEWER: What …
MARAH: No drug problems.
INTERVIEWER: Mhmm.
MARAH: No smoking. Very few really, like one big happy family.
INTERVIEWER: What subjects did you take in high school?
MARAH: French, algebra, geometry. Latin, English, history ... civics ... And
some way or other, I ... escaped high school by not having chemistry or
physics. And I had biology.
INTERVIEWER: What about trig?
MARAH: No.
INTERVIEWER: No trig.
MARAH: Nothing beyond geometry.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, you went to college right after high school?
MARAH: I went to Maryland State Normal School, which is now at Towson
Teachers College.
INTERVIEWER: Ah.
MARAH: It was just a two-year course.
INTERVIEWER: And you could teach after?
MARAH: I could teach.
INTERVIEWER: After two years?
MARAH: In the primary school. In the elementary school.
INTERVIEWER: Oh. How about sports, did they have any girls’ sports in your
high school?
MARAH: Volleyball. We had an event every year called relay. It was
competitive in the county. All the high schools met on this one particular day.
And we had relay races, volleyball, basketball. I well remember one
basketball relay I was in, that I’m sure my teammates could cheerfully drown
me.
(Both laugh.)
MARAH: I had some difficulty making a basket.
(Phone rings.)
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs) Okay, we’ll pause.
INTERVIEWER: Boys. Dating.
MARAH: In high school.
INTERVIEWER: Mhmm.
MARAH: In high school, as I said before, we did not go out of the house
during the week. We had dates on Friday night. And a movie date. And,
except in the summertime, we had beach parties and dances. There really
wasn’t … well, we did have bowling. We did go bowling, we enjoyed that. We
went bowling in Ocean City.
INTERVIEWER: All the way to Ocean City?
MARAH: All the way to Ocean City.
(Both laugh.)
Continues next Saturday here at The Pocomoke Public Eye.
This Sunday here at The Pocomoke Public Eye:
Looking to the new year ahead... 90 years ago this week.
PLUS
1896
1950
2013
1988
Earlier this month Will Russell of WESR Radio/Shore Daily News wrote about Christmas observances, or lack of, in early days of America and noting that the tradition was always maintained in Virginia. It's an interesting read.
Twas' The Night Before Christmas in Pocomoke City
(PIKESVILLE, MD) – Maryland State Police will be increasing highway safety patrols over the next two weeks as millions of Marylanders hit the roads for holiday travel.
State Troopers from all 23 barracks will conduct saturation patrols and checkpoints focused on impaired, aggressive and distracted driving. The State Police Impaired Driving Reduction Effort (SPIDRE) team, a specialized unit of trained troopers who are focused on identifying impaired drivers, will also be out patrolling.
