TO THE DISAPPOINTED CLASS OF 2020
Currently we are going through a tough time for sure. While as the old hymn says, “there are no disappointments in heaven” on earth that is not the case. While it is those times we toughen up, going through them is not pleasant.
Lately I read comments of how hard it is for the high school seniors who are missing out on so much. It is a joyous time that is being sacrificed. However, recalling times from my past I want to assure them that in coming years they will have valuable stories to tell and strength because of lessons learned now.
In the local Corbett area there was no high school at all until 1914. Prior to that time the only way any student got a high school education was to go to Portland. Girls often did that working for some household as a nanny or house maid to pay for their board and room while they went to school. Because of family responsibilities my mother (Clara Kerslake Baker) was not able to do that. She was born in 1898 and graduated eighth grade in Springdale but there was no local high school yet, so she waited. Eventually she was in the first class at then Columbian High. She started as a freshman at sixteen.
Her stories of high school were very positive as she looked forward to getting her diploma and then being able to teach in a grade school. She also told wonderful stories about walking to school from Springdale, especially on those windy days we all know about in the Gorge.
Her dreams were shattered in her Senior year when her Mother became ill and she was forced to quit school and go home to be the primary caretaker of her Mom and her younger siblings. Over the years there were several elderly residents of Corbett given honorary diplomas to recognize the difficulties they endured. I was honored to present hers in 1985 when I was on the school board. She was 87 then, and was delighted to receive that diploma and it remained in a place of honor until she passed at age 100.
Granted life is much different now but disappointments for young people are not new and are part of what toughens us up for life.
I believe in my own actual graduation time the biggest disappointment was that only one boy was in attendance because the rest were already somewhere fighting WWII. That indeed was sad.
When anyone asks me about my high school years, which are usually the most fun times of ones life, in many ways I say that I can’t really relate. I started high school in the fall of 1939. Actually I was scared to death to go to the “big” school having gone all my grade school years in Aims one room school. High school itself was a scary transition.
It was really okay when I got there and life was pretty fun and then came Pearl Harbor and what was.....well, it wasn’t anymore. Early in 1942 the Japanese internment began and they took our Japanese friends away as if they were enemies. That was a heart wrenching experience that probably contributed to my convictions of justice (or the lack of it) to this day.
Of course, life immediately changed for all of us. Laborers were few so over those years if there were crops to harvest we would get out of school to help. Even remember working in Evans cannery a few times. The school year was short and all activities minimized because gas was rationed so travel was as well. There was a Junior-Senior banquet held in the school gym and we felt special for getting that.
Our year book was really special in the year I graduated in 1943. Of course we were encouraged to buy stamps toward purchasing a War Bond so even if it were possible we would have been ashamed to try to get something professionally done. So, we did our own. It was mimeographed with no pictures....just information about the class in writing. They are fun stories though. Paper was even hard to get and some things impossible so we did the best with what we had. All metal went to the war effort so no brads were available even. Therefore our year book is tied together with ribbon. Actually after 77 years it is still hanging together. That was good ribbon.
My hopes were to be a teacher also and I even had a scholarship which will really give anyone reading this a chuckle. Recently I found a letter in one of my boxes of saved things that informed me I had a $50 scholarship to Linfield college waiting for me.
Imagine that.
Then, came our actual graduation where I mentioned only one boy was left in the class to attend. At 18 a boy could be drafted but needed a parents signature at 17. A student in good standing, regardless of age, would get a diploma. The remaining boy was not 18 until September and his parents decided he could wait until school was out and so he did. Shortly after graduation he joined the Navy. That boy was Ross Johnson...yes the one and only wonderful Ross Johnson...a Corbett landmark.
My plans to become a teacher did not work out but the month we graduated one of the Weather Bureau employees, who had a wife and child, was drafted and another worker was needed. I got that job and started work on Monday after graduating on Friday. The weather station was on Crown Point...and my job there was very interesting. Many stories for a later time.
Life is an adventure and my hope is that because of this hitch or glitch in life we will all be better for it.
Congratulations to all those who have made it to this place in the journey of life and journal your memories.....wish I had.
Currently we are going through a tough time for sure. While as the old hymn says, “there are no disappointments in heaven” on earth that is not the case. While it is those times we toughen up, going through them is not pleasant.
Lately I read comments of how hard it is for the high school seniors who are missing out on so much. It is a joyous time that is being sacrificed. However, recalling times from my past I want to assure them that in coming years they will have valuable stories to tell and strength because of lessons learned now.
In the local Corbett area there was no high school at all until 1914. Prior to that time the only way any student got a high school education was to go to Portland. Girls often did that working for some household as a nanny or house maid to pay for their board and room while they went to school. Because of family responsibilities my mother (Clara Kerslake Baker) was not able to do that. She was born in 1898 and graduated eighth grade in Springdale but there was no local high school yet, so she waited. Eventually she was in the first class at then Columbian High. She started as a freshman at sixteen.
Her stories of high school were very positive as she looked forward to getting her diploma and then being able to teach in a grade school. She also told wonderful stories about walking to school from Springdale, especially on those windy days we all know about in the Gorge.
Her dreams were shattered in her Senior year when her Mother became ill and she was forced to quit school and go home to be the primary caretaker of her Mom and her younger siblings. Over the years there were several elderly residents of Corbett given honorary diplomas to recognize the difficulties they endured. I was honored to present hers in 1985 when I was on the school board. She was 87 then, and was delighted to receive that diploma and it remained in a place of honor until she passed at age 100.
Granted life is much different now but disappointments for young people are not new and are part of what toughens us up for life.
I believe in my own actual graduation time the biggest disappointment was that only one boy was in attendance because the rest were already somewhere fighting WWII. That indeed was sad.
When anyone asks me about my high school years, which are usually the most fun times of ones life, in many ways I say that I can’t really relate. I started high school in the fall of 1939. Actually I was scared to death to go to the “big” school having gone all my grade school years in Aims one room school. High school itself was a scary transition.
It was really okay when I got there and life was pretty fun and then came Pearl Harbor and what was.....well, it wasn’t anymore. Early in 1942 the Japanese internment began and they took our Japanese friends away as if they were enemies. That was a heart wrenching experience that probably contributed to my convictions of justice (or the lack of it) to this day.
Of course, life immediately changed for all of us. Laborers were few so over those years if there were crops to harvest we would get out of school to help. Even remember working in Evans cannery a few times. The school year was short and all activities minimized because gas was rationed so travel was as well. There was a Junior-Senior banquet held in the school gym and we felt special for getting that.
Our year book was really special in the year I graduated in 1943. Of course we were encouraged to buy stamps toward purchasing a War Bond so even if it were possible we would have been ashamed to try to get something professionally done. So, we did our own. It was mimeographed with no pictures....just information about the class in writing. They are fun stories though. Paper was even hard to get and some things impossible so we did the best with what we had. All metal went to the war effort so no brads were available even. Therefore our year book is tied together with ribbon. Actually after 77 years it is still hanging together. That was good ribbon.
My hopes were to be a teacher also and I even had a scholarship which will really give anyone reading this a chuckle. Recently I found a letter in one of my boxes of saved things that informed me I had a $50 scholarship to Linfield college waiting for me.
Imagine that.
Then, came our actual graduation where I mentioned only one boy was left in the class to attend. At 18 a boy could be drafted but needed a parents signature at 17. A student in good standing, regardless of age, would get a diploma. The remaining boy was not 18 until September and his parents decided he could wait until school was out and so he did. Shortly after graduation he joined the Navy. That boy was Ross Johnson...yes the one and only wonderful Ross Johnson...a Corbett landmark.
My plans to become a teacher did not work out but the month we graduated one of the Weather Bureau employees, who had a wife and child, was drafted and another worker was needed. I got that job and started work on Monday after graduating on Friday. The weather station was on Crown Point...and my job there was very interesting. Many stories for a later time.
Life is an adventure and my hope is that because of this hitch or glitch in life we will all be better for it.
Congratulations to all those who have made it to this place in the journey of life and journal your memories.....wish I had.
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