JERRY PERSON -- A Look Back

I had planned to devote only two columns to the Huntington Beach

Elementary School’s open house, which 3,000 people attended in July 1947.

But, longtime resident Jack Weide, husband of famous local writer and

former teacher B.D.L. Weide, told me how he enjoyed reading about and

remembering many of those teachers he had known so many years ago. So

we’ll continue our walk through the halls and peer into more of

yesterday’s classrooms.

In the sixth-grade class of “Skipper” Frances Skipp, students were

learning about China, South America and the South Pacific people and

their customs. On her wall was tacked Mrs. Skipp’s motto -- “To teach a

thing well is to live it.”

In the next classroom, papier-mache birds adorned the walls of Miss Alice

Sturgeon’s class. They were the class’ contribution to the open house.

Her students were proud of their membership in the Junior Audubon Club

and displayed each bird in a papier-mache frame.

The implications of a shrinking world was the theme of Mr. Kayser’s

sixth-grade students, and around the room the students hung original

artwork that stressed the class’ feelings for American solidarity.

The seventh-grade class of Mrs. Meredith Clark chose not to have a theme

but to show the typical day-to-day life of a seventh-grade student.

One of the nicest teachers I knew was Martha Pickering. In her

seventh-grade classroom, her students showed the basics of education --

reading, English and spelling. If only these were emphasized more in

today’s classes.

The history of our early days as a nation and the Constitution that held

the young nation together was the theme of Mr. Richard Hain’s class of

seventh-graders. Around the room were displays of newspapers and

clippings that showed the various sections of a modern newspaper. The

front page, editorial and sports pages held a prominent place in the

room.

Brief biographical sketches of our presidents adorned the walls of Mr.

Sylvester A. Moffett’s class, and there hung a collection of cutout

silhouettes of our presidents done by his students.

A time line showing the history of the United States was the theme of

Mrs. Lois LeBard’s class. Through the use of maps and original plays, her

eighth-graders were able to visualize what life was like at the beginning

of our new nation.

“On Wings of Song” was the theme chosen by Mrs. Frances Lyon’s music

class. On the walls were student-autographed wings with each student’s

favorite song or musical composition. Also around the room were pictures

of musical artists of the time and of early composers that the class had

studied during the year.

The audiovisual department of Miss Elsie Chambers had a display of

posters made by the students during the year and showed the life and

customs of our two territories of Alaska and Hawaii.

A display of dresses, skirts, hand-sewn scarfs and towels were shown in

Mrs. Gail Langenbeck’s home economics class, along with scrapbooks made

by her eighth-grade girls that illustrated model homes.

Mr. Sanders’ manual training class showed off what his students had made

during the year. In that display were homemade brooms, lamps, letter

holders and whatnot shelves.

Well this brings us to the end of that special open house that many still

remember with fond memories.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.