A LOOK BACK -- JERRY PERSON

Last week, we began a look at an open house at the former Central

Elementary School, now known as Dwyer Middle School, held on April 26,

1932.

We finished with the sixth-grade class, and now we’ll continue our

tour with the parents of yesterday’s students. Our student guides brought

us over to the nurse’s room where Miss Kritz showed the parents how the

school handles small scrapes and cuts.

Next on our tour was a visit with the school’s bus driver, Joe Perry

(namesake of Perry School), who drove students to and from school for

many years.

It was now time to tour the classrooms of the older students in the

seventh and eighth grades. In Mrs. Austin’s seventh-grade class, her

students were learning about American government and with films, were

able to see how the government works.

In Mrs. Boos’ seventh-grade history class, her pupils were learning,

with the aid of maps, how the United States acquired all its territory.

In her eighth-grade class, her students were learning about the two

houses of Congress by comparing and contrasting their special duties. Her

pupils reenacted a typical Senate meeting dressed up like well-known

politicians of that time.

Reading was of primary importance in a student’s later life, and in

Mr. Comrie’s reading and literature class, the students were learning

about the history of the world using the Weekly Reader magazine, and do I

remember reading that magazine when I went to school.

Before computers and spell check came along, you were required to

remember how to spell words, and it is to Mr. Duncan’s credit that many

of our residents can spell.

In Mr. Gruner’s English class, the knowledge of spelling would come in

handy when his students would put those words into sentences and then

into lengthy compositions. He showed his students how to use proper

grammar in everyday life.

Our guide next brought us to Miss Van Thyl’s homemaking classroom

where her students were learning how to sew. Displayed around her

classroom walls were samples of summer dresses completed by her students

during the year.

In Mr. Reid’s wood shop class, boys were taught how to make fine

pieces of furniture from wood, and around the shop were samples of fern

stands, desks, cedar chests and tables.

We must not overlook the drama class of Miss Chambers. While the

parents toured her class, her students drew and cut out lifelike

silhouettes on paper of the parents and presented these to the parents as

keepsakes.

In the two hours of the open house, each parent saw how their child

was doing in class and what they could be learning in future grades.

Over the many years, our teachers have been a major influence on the

future leaders of our city and of our nation, and I am sure those proud

parents leaving the school, so long ago, were thinking to themselves how

lucky it was to have these great teachers here in Huntington Beach.

* 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.