Teacher’s vacations in 1958

A LOOK BACK

It’s summertime -- remember how when were young that meant summer

vacation from school work for three whole months? In that time we

planned to cram as much playtime as be could. There would be time for

family trips to some far away place where those sights and sounds

would remain fresh in our memory forever.

But as kids we probably never gave a thought to what our teachers

would be doing for their summer break.

So with the 100th anniversary coming up of the Huntington Beach

City School District I thought we would look at how some of Central

Elementary school teachers planned their summer in 1958.

It would be an exciting trip in June to Oklahoma for Lois LaBard

as she visits her daughter Darlene and to see how much her four

grandchildren have grown.

After her visit with her daughter, LaBard would join three of her

fellow teachers for an exciting tour of the Rockies. Joining her

would be Florence Boosey, Dora Dow and Lea Hood.

Their trip would cover parts of the Bad Lands of South Dakota,

Yellowstone Park and the spectacular scenery found around the Grand

Teton mountains. But before returning to her class in September, Hood

planned a visit to see her family in Auburn, Calif. and relatives in

Reno, Nev.

The two Alices -- Alice Freeman and Alice Sturgeon -- planned

their summer to visit Mexico and Guatemala and to enjoy the sights

south of our border.

Rebecca MacMillan would be winging her way to Boston to see family

and to take a leisurely tour of the New England countryside and may

even get up into Canada.

Ben Gautier, his wife Nancy and their daughter Yvonne planned to

see the beautiful rock formations and cliff dwellings found in Mesa

Verde National Park.

Staying around the area for the summer, Mildred Mechling showed

her friends and relatives the beauties of Huntington Beach.

Clay Ellis and his wife hitched their trailer to their car and

drove into the southern states to spend time with friends and

relatives in Texas, Arkansas, Florida and into Nebraska.

It was Wisconsin bound for Martha Ridenour and her husband as they

spend time with her parents. Then they traveled over to Pennsylvania

to spend a short time with her husband’s family.

Marjory “Pepper” Fitts spent 10 exciting days traveling with 25

high school girls in a canvas-covered stake-bed truck to Northern

California. They planned to sleep out in the open air and cook their

meals under an open sky. Their trip covered 800 to 900 miles through

redwood country and a stop at San Simeon. But before heading out

Pepper Fitts had to finish her master’s thesis and work two weeks at

Pine Valley YWCA in Ventura County.

Marguerite Deem plans to take her husband John on a fishing trip

to Ensenada. Summer and fishing seem to go together and for Ben

Cooper and Ray Spencer, they will wet their hooks in some cool stream

near Bishop.

There was love in the air when Wilma Cropsey married Albert

Mossteller and the two newlyweds honeymooned in Vancouver, Canada. It

was up to the north woods for Elinor Greer who traveled the by-ways

of the Pacific Northwest and spent some time in Victoria, Canada.

Janet Tellefsen didn’t leave home for the summer but instead had

house guests from the east.

Wes Cowling and Chick Vaughan took a troop of Boy Scouts to the

high Sierras and then to the town of Sabrina north of Bishop.

Ina Blossom enjoyed the beautiful beaches of a Huntington Beach.

Ina wasn’t the only teacher spending summer in Surf City. Eunice

Black, Florence Hannah, Ada Hume, Georgia Stewart and Shirley

Cavanaugh also enjoyed staying at home that summer.

But for some teachers summer break meant extra time to complete

their education. Bernice Lawrence spent time catching up on piles of

work after receiving her masters from Long Beach State College.

Other teachers took extra jobs to earn some money to make ends

meet. Robert Borden took a job at the happiest place on earth,

Disneyland. He guided tourists around the magic kingdom.

Don Pate worked at one of our local markets to earn his extra

money.

One of my favorite places to visit in 1958 was Knott’s Berry Farm,

it was free to get in and Ghost Town was so much fun then and you

could spend an entire day there on what you would spend for a fancy

cup of coffee at Starbucks.

Now that I look back on my summer of 1958 it was pretty dull

compared to those wonderful teachers of Central Elementary.

* 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.