Students weren’t the only new faces in school

JERRY PERSON

Summer is rapidly coming to a close, and for many moms it will be a

time for shopping for clothes as their kids go back to school. I

remember in 1948 being brought to school for my first year in

kindergarten. This event can be quite traumatic for some young

children.

This week we’ll look at what was happening in our schools in 1948

as our children head back to class.

With World War II over, those children who were born in wartime

were reaching their 5th birthday, and it was time for them to forget

playtime and to begin their long journey through school.

The baby boomers were on the march.

Before the doors opened at Central Elementary for regular class,

they opened up on Sept. 8 as the parents arrived to enroll their

young children for kindergarten class at 10 a.m. It was inside the

school’s cafeteria that they lined up to register, and in this year,

there were 100 new children starting school for the first time.

Can you imagine being a father and standing in line along with 99

mothers? That is just what Tom Wyllie of Huntington Street had the

distinction of doing. I wonder what his wife Florence was doing that

morning?

Maybe Tom had come to have some hot coffee or cookies and

sandwiches that the school’s PTA members had provided that day. Maybe

he just wanted to watch PTA President Ruth Purdy and Ruby Davis pour

that hot coffee or watch as Florence Haynes and Esther Lindley serve

those cookies and sandwiches.

Schools began on Sept. 13. At Central Elementary, Supt. John

Peterson and school Principal Agnes Smith watched as the students

returned to their new classrooms.

This year, six new teachers were added to the faculty. They

included Mrs. Clifford Hannah in kindergarten, Mary Varley in first

grade, Ruth Wedgley and Ada Hume in second grade. Mildred Budke was

added to teach sixth grade and so was Mrs. Frank Ross.

Rose Mary Johnson, who came from the county office, was added to

work part-time in the school’s office.

Meanwhile, over at Ocean View grammar school, there were 453

pupils enrolled for the semester, 37 more than there had been when

class let out in June. Ocean View PTA President Lucile Brewster told

the 11-member faculty that there were no more seats for students. The

school’s cafeteria had been converted for use as a classroom.

This year (2004), Drew Arnold will be leaving Dwyer Middle School

to join his older sister Amy at Huntington Beach High School.

Those students returning to class at Huntington High in 1948 would

see a new electric scoreboard to be used for night football games.

Prior to the school opening on Sept. 13, the school faculty

gathered for a meeting to welcome the new teachers. Nine new teachers

were added that year and they included Thelma Greer, who had formerly

taught class at Fowler High School in Fresno and would begin teaching

homemaking classes.

La Rue Firman would be teaching girls’ gym classes and she had

previously taught at Anaheim High. Firman had received her degree at

UCLA and at the University of Iowa.

From Whittier College came Betty Ternquist, also to teach P.E.

classes. If she could find the free time, she would be out

ice-skating on any frozen surface she could find.

Latin and English were the specialty of Bernice Boner and she had

come to Huntington from her home in Mount Vernon, Ohio.

Ruth Heacock would be teaching English classes this year as well

as teaching typing classes. Heacock had formerly taught those

subjects at East Bakersfield High School and received her education

at UC Berkeley and at San Francisco Teachers College. She too was

fond of ice-skating.

From Palos Verdes High came Scott Flanagan to teach boys physical

education and citizenship. Flanagan had received his degree at USC

and when he was not in the classroom, he could be found with rod and

reel in hand.

Journalism and English were the specialty of William Seaman, who

had come to Huntington from Woodbury College in Los Angeles. Seaman

had received his degree from Dakota Wesley University in South

Dakota.

Others joining the faculty included: Mae Buchanan, teaching

homemaking and cafeteria; Julia Myrtle Simmons in English; Gerald

Lance as school counselor; Helen Tamulinas as the school nurse; and

Betty Lennox as office secretary and library assistant.

Charles Mashburn moved up to become vice principal and LaMoille

Pugh had resigned.

So let’s give thanks to all those individuals who would in latter

years be remembered as our heroes of the classroom.

* 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.