Every Single Morning - Daily at Garfield Elementary - Mid-1950s.

 

I WAS THERE!

My teacher/mother (and siblings) were at Garfield. That meant the four Jackson kids learned a lot in those years. The baby of the family became a Marine and lawyer. My older brother aimed for business. My sister wanted to be a teacher. 

Garfield Elementary School was just like that in the 1950s.

 And still stand proud with my h

and over my heart when I hear the National Anthe

Americana Wire

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Every single morning started exactly the same way.

The bell would ring.

We would stand up straight by our wooden desks.

We placed our right hands firmly over our hearts.

We looked at Old Glory hanging in the corner.

Then, we sang with everything we had.

The classroom was filled with young voices united in one song.

Nobody told us to feel guilty about our heritage.

We were taught to honor the sacrifices of those who came before us.

Patriotism was not a political statement.

It was a shared heartbeat.

Look at picture.

It reminds us of a time when unity started in childhood.

We truly loved our country.

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I remember the big white house on Steiner Street, and my little sister Dagmar, and my big brother Nels, and Papa. But most of all, I remember Mama

Gladys Parker, co-ed, 1931 - she left home to attend Normal and become a teacher. Prints of this photo were saved in the original folder from the photographer.

“I remember the big white house on Steiner Street, and my little sister Dagmar, and my big brother Nels, and Papa. But most of all, I remember Mama.”
Fiftiesweb.com

We watched TV a lot, and I remember watching this series. We have watched the movie several times, recognizing Barbara Bel Geddes as the author/narrator and future Miss Ellie on Dallas.

The series and movie were very much in harmony with Moline and Rock Island, Illinois, where the Augustana Synod had so many congregations, a college and seminary, and earlier its headquarters. We even tried to imitate the Swedish accent of those who came over from the old country.

My mother dreamed of bettering herself by becoming a teacher. She was proud of her farm heritage and physical strength. She did not use a glove playing the outfield. "Hardball," she mentioined. Many times she spoke of her introduction to teaching in a one-room country school. She had to handle all ages and keep everyone engaged and behaved. Mom often regretted the consolidation of schools, because she thought highly of the country schools and the old-fashioned curriculum.

Mom continued her education and finished a college degree at Augustana, part-time, over 10 years. She went on to earn an M.A. at the University of Illinois, where her father studied agriculture.

I remember going with her to my interview for attending kindergarten at Garfield School, a few blocks away, where she taught, once baby brother was in school. She had a long vacation from us when he was born, and I remember coming down the stairs to see her with the baby, when I was two years old.

Our house was ideally located across from Wharton Field House, still one of the largest venues in the Midwest. Whitey's Ice Cream was two blocks away, next to Dairy Creme. The Hasty Tasty restaurant was the same distance, along with hardware stores and the forbidden candy store we loved to visit. I often saw Guy Johnson on the way to school, and lots of other Boomers lived nearby.

We had great teachers at Garfield, the largest grade school in Moline. Only one teacher was a psychopath, and I did not have her, except for spelling. She went nuts on me during a spelling bee, yelling, "You don't know whether you are coming and going. Sit DOWN!" My classmates enjoyed repeating her smack down verbatim, and Mom loved hearing me imitate Miss D's distinctive rants.

I remember one student coming up to me and saying, "Greg, your mother is a school teacher and your father makes donuts. You are so lucky!" I am happy to say that Mom was loved by all her students, from the most able to the ones who needed rescuing. I was around Garfield early and late and witnessed some disciplinary episodes. More frequently, I heard the Garfield teachers speak lovingly of "their children." They wanted the best for their children and went all out to prepare the classroom and organize their materials to benefit them.

 Garfield Grade School

 Garfield Arms 

At one MHS reunion, a Garfielder told me about a student who spit at another student. My mother had that boy spit into her handkerchief repeatedly. Next she rubbed it all over his face. He never spit again. After I heard the story, that same person sat down at our table. He said, "Greg, you should write a book about your mother. She was a remarkable teacher."

Mom wanted to teach at a university, but she needed a doctorate to earn tenure. She taught at Coolidge Junior High (RIP) and was offered classes for those who needed help in academic discipline. She told the principal, "Only if I can hit them." He came unglued, "No! we cannot hit students." She said, "Forget it." He found out that it was OK if each set of parents signed a statement allowing corporal punishment. They were happy to do that.

Mom really enjoyed serving as the boot camp DI, shaping students who were having trouble for one reason or another. One needed an operation and she told the parents. That was performed and he began doing well. She used her knuckles to rap students on the head, sometimes enhanced with a big ring. She may have used the trapezoid muscle pinch. A little bit pain went a long way, and the so-called problem students adored her class.

To be clear, Mom only used a little physical pain, which showed she meant what she said. At one reunion, a Garfield student from her class asked about that huge rock ring she used on him. Christina was wearing it. He said, "Hit me with it. Old times." He became an engineer because Mom's sixth grade class built a working model of the Panama Canal. Many years later he visited the Panama Canal and was excited to see it worked exactly the way their model did. "That's why I became an engineer, Greg. Your mother's class."

I was surrounded by teachers as I grew up - going to PTA, waiting in the school library at times, teachers' meetings at our home, and lots of teacher talk. I was hesitant about teaching community college students straight out of high school, but I learned how much fun a classroom could be. That led me into online teaching and many opportunities teach all types of classes.

My boss at Glendale Community College said, "Our teachers are being steam-rolled by the students. The are letting the students intimidate them." He paused and said, "But that is not a problem with you." I thought to myself, "I learned from the best." Every so often I tossed a soft white board eraser toward an errant student and gave him my basilisk stare. My nephew said, "Uncle Greg. We can't do that in New York."

Mom was very happy to live with us in New Ulm and make the move to Phoenix. That is where I began by taking computer classes and moved into teaching at two universities. She was so pleased to hear that I made the move that was just out of her reach. But it was growing up among teachers and being surrounded by books that made that possible.

Garfield Grade School in Moline Being Repurposed as Garfield Arms

Groundbreaking for Garfield Arms Apartment Building

Garfield Elementary School was constructed in 1901, with an addition built in 1955. In 2015, the Moline-Coal Valley School District closed the school, sending students to Hamilton and Lincoln-Irving elementary schools.

That same year, Gorman & Company, of Oregon, Wisconsin, bought the school for $75,000. When completed, the renovated building will offer 52 one-bedroom and five two-bedroom apartments for low- and moderate-income seniors earning between 30-60 percent of area median income.

 "I liked the old Gashouse Gang Garfield better."
Jim Kron turned away, so they could not see the tears.

We loved Mrs. Park.
I can remember most of the faces and half of the names. Let's see.
Front row from left: Linda Hicks, Greg Jackson, Kathleen Wilcox, unknown boy, unknown girl, John Schneck, Ann Pascall.
Middle row: George Small, unknown girl, unknown boy, unknown boy, Billie Seasland, unknown girl, Jim McCandless, Jenal Vencus.
Back row: Terry Thompson, Tamara Gustus, Bonnie ?, Steve Warren, then Jeff Hall on the far right, Cathy Pobanz next to him. The rest are unknown at the moment.

The school's corridors will be brought back to their original condition with restored ceilings. Classrooms will be renovated into apartments, and the gym space will be converted to house common space and amenities, including a multipurpose room, a kitchen and a fitness center.

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A three-story wood-framed addition also will be added to the east side of the existing building.

The redevelopment will be constructed to Enterprise Green Communities and Energy Star standards, using energy efficient appliances and mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems designed to reduce overall operating expenses.

New roofs will be completed at both wings, and new energy efficient storm windows will be provided at the inside of the existing windows.

Financing partners for the project include the Illinois Housing Development Authority, JPMorgan Chase, RBC Capital Markets and Greater Metropolitan Area housing Authority of Rock Island County.

Guy Johnson stopped by to take some pictures of the old classic. We still remember the new addition, which is now about 65 years old.

 Like other teachers, Miss Dickson spent her own money on the class.

Liz Copeland's mom was a favorite teacher among many great ones.

 Mrs. Forsyth was another teacher everyone remembered with great affection.

 No-o-o-o-o-o!

This classroom project is where an engineer's career was born.

Today Is Teachers' Day

Like many in our 50th reunion class, Moline High School, 1966, I remember the teachers from elementary school the best. I went to Garfield, now closed, and remember those teachers and the school with great fondness. In fact, when someone thought another Moline elementary school was dominant on Facebook, I began listing all the names from Garfield, just from our class. Others chimed in and named more.

My mother taught there, so we often trooped to school on foot and sometimes enjoyed a car trip. Within a short distance was Whitey's Ice Cream, Wharton Field House, Hasty Tasty Restaurant, and Teske's Hardware Seed and Feed (now Teske's Pet and Garden).

A notorious candy store was in the same neighborhood. I was warned not to go there, which made the candy even sweeter. The place looked a bit seedy but nothing ever happened there.

Walking to school meant going by Guy Johnson's home. Several of us collected and read comic books of all kinds. Classics Illustrated taught me the plots of all the famous works of literature. In time I owned all that were in print. Superman was another favorite, and it became part of my PhD dissertation, since the early Superman was a  clear example of the Social Gospel Movement.

Parents frowned upon Superman to some extent, the Three Stooges even more, TV most of all (when they were not hogging the set themselves), and various other evil influences, like Mad Magazine.

Most of all I remember being surrounded by teachers. We had teachers at our home countless times, a teacher's daughter, Liz Copeland visiting, teachers' stories, teachers' complaints, PTA meetings at Garfield - total immersion in teaching. Th PTA meetings featured potlucks with an endless supply of desserts, none of which escaped my attention.

Some meetings meant I had to be babysat by the Garfield Library. It was a small room filled with the best books. There I read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. I enjoyed the elephant book so much that I eventually read all that were in the school or shelved elsewhere. I recently bought one for myself because I still enjoyed it so much -   and later sent it to a church member's daughter. Everyone should love that story.

Books were everywhere - in every classroom. Garfield teachers read to us. My mother read to us at night. Later I read to our children, and our son read to his.

The teachers I remember best from Garfield -

I even remember being taken in for an interview for Kindergarten, which Mrs. Steelman taught. I was going "early" since I turned five in October. Apparently I passed the oral exam and started a few weeks young. In Kindergarten I hated naptime and got in trouble for talking and fidgeting. We slept on our individual rugs, which were obsolete once we passed into the maturity of First Grade.

I felt so teeny-tiny with the big kids of Sixth Grade around. One of them boosted me up for a drink from the fountain. As a son of the Mrs. Jackson, I always got special treatment from the big kids who loved her classes. I grew up with kids of all ages saying, "Your mom was my favorite teacher!"

She was not alone in that regard. Mrs. Copeland was also loved by her students. We had one at Garfield who was simply crazy as a hoot owl. I was never allowed to criticize a teacher, but I did a great imitation of Mrs. Daily, which made my mother burst into laughter.

Mrs. Parks was my First Grade class, but I have few memories of that year. She was very kindly and I may have had her twice, for third grade as well. If only I could ask my mother.

Mrs. Woods was my Second Grade teacher. I remember the kids from that class quite well. Mrs. Woods looked like everyone's beloved grandmother, and I can still hear her voice in my head. Like all the teachers at Garfield (except one), she loved her students. She read stories to us in class and taught us how to read. I loathed Dick, Jane, and Sally and their rabid dog Spot.

After that year I began to read voraciously, so the Moline Public Library also babysat me at times.

Fourth Grade meant I had the fascinating Mrs. McMillan. She was in the Philippines or near them during WWII. Her son and I palled around for a time.

Hallie Emory taught Fifth Grade. She looked fierce and took no guff from anyone, but she poured herself out for all her classes and gave us so many things to learn. She set up the Good Citizens Club, where we elected officers and practiced Roberts Rules of Order. Later I dealt with adults who never caught on to Roberts Rules or why those rules were articulated.

Miss Maynard struck me as rather grim and humorless, so our gang made a point to have fun in Sixth Grade. I have often told on Facebook how our gang drove a substitute teacher nuts one day. Unfortunately, she was the wife of our minister at First Christian. Needless to say, I was the focus of considerable wrath when my mother found out.

The Garfielders did very well in adult life, and I give our teachers the credit for laying the foundation for our educations and careers.

In our class - 

Three of us went to Yale University for graduate school, certainly far beyond statistical predictions.

One became a physician, perhaps the only one in the senior class of around 750.

Two earned PhDs

One went to Broadway.

I am sure many more accomplishments could be listed, but I do not have the data on everyone. One thing is sure about the Moline public school system of the time - we had all the opportunities of the finest private schools, thanks to local industry and the dedication of the teachers.

When I had to use base two in computer science, my fellow students in Phoenix were perplexed. They had to count 0, 01, 10 and figured out what 11111111 meant. And hexadecimal? How could ff be 11111111 and 255? It was old stuff for me.

I am sure many others could add to this. When I get tired of teaching and grading and dealing with educational supervisors who do neither, I think of the graphic at the top. We are the result of teachers who never knew where their influence would stop.