JERRY PERSON -- A Look Back
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This year is sure going fast, and in a week or so school will be out.
This week, we’re going back to a day in 1947 and taking a look back at
what students were doing at Huntington Beach Elementary School. Today
that school is known as Dwyer Middle School at 14th Street and Palm
Avenue.
In July 1947, the school held an open house for National Boys and Girls
Week. In those days, the school taught first through eighth grades, as
well as kindergarten.
The principal of the school back then was Agnes Smith. John R. Peterson
was superintendent of schools, and Ethel Dwyer was the vice principal.
If these names seem familiar to you, it’s because there are schools named
for each of them.
To begin our tour, we head for Miss Elizabeth Van Vrankin’s first-grade
room, where her class had an exhibition on health habits, foods and
cleanliness. In the center of the room, the class constructed a table
display of natural elements, such as rocks.
While over at Miss Constance Smith’s first-grade class, her boys and
girls had created a model town called “Dingledale,” complete with a
bakery and little pastries. The “Ginger Bread Man” was the theme of a
wall display in Miss Gladys Jones’ first-grade class.
Life on a typical farm was the project theme for Mrs. Marvis Waddle’s
first-grade students, complete with a chart of the different foods. Also
on display were posters of the class’ field trip to Newport Harbor during
that year.
Rheta Gillette’s class had a collection of posters made by her seventh-
and eighth-grade students for various local civic organizations. Also
included were samples of bookbinding and shadow boxes that were
individually lighted.
Not to be outdone, in Mrs. Ina Blossom’s second-grade class, her boys and
girls constructed a make-believe post office complete with dozens of
letters that were brought in by her students. And around the room was a
wall border showing how mail was delivered from the pony express days to
the present.
A field trip by Miss Ethel Hunt’s second-grade class to a Los Angeles
dairy was the inspiration behind her class’ display of farm life cutouts
and original illustrations.
A sign leading to Miss Betty Funkhouser’s second-grade room stating that
this was the “2F Ranch,” set the stage for their cowboy theme of life on
the range. There was a display of student names made with rope. Around
the room, stories of the life of the cow punchers rounded out the
picture.
Need to buy your week’s groceries? Then stop into “Green’s Grocery
Story,” which the boys and girls made in Miss Elinor Greer’s second-grade
class. Their work featured a wall display painted by her students and
told of how foods were transported to market.
Next week will be the end of the school term, and we’ll conclude our look
at a typical day at Huntington Beach Elementary School.
* 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 92615.
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