Advertisement

JERRY PERSON -- A Look Back

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.

Advertisement