Mom's Story Part 13

Snowflake Academy Building

School Days and Teachers – Baptism: 

            Mrs. Laverne Crandall was my first-grade teacher.  She also taught two of my children, Christine and Jim.  I don’t recall much about my school year with her, but I’m sure she was strict.  I tolerated school, but didn’t love it as some of my children and grandchildren have done.  Van Smith, my cousin and Max Butler were always the top of the class, as was Guida, and Annella Morris Hall.  They skipped the grades as I recall.  They were smart.  Mother helped us with our lessons each night and was a continual support when we did poorly.  I didn’t have too much trouble with my lessons.  I remember getting a silver dollar in the 5th grade from Mr. Daniel Schnebly for improving the most in my penmanship.  How I treasured that dollar.  I finally spent it for a Chautauqua ticket.  Miss Thalia Kartchner was my third grade teacher and my own Aunt Thora, Dad’s sister, was my second grade teacher.  Mother had a hard time with sewing, so we didn’t ever take any prizes for being the best-dressed children in school.  One thing that was forbidden was to wear your Sunday shoes to school.  Many days I would sneak out with them on my feet, only to be confronted by Mother half way up the sidewalk or at recess with my play shoes. 

            I remember my baptism, performed by my grandfather, Joseph W. Smith.  I believe I was baptized on my birthday, Oct 8th, there was a large group of family members present and Grandpa had to immerse me several times in that murky hole under the Creek bridge to get the job done right.  Dad was the witness and confirmed me the first Sunday in November at Sacrament Meeting.  

Teen Years: 

            My High School days revolved around my friends.  We were a close-knit group comprising of the following girls:  Maria Smith, Guida Smith, Zelda Cook, Louise Willis, Varena Fish and Thelma Rogers.  Luella Ballard often came with us too, but I don’t remember her too often in our foolish capers.  We were a talkative, giddy bunch of girls – our Mothers called us the “Magpies”.  Boys were important, but the peer-pressure of the girls occupied most of our thoughts.  Rex Gibson, Fost Flake, Marion Smith,  Flake Rogers, Van Smith, Lorenzo Smith, Max Butler (the “dream boy”), and France Willis were the boys who comprised our crowd.  Most of them were typical farm boys with hardened calloused hands and manure sticking to their boots.  For entertainment we had hayrack parties to the creek, games on our lawn, and candy making at one of our homes.  Always our mothers made big drippers full of molasses cake for our Sunday evening raids.  I recall the huge pieces of cake Maria cut off for us, but don’t ever remember any complaint from Aunt Pauline.  The “naughty” game we played up on the Seminary lawn, was called “Pleased or Displeased” – anyone was displeased which they usually were; they required you to “paint the barn” or “pull you out of so many feet of water” with so and so.  This meant a kiss or as many kisses as it took to please the subject.  We knew if our Mothers ever caught us we’d be out of circulation for a while.  Lorenzo Smith and Marion Smith were my best friends, and we all went to the University of Arizona together when we graduated, and they remained some of my dearest friends.  Lorenzo, like most of the kids in Snowflake, had a nickname of “Chick”, but he became a very wonderful person, served as Stake President and Regional Representative for the Church.  Marion, also has become a very fine individual, is now a Veterinarian in Scottsdale and served in several Bishoprics and High Councils.  I don’t remember ever having a “date” in High School.  The kids didn’t pair off like they do now, however, there were a few girls who went steady and most of them married after they graduated.  I wasn’t the popular girl of the crowd by any means, in fact, more often that not I was the “wallflower”, but as I recall I had a lot of company.  The boys were reluctant dancers. 

            Our dress was typical of the times, bobby socks and saddle oxfords, full dirndl skirts and blouses or sweaters.  We all belonged to the “Pepperettes”, our cheering group for the High School.  Our coach was a little short, stocky teacher, Mr. Roswell Willard, who lived at our house.  We liked him, but as I look back, he was like a cocky little bantam rooster strutting his self around campus.  However, he was enthusiastic and energetic, and was demanding of our best efforts.  Faithfully we drilled after school to get our precision kicks and bows just right.  There were probably about twenty-four of us in the group, and was the first such group the school had ever had so I imagine it was looked on by the more stately, dignified teachers as sacrilege to the academic climate the school had prided itself on for so long. 

            Sports were secondary in the school.  I remember we had basketball and track, but football was not important.  The girls played basketball, but a modified version of the game, as we know it today.  If you played Center, which I usually played, you were confined to the center court only.  It was not the rough and tumble game it is today.