Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 57, Number 47, Decatur, Adams County, 25 February 1959 — Page 3

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1959

SCHOOL (Continued from page on.) fact—lßsß—that’s the' year our first parish school did begin —without any sisters of course. Jean: ' Why, Grandpa, who taught you if there weren't any listers? Sue: Jeanie! Grandpa didn't go to School then. He wasn’t even born. Why, that’s a whole hundred years ago! Grandmother: Did I hear someone say something about my beauty sleep — ? ~. Grandfather: Are you trying to tell me I'm showing my age? Jean: Well, who did teach the children? i Grandfather: At first there was only a one-room school, and there was only one lay teacher—generally a man. I believe he was pretty strict, too—from stories we used to hear. Mother: Wasn’t there one woman who taught though? Grandfather: Yes. She was called Katerina. No one seems to know her family name. Father: She is the teacher who sent the whole class out for misbehaving. Bill: I’ll bet they were glad. Father: It seems they all just sat on the tombstones in the cemetery next to the church until the pastor discovered them. Jim: Did they "get it” then? Father: Sorry, Jim, I don’t really know. Too bad, the story just ends there. Grandmother: Later on, when a new church was built, the old church became the schoolhouse. But don't think this school was just like your school. It had long, hard benches and a stove that had to be fired every morning. One of the punishments far bad boys was to be sent out to get the wood ready for the stove. Jim: I wouldn't mind that much. I’ll bet they liked it better than sitting still and studying, too. Grandfather: In those days the children ail recited their lessons aloud together. Bill: That wouldn’t be a bad idea for the days when you don’t know your lessons too well, I’d say. Sisters Teach Sue: Oh, I like our way better. Did they still have just a one-room school when thd sisters came? Mother: Oh, no. When Father Wilken came to be pastor in 1880, the very first thing he did was to build a four-room brick school. The very next year four sisters of St. Agnes came from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. to teach here. Bill: Wasn’t that pretty far for them to come at that time? Father: I suppose it was, but Wisconsin wasn't nearly so far away as Europe. Besides, the Sisters of St. Agnes had been teaching at St John’s in New Haven since 1872, so that it wasn’t completely "foreign-mission" territory to them. Mary: Foreign missions! Why Europe would have been foreign territory to the sisters. The priest who founded their community was born in Austria — but the young women who were the first members were definitely American. Mother Agnes, the first Mother General of the sisters, was a girl from Detroit. Grandfather: Well, Mary, I guess there’s no doubt about their being an, American foundation after that little speech in their defense. Sue: Four SiSteH weren’t very many to teach *1 whole school. Grandmother: Well, there were only about ninety pupils at that time. . f. Mother: I’m sure the sisters gt St Joseph’s School now would be mighty happy if there were enough of them so that they cotild have four teachers for every ninety pupils. Mary: Especially if ail their pupils are like some that I know! Jim: Look who’s talking! Grandmother (to Grandfather): Do you know who those first four sisters were? One was Sister Aloysia, I know. Grandfather: I believe the others were Sister Augustine, Sister Borgia, and Sister Euphroslne. Sister Aloysia stayed here longer than any of the others —38 years. Bill: 38 years—that was until 1919. She never taught you then, Oh, Dad? Father: No. but I remember hearing a lot about her. Everyone she taught seemed to have thought a great deal of her. Grandfather: I'll say they did! First Graduates Mary just think how many Decatur children she taught in all those years — beginning with Blanche Adelsperger and Nora Holthouse—the first two graduates of that “new” school. Grandmother: Both of them tire dead now. Blanche Adelsperger died many years ago, and Nora Holthouse, who became Sister Dolores, died just this past year. Grandfather: A good many changes took place between the day in 1881 when Sister Aloysia came to teach and to play the organ and the day in 1919 when she left us! When the first sisters came, the school was located on Fifth street and Madison Avenue and the sisters convent was located on Fourth street—the other side of the street Later on they lived in the little house on the corner of Fourth and Monroe. Sue: The one with all the gravestones? Grandfather: That’s ft. And a few years later, when a new rectory was built, they moved into the old rectory. By 1894, however, they moved into a new brick eenvent, which, by the way, included two classrooms because by that time the school bad become too small. Grandmother: Later they added more classrooms and

joined the school and the Convent. Jean: l£as that the school you went to? Grandmother: Yes, Jean, and We loved it! Bill; What do you remember best about it? > Father’s Nameday Grandmother (thinking a moment): Well,, one of: the things I like to recall is our annual celebration of, Father Wilken’s nameday. All of us would go to the biggest classroom in the school .where we would give a program for Father. Jean; The whole school in one room? Grandfather: We didn’t have an auditorium. Those who couldn’t find a pldce to sit JUst stood around, the side and back of the room. It was worth crowding into that room for what cirme afterward. Bill: What was that—a free day? Grandfather:. A free day and a handful of candy from Father Wilken! Mary: When was the high school added? Father: In 1915 a two-year commercial course was added and in 1919 a sous-year academic high school course was added for those who wanted more than two years of business training. Mother: I heard once that the high school students all, took an academic course—English, Math, history and Latin each year, besides ,thelr religion of course, and a commercial subject which was bookkeeping as freshmen, commercial law as sophomores, shorthand and typing after that. In the upper classes they were also given chemistry. Bill: You mean four years of Latin? Two are enough for me! Mary: And bookkeeping as freshmen! Grandmother: Not too many years after the high school was opened Sister Almedal came to teach math and chemistry. ' Sue: Sister Almeda! She’s our principal! Grandfather: The same sister—.' Mary: When I was looking through the 1924 Tattler, the other day, I saw a note of appreciation for her work, in DCHS. The students really liked her. In fact, they hoped she’d be on the DCHS faculty in the future. Jim: She is —and principal. Bill: And still teaching math.. Present School Father: But in a different building. Jim: When did we get the school we have now? Mother: Our present school was dedicated in 1925. In 1921 the sisters moved into the convent on Monroe Street and part of the old convent was made into classrooms, but that was onlyl a temporary measure until a new school could be built that Would be properly equipped for both a high school and a grade school. Father: Then just ten years later our high was granted a continuous commission by the State. That's a monument to the hard work of Father Julius Seimetz and Monsignor Seimetz, as well as of Sister Vera and the sisters who worked with her. Grandfather: Today our high school hdlds a first-class commission and our grade school a continuous commission. Not a bad record, indeed! Grandmother: And we haven’t stopped growing either. I can ibtßpmber when the top floor of the building was the high school. Mary: $o can I—and no grade school pupil went up there without the proper amount of tespect for the big’boys and girls. Bill: But nqw the grade school has “ihvaded” the top floor, and we "venerable” students just fit in wheteVer We can find room, sometiihes down on ‘ second floor, sometimes over in • the church basenteht. Mother' I wonder what will happen next year when the crowd gets even latter. Grand l mother: J don’t know, but each year we’ve solved that problem as it came dp—. Mary: Well, thanks, everybody, for helping me with my homework. Guess I'll just go upstairs now and write up my report on the history of our school. Bill (disgustedly): Boy — some people sure know how to capitalize on every situation! Marshall Condition Remains Unchanged FT. BRAGG, N. C. (UPI) — Ailing General of the Army George C. Marshall’s condition remained "unchanged” early today and doctors their prognosis was “still guarded.” A medical bulletin late Tuesday said that Marshall, whose recovery from two strokes and a bout with pneumonia has been complicated by a pituitary gland disorder. had spent a comfortable day. The report said, however, that the gland disorder "still constitutes a therapeutic problem.” I QUALITY PHOTO FINISHING AU Work Left Before Noon on ThursdayReady the Next Day, Friday, at HOLTHOUSE drug co. -

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THE DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT, DECATUR. INDIANA lam. ■ i i y ■" 1 -

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