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All Grades (1-8)....All Subjects....All
Alone....All Day
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| Carol Lee Wold at Moen School, 1945 |
Carol (Lee) Wold was
19 years old and taught one year at the Moen School in 1945-46. She was married to Lloyd Wold on June 2, 1946 and moved
to his farm in Eden Township where they farmed for 44 years. Carol did substitute teaching at Gully, Trail and other
area country schools when needed. The Wold's raised 4 children, and have 9 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.
Carol now lives an active life in Fosston.
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| Clara Omlid, Moen School teacher 1942-1943 |
Clara (Omlid) Rutherford was born in Roseau, MN. in 1922, and eventually moved with her family to Fisher, MN., where
she graduated from Fisher High School in 1940. She attended Normal Teachers’ Training in Grand Forks, N.D.
for nine months. At the age of 20 Clara taught grades 1-8 at Moen School in Fosston, MN. in the 1942-43 school year.
She boarded at the Carl Larson farm about a half mile from Moen School. She had to start the wood stove each morning
to warm up the school. She would often talk about how some of the boys towered over her, but they were all well-behaved
and respectful for the most part.
Clara married Ronald Rutherford on August 12, 1944, and farmed near Fisher,
MN. Retired in 1984, they moved to East Grand Forks. They have 3 daughters (Marilyn, Joanne
and Susan), 7 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren. Ronald passed away in 2004 and Clara in 2008 at
the age of 86.
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Audrey (Brovold)
O'Flaherty Siverson: Sunnyside, 1949-50; Trail, 1950-51 Dorothymae (Bakken) LePier: Sunnyside, 1947-49 Betty (Bakken) Bjornerud: Willow Grove, 1947-48; Flaskerud School,
1948-49
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| Audrey (Brovold) O'Flaherty Siverson, Dorothymae (Bakken) LePier, Betty (Bakken) Bjornerud |
These former one-room country school teachers met to talk about their teaching experiences back in
the “good-old days” of the late 1940’s. They were asked about discipline problems. Dorothymae emphatically shook her head and said, “No, I
don’t think I ever had a problem. If anybody even looked like they were about to act up, I just gave them a stern look
and told them to behave themselves. That was usually enough.”
To say Betty is not a big woman is like saying Brooks is not
a big town…blink your eyes as you drive through and you miss it. Betty started laughing and said, "I had this
big boy in 8th grade who was...I mean he was BIG, the biggest boy in school! I barely came up to his arm pits,
and
he was a mean boy. One day I just had enough of his disrespectful remarks, and I jerked him up by his shirt-front so
fast that it surprised him...me, too! I told him, "If you don't quit being so mean, you are going to be sorry!"
Audrey laughed and exclaimed, “Weren’t you afraid of him, Betty? What did he do?”
“When he realized I still had a hold of his shirt-front, he apologized. After
that he was the nicest boy and couldn’t do enough to help me. He carried in wood every morning as soon as he got to
school without being asked, for one thing.”
“You
couldn’t get by with that today, Betty.” Dorothymae exclaimed. “You can’t lay a hand on a kid or you
would be sued. Lose your job, too.”
“That’s
like a big kid I had at Trail,” Audrey said. “Funny how the bigger they are, the more likely a boy is to be a
bully. I had a really poor family with several kids in my school.” Audrey put her coffee cup down and wiped her lips
on a dainty napkin. “I remember the littlest boy in that family, in first or second grade, got a brand new pair of rubber
overshoes that winter…the kind that slip over your shoes. I knew his folks couldn’t afford to buy him another
pair, probably did without to buy that pair. Well, one day the kids were getting dressed to go home and this little boy discovered
that his overshoes were cut to pieces…many pieces, in fact.”
“Oh, my gosh,” exclaimed one of the interviewers. “What happened?”
“I knew this big bully did it! I didn’t see him do it, but I knew he was
the one. I made him stay after school, and I told him I knew he did it. Of course, he denied it. He looked so smug, like,
‘you can’t prove it was me'. I was so angry and I finally said, ‘How did you do it anyway?’ He wasn’t
a really bright boy and he just blurted out, ‘with my knife’."
“That was kind of dumb,” someone said.
“Yes,
but he was so proud of his new knife that he had to show it to me. I made him do all the school chores for the rest of the
year. I don’t remember if he had to buy the boy new overshoes or not, but he sure didn’t bully any of the other
kids any more.”
I
guess it proves that you didn’t mess with the teacher no matter how small she was. Like they say, dynamite comes in
small packages, too.
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| Audrey (Brovold) O'Flaherty Siverson |
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| Dorothymae (Bakken) LePier |
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Three Moen School teachers with Ozzie
Tollefson, 1991
Ruth Carlstrom, Minda Olson and Carol (Lee) Wold
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| Lillian (Reierson) Affeldt |
Lillian (Reierson)
Affeldt graduated from Fosston High School in 1916 and then attended NDSU to earn a two-year
teaching degree. She first taught in Fessenden, ND, where she met and married Leland Affeldt, Sr. in 1922 and continued
teaching. In 1934 the Affeldts moved to Fosston, Mn, and Lillian taught at the Fairview School before taking
the teaching job at Moen School where she taught until it closed in 1958. The next two years she taught in Gully and
then taught at Magelson Elementary School in Fosston until she retired. . |
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Agnes (Enerson)
Vasend attended one year of teacher training at the McIntosh Training Department, where she studied under Mrs. Cora
Zakrison. Many former one-room country school teachers remember Mrs. Zakrison for her skills at guiding and
instructing these young women, fresh out of high school.
Mrs. Vasend's first job was at the Sunnyview School 1933-36. Her starting salary was $50 a month, room and
board was $14 a month. She also taught in other area schools, Sunnyvale 1936-39,
Oakland 1939-40, & Sunnyvale 1961-64. In 31 years her salary had risen to a whopping
$275 a month.
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| Minnie (Enerson) Pearson, 1933 |
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Minnie (Enerson) Pearson is the younger sister of Agnes
Vasend. She taught at Oakland School from 1934 to 1938. In winter she often skied to her school.
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| Minnie (Enerson) Pearson skiing to school |
Photos courtesy of Minnie's daughter, Mary Neste, who
lives in McIntosh.
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