Faculty I Knew

I'm thumbing through the 1960 Treasure Chest here, noting John R. Rogers faculty with which I had contact in 1956 through 1960.

English

• Elizabeth Herbert. I never had a class of hers, but I have to note that she looked exactly like a younger version of my "Nana."
• Theodora Frisbie. My mom preceded me at Rogers. While I was in grade school, my mom used to tell me of Miss Budwin, a Rogers teacher that terrified her. In my junior year, I described my English teacher, Mrs. Frisbie. Mom exclaimed, "That's Miss Budwin!" I have to say that I learned a lot about American literature, and about grammar, from Mrs. Frisbie. I  use those skills today.
• Arthur Grafious. I cannot feature anybody calling him "Art." He taught me in three classes, debate (tried to), literature, and grammar. He had a resonant voice like that of an anchorman. His pronunciations were slightly British, although he wasn't. I currently use skills learned in his vocabulary class. He taught us a set of Greek and Latin words that we use as prefixes and suffixes in big English words. Now I can sometimes determine a new technical word's meaning just by decoding its Latin or Greek parts. Two years ago one of his later relatives contacted me and asked me to describe being in his classroom.
• Lena Schimdt. I knew her from freshman study hall, but she was teaching English later. She recently passed on. See the piece about  Mrs. Schmidt on this site.
• Maude Scofield. She taught the very first class I set foot in on my first day at Rogers. Her English class was top-notch. She called it a "course." I've written about her previously on this site. I took a course from her other years also.

Library

• Olivia Harris. Nice lady. She took care of my library needs when I learned I could study there in lieu of the adjoining Blackboard Jungle in George Molchan's study hall.

Study Hall

• George Mochan. Nice man, but his study hall was a zoo. I went next door to Olivia Harris' library.
• Lena Schimdt. She was the study hall teacher residing in the old cafeteria in my freshman year. See the piece about Mrs. Schmidt on this site.

Mathematics

• Alfred Ostness. This man was a fine gentleman. He was the department head. He taught me geometry in a professional manner. His turned out to be my best math class because I think in pictures.
• Walter Raymond. Young Mr. Raymond taught me trigonometry and advanced algebra in my upper-class years. He was a joking, colorful Montanan. Vocabulary was not his strong point. He often mixed-up words into malapropisms (I'm sure he didn't know that word). He liked humor, but brooked no antics from us. He called us all by our last names -- girls too. He believed in and dispensed corporal punishment - with a smile. Once all the spectacle-wearing students put their glasses on upside-down. Mr. Raymond came into class, sat down, glanced up and dead-panned, "Once I had a class that liked to fool around. I hacked ‘em all." Everyone quietly fixed their glasses. Mr. Raymond grinned. I liked his way of speaking. "A calculus problem isn't hard. It's settin' ‘er up that's hard." Mr. Raymond passed on from cancer during the last decade.
• Harold Thompson. His was my algebra class  in my freshman year. For some reason, I learned a great deal about the evils of Democrats and Franlin D. Roosevlet, instead.
  
  Prev - Next >>