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Teachers and Classmates at the Earlimart Grammar School for the years 1930 through 1938
Please click on the following thumbnails for the full-sized image.
L to R, [? Principal], Miss. Amos, Miss. Carlson, Miss. ?, Uncle Elmer Sprague [Janitor], Miss. Lamoure, Miss. Toll (later Mrs. Joe Johnson), Miss Swanson, Mrs. Bassett, Miss. ?, Mr. F. E. Miller Miss. Mercedes Payne my first grade teacher married during the year and became Mrs. Mercedes Lamoure. Mrs. Mercedes Lamoure was the namesake for my sister Mercedes (Titus) Burum.
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L to R, Mrs. Pauline Wold, Mrs. Dorothy Howard, Miss. D.V. Archer, Mr. Bruce J. Roberts, Miss. Evelyn Peterson, Mr. Theodore R. Nickel [Principal], Mrs. Sarah M. Putnam, Miss. Marian Knight, Mrs. A. Hopkins, Miss. Edith Rutherford, Mr. F. E. Miller
Mrs. Dorothy Howard in the picture above is a long time friend of our family as was her husband "B" Howard. I have a letter from Dorothy and B Howard that contains a little history of Earlimart that is very interesting. I would put that letter in this web page, except that I think that I should obtain their permission first. If and when I get that permission I will submit the letter.
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My mother had the wonderful foresight to make a records of the classmates of my sisters and myself. She procured a small journal type book and requested that our teachers record the students names in it. Mom did this for us for eight grades. In High School we had year books that served this purpose.
Records follow for my eight grades.
My reason for posting this as in these records you will find family names of people that lived in and near Earlimart.
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Miss.Carlson my second grade teacher and me. We are standing in the plaza facing the first and second grade classrooms.
Spanish Architecture was the school style. The school plan view resembled an "H" with four classrooms forming the upright legs of each leg. The horizontal bar contained auditorium, cafeteria, and principal's office. I thought this school very grand.
You can see the red tile roof in the picture above and also a bit of the arched walkway by the classrooms.
My attire and bare feet was normal for the time of year.
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Miss Maize Toll is one of the teachers shown in the pictures above. She married Joe Johnson who was a truck driver at the time. About 1939 or 40 when the nation was gearing up to help Britain in the war, Joe and Maize moved to Glendale, California where Joe worked in a War Defense Plant. He had something to do with casting exotic metals. Maize taught in a Glendale school.
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I attended a service school in Los Angeles January to April 1943 and I had an opportunity to visit Joe and Maize at their home in Glendale.
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This is a picture of Dorothy and Bee Howard when they were young. Dorothy was one of the teachers listed above.
Letters follow that were written by Dorothy and by Bee Howard. I've included the letters because of the interesting information that they contain about Earlimart.
Thank you for your Christmas greetings. We have been so slow in answering that I can now say Happy Valentines Day!
I found the information about Earlimart Elementary very interesting as my seven years of teaching were included in those years. The only correction I can make is in the picture I am in. The teacher on the left of T.R. Nichol is Marion Knight. She is living in San Francisco and we correspond. She is still active in music.
DeeVee Archer pictured at the right of T.R. Nichols died in 1995. Margaret Putnam married Bee’s Uncle Phil Fraser which made her our own Aunt Margaret. She died in 1965. Miss Rutherford married the sixth grade teacher, Ed West. We have lost touch with them as with others. We know that T.R. Nichol, Howard and Eleanor Glover, Pauline and Al Wold have all passed on.
I thought the old Spanish style building was beautiful, but it was declared unsafe in case of earthquakes and was destroyed.
The one hundred sixty acre Howard farm southwest of Earlimart was Homesteaded in 1880 by Byron James Howard and his wife Arabella Evans Howard who came from Ohio with their infant son Frank Evans Howard.
Byron Howard was a teacher who served in several valley schools. When they wanted to start the Alila school which later became the Earlimart Elementary school there were not enough children so Byron enrolled his youngest son James Byron [Bee’s father] though he was not quite old enough.
Byron Howard later served as Judge in Delano and as District Attorney in Visalia. He raised four children, Frank, Hazel, Celia, and James B. Howard.
When Jim [James B.] was High School age he lived with his brother Frank in Dinuba. There he met and later married Violet Fraser. They made their home in Berkeley where he was employed at the University of California. Their daughter, Bernice Alma, sons Rodney Frazer, Byron Everett were born there.
When Byron James Howard died in 1914, the Earlimart land went to his heirs. Jim moved his family to the farm where they lived in a tent while their home was being built. The third son Max Hildrith was born in 1916 at Dinuba. Max called Byron “Bee” and he has been called Bee ever since.
Besides raising a garden, chickens, cows, etc. Jim supported his family by doing electrical work and by installing pumps. By then the alila school had been re-named Earlimart as a contest had been held and that name had won. All four Howards attended Earlimart elementary and Delano High School.
The original house on the farm was destroyed by fire. Friends and neighbors rallied to re-build a new home for them, sponsored by the Woodmen of the World, [one was Robert Humbolt Bowen]. The house was later moved to Earlimart near Jim’s office for his electrical business.
Bee had just graduated from Delano High School when I arrived to teach in Earlimart. My room was called the “Overflow Room” as the migrant population was arriving to work in the cotton fields {and the children of the migrants from the Dust Bowl had to have schooling}.The town of Earlimart was small, but the surrounding area was full of farms. The school buses brought the children from the county line to half way to Pixley. My class started with three children the first day, to a never to be forgotten day when benches were brought in to hold four grades and sixty-five children! By the next day Miss Putnams room had been added.
After two years courtship during which time Bee attended Four C’s College in Fresno, we were married in 1935. My Third Grade Class found this very exciting!
I found Earlimart a very pleasant place to live. The teachers bridge club, the P.T.A., the church affairs provided our social life. The population was a mix of Italian, German, Japanese, and a few Hispanics [besides all the old timers]. I taught until 1940.
When World War II started Bee was working for the Edison Company. As gasoline and tires were in short supply we moved to Delano to be close to work. We lived there until 1950. By then we had five sons including twins.
In 1947 Bee started his Butane business in Earlimart. The town was his until natural gas came in 1948. He sold gas appliances in Earlimart and his fuel to the surrounding farms. In 1950 we bought the small farm where we still live.
Our 8-year old twins started at the new Earlimart school and continued on to the old Spanish style school for the 4th and 5th grades. By the time the younger boys went the old building had been razed and a new one built.
Earlimart had grown because of an influx of farmers from the Dust Bowl. An the soldiers returned from the war and started farming. We had the start of a new generation of Baby Boomers. Our boys loved growing up on the farm. The grandparents had moved back to the old homestead where they visited often. It was a full and happy life.
I thought of those years as my second Earlimart, as many of the people who lived here when I taught had moved away and had been replaced by newcomers.
Now that we are retired we live in the same spot with so many differences. When small farms were sold they always went to big farmers, so small farming is gone. Meanwhile the workers from Mexico have kept coming to keep the big farms going. The crops now are all vines and fruit and nuts. No more farm animals or gardens. Uncle Sam has been very generous with housing for low income families, so Earlimart has blocks and blocks of three-bedroom, two bath homes. The schools have grown to cover three locations with about fifteen hundred children. I have heard that the population of Earlimart is over five thousand. This is our third Earlimart.
Come see us. We still speak English!
Sincerely Dot Howard
P.S. The school is 90% Hispanic!
Dorothy and I are quite well considering our ages. Dot is going to celebrate her 89th birthday next month and next September I will be 88.
I can still remember my early childhood when our family lived on the ranch property. I can still remember a trip east of Ducor in the hills after wood for our cook stove. I can't remember whether we made the trip all in one day, but it seems we did. Your Uncle Elmer sprague took my brothers Rodney and Max in his spring wagon pulled by his team of horses. Also when I was about 5 or 6 your grandfather drove the first Earlimart school bus. I think it was a Reo with side curtains to combat the cold weather and two_____ in back for 5 or 6 kids to sit. I can also remember your Uncle Mark Bowen had a repair garage in Earlimaart.
On the map that you sent you had the Earlimart Emergency Airport just exactly correct.
When I was about ______ 15 an Eaglerock biplane landed on the strip and one of the wheels sank down in the mud. I helped him get it out with a shovel and rope to pull him out of the mud. I still remember his name Lester Lamptai from Porterville. He promised me a ride, but I never got it.
We enjoyed the book you gave us many years ago and I was going to refer to it in writing this letter, but when I went to get it, I remembered loaning it to brother Rodney. He enjoyed it so much when he moved to Oklahoma it went with him. He died there 3 years ago. I am waiting for his boy to return it.
Brother Max lives in Vallejo, his health is not good, but he still enjoys life.
Earlimart is still growing, population just over 6000. None of the old school buildings are still standing. Wenow have 4 school sites, that is when the pre-school is finished, which should be within the next 2 months. We dedicated a new site which I think is the 3rd and 4th grade, west of Jone's place on the west side, this last september. The last I heard the total A.D.A is aroung 1800.
The Howard Place was sold to Travis and Betty Hampton who put the whole 160 acres into Almond trees. They also ended up with your Uncle Sprague's place.
As you know, Dot and I were married in 1935. We had 5 sons and I worked for the Edison Company for 12 years before starting a propane delivery business. We sold the business in 1965 and I have been farming ever since. Just this last month I deciced to rent out the farm as it was getting to be too much.
In reading the names of those on the various grades reminds me of the ones I remember, such as:
Gordon Williams just retired from teaching. His mother will be 100 years old in May. She lives in Los Osos[?]. We visit her.
We visited Elmer and Betty Keller within the year.
I was with Tom McAbee when he died 5 years ago.
Dale Murray died 2001.
I had lunch with Tim Sheahan within the month. He lives in Wasco.
Ben I could go on and on, but by the time you decipher my words and spelling you'll be glad.
Our best regard to you and Mary. Sincerely Dot and B. Howard
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Dot and Bee on their way to their Golden Wedding Anniversary Celebration driving their 1916 Model Tee Roadster.
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This is Bee and Dot Howard after 67 years of marriage. Unfortunately Bee died December 6, 2002. Dot wrote that Bee passed out at his 88th birthday party and after that it was all down hill although he lived until December 6, 2002 and then went into a quiet sleep surounded by all of his family.