Looking back at the one room school

By Helen Boertje The Chronicle

Pella —  

Rees School was northeast of Pleasantville.  Today you would follow G40 out of Pleasantville, turn north on 92nd until you come to Gear St., then turn right .  The school house was on the south side of Gear St., a short distance from the T intersection.  Sometimes it's difficult to figure out why certain Marion County schools acquired names like Electra, O.K. or Rising Star but the name Rees is no mystery.  Rees is the surname of several families who had lived in that neighborhood for a very long time.

When I attended North Porterville school (southeast of Pella) I didn't have much awareness of other Marion County schools but I did know about the Rees school because my mother Reda Martin taught there for two years after she graduated from Knoxville High School with the class of 1923.  She always spoke with great fondness of the Rees students and kept in contact with several of them for many years.  Had I known that I would some day be researching the schools of Marion County I would certainly have asked her many questions about this school.  The above pictures were taken with her camera and years ago she removed them from her photograph album and donated them to the Marion County Historical Society.  Unfortunately she did not identify the students by name but the souvenir booklet which she gave to each student does list their names.  Hers are the only photographs I have found for the school.

I talked with Nancy Rees Naaktegeboren who attended primary and first grade with Miss Beary who taught the last year this school was in session.  After that the neighborhood students rode the bus to Pleasantville.  Nancy started school with classmate Kathy Flockhart who remained her best friend throughout her school years and until Kathy died of cancer in her 50's. As a souvenir of the Rees school Nancy's dad Harvey Rees framed a section of the blackboard for the two girls. Nancy walked about a mile to school and was often accompanied by Clyde Fouch, an older student.  Sometimes he pulled her up the hill on a sled.  Others who lived in the neighborhood were the Core's, the Van Eck's, the Van Ryswyk's and the Worthington's.

Teachers were Altha Davenport 1886, Nannie Danthy, Rena Snyder 1895, Bessie Hatfield, Beatrice Nye 1896,  Beatrice Nye, Orville T. Nye 1898, Leona Gillaspie, Maggie Cooper 1899, Leona Gillaspie, Nora Spalti, Blanche Litchfield 1900,  Blanche Litchfield, Beatrice Nye, Orville Nye 1901,  A. H. Crosby, Earl Dewey, Amanda Brown 1902,  Berda Putnam 1903,  Mrs. Bessie Loomis, Minnie Powell 1904,  Myrtle Umpleby, Elvira E. Hollister 1905,  Mary Jones 1906,  Charles M. Wren 1907,  M. A. Foster, Idella Groves, Bessie Williams 1908,  Ethel Truer, Gay Moore 1909,  Agnes C. Smith 1910, Fay Worthington, Ethel Beckworth, Margaret Wren 1911,  Margaret Wren, Grace B. Fee 1912,  Flossie Rinehart 1913,  Elizabeth Wren 1914,  Hazel Chivers, Ruth Hill 1915,  Bertha Alexander 1916,  Bertha Alexander, Ruth Hill 1917,  Helen Dunlap 1918,  Adda Dickensen 1919, Grace Stanberry 1920, Ruth Summey 1921,  Bernice Core 1922, Reda Martin 1923-24,  Henry J. Slykhuis 1925,  Vane Rees 1926,  Iva Thornburg 1928,  Lee Thornburg 1929, Iva Thornburg 1930, Eleanor Gerling 1932,  Sarah Jane Templeton 1933, Maude Maddy 1934, Marie Maddy 1935,  Lillian Flockhart, Wanda Jones 1936,  Ruth Ruckman 1937, Loren D. Wing 1938-40, Cecilia M. Beary 1941-45. 

This is story number 52 of the Marion County county schools.  Overtime there were at least 138, perhaps more.  What photographs and stories can you contribute to make the record as complete as possible? Contact me at 641-628-4716 or helenboertje@ iowatelecom.net

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