Then and Now

Members of the Hillside School first grade class from 1955 recently got together to visit their former one-room schoolhouse, recall memories, and catch up on their life stories.

The group of six met for coffee before going to the Hillside one-room schoolhouse in the town of Holway. Sandi (Hanson) Simonson of Medford organized the reunion, and five others attended: Catherine (Matyka) Bristol of Medford, Patricia (Nelson) Temple of Medford, David Zenner of Cadott, Linda (Gowey) Haavisto of Marshfield, and Kayda (Nelson) Nichols of Idaho. Nichols drove 21 hours to be with the group.

Over coffee, memories of days gone by flooded back. For an hour and a half, the group oscillated between the 1960s and present; then and now were intertwined within the collection of people who knew them both. Someone would tell a story, another person would add to it, and a third person would laugh while saying, don’t put that in the article. The recollection was occasionally put into perspective by reminders of the distance that separated the times they recalled and the morning over coffee. Although reflective of the change from young to less young, the group maintained an irreverent sense of humor at their age. “We are all still alive,” Bristol chimed in. “That’s a plus,” Haavisto added.

The group rifled through the names of people they used to know, offering opinions of people from school with the uninhibited honesty 50-plus years’ time affords. The mean teachers, attractive boys, and teenage adventures came alive through their memories.

Many of the the six remained connected throughout the years, and those who lost touch quickly became reacquainted as the conversation encompassed the days between high school and the present. From everyone having children to Zenner restoring the third car he owned, a 1966 Mercury Comet Cyclone, much ground was covered in a short period of time.

After being “coffeed out,” the six relocated to Hillside schoolhouse, which is roughly 10 minutes from Medford. On the drive out, Haavisto and Nichols pointed out where everyone used to live. As Simonson had earlier recalled, “We were all neighbors.”

From their neighborhood, they used to “walk uphill both ways” together to get to school, Temple explained. A core memory for the six was having their mothers bundle them up during the winter months and send them off to school with their sacked lunch in hand.

During their three years at Hillside, the six went to school with Amish children from the area. The group was allowed to access the building again thanks to the Amish community who currently own and use the school building.

Upon arrival at Hillside, the group took a look around before settling into their old desks. “The only thing that is different is the clock,” Zenner remarked. The building was remarkably close to what everyone remembered from nearly 70 years ago.

After everyone was seated, Simonson handed out paper bag lunches. There was a frozen drink in each bag. “We graduated,” Simonson joked. The nostalgic atmosphere inspired by the paper lunches and schoolhouse setting further swelled as Simonson passed each person a doll made of toilet paper and sticks like they used to make during school breaks.

Simonson then gave each person a card to write a memory from grade school in. The cards were traded until each card had a memory from every person.

“I got my tongue frozen to the fence one cold morning, and the bell rang,” Zenner wrote. He smiled while recounting how he ripped part of his tongue off and ran inside to make sure he wasn’t late. Others shared nearly identical stories in which they got their tongue stuck on the metal fence just as the school bell rang.

“I loved recess and all the games we played. Anti, Anti, over. Loved it,” Bristol penned. Another popular game was playing school in a shed during recess.

“I remember the pump out back,” Haavisto noted. All of the children used to wait in line next to the water pump and drink out of the same dipper (like a soup ladle). When one of them got sick, everyone soon felt under the weather.

After stepping back in time for a few minutes, the six took their final look around the schoolhouse and departed.

On the drive back to Medford, Nichols reflected, “It’s funny the things we remember.”