Margaret Fuller Elementary School

Margaret Fuller Elementary School was a charming, red brick school building, located between 48th and 49th Streets and Grand and Garfield Avenues, not far from Washburn. It was surrounded by an enormous asphalt playground over which we played kickball and performed dangerous feats on the monkey bars. (“What were they thinking?!” wonders Donna Beeson Hoelke). The building had two stories of classrooms plus a basement where the gym and “lavatories” were located.

Dating back to1896, it was one of the older elementary schools in the city. I remember Mr. Nelson the janitor who, when he wasn’t roaming the wide wooden hallway with his dust mop, could be seen shoveling coal into a big, roaring furnace in a mysterious room downstairs. It was that antiquated coal furnace that eventually led to the school’s demise in the 1970s. Fuller Park now stands its place, but our memories of happy years at Fuller school remain. For all the Fuller alumni - do you remember...

• Mrs. Griffin, the kindergarten teacher who wore a leather jacket and rode a full-dress Harley Davidson motorcycle to school. “Mrs. Griffin’s enthusiasm for life really left an impression on me,” says Julie Voigt.
• Miss Woulette, a 2nd grade teacher who rewarded us with “fairy tools,” tiny metal pliers, wrenches, and hammers that we coveted. She left mysteriously before the end of the year to be replaced by Miss Wolleen. We all missed Miss Woulette and wondered why she left. I suspect she was seriously sick or died and they just didn’t tell us.
• Donna remembers Mr. Balbot making her write sentences for punishment. “Due to my inability to conform to the regulations of the classroom, I must resort to this tedious procedure . . . . “ Does any one remember the rest?
• Holding hands in Miss Adams’ class while she turned the crank on an electric generator that sent an electric current through wires and all of our arms (would that be legal today?!).
• Mrs. Matthews, Miss Green, Miss Bureau/Mrs. Pic, Mr. Kreiser, Miss Boese, Mr. Prok, Miss Watson, Mr. Mendenhall (band), Mrs. McCaulley (the principal), Jaime Lair Jaunty’s grandmother - the office secretary.
• Paper sales. Going to all the neighbors to collect newspapers, tying them in bundles with twine, and hauling them to school in the morning – the only day you got a ride. It was usually a contest - classroom vs. classroom or boys vs. girls. I remember a time when the boys won and they got extra recess as a prize. At the next sale, the girls won and they were called down to the gym to get their prize . . . a movie on health! What a letdown, we felt cheated!!!
• Being bussed to Kenny Elementary School in third grade because of overcrowding. After a few months, they erected two “portables” on the Fuller playground that we moved into.
• Walking home for lunch and then back again for the afternoon. Occasionally your mom would give you some money to eat at Keaveny’s Drug Store - swivel stools, hamburgers in plastic, cherry phosphates.
• I remember how the girls always tried to peek in the boys’ “lavatory” to see what a urinal looked like. One day our teacher got fed up and made all the girls go in the boys’ bathroom and all the boys go in the girls’ bathroom so we could see them once and for all.
• Passing out valentines, parading our costumes on Halloween, gathering around the school Christmas tree in December to perform Christmas carols.
• Tim Leslie remembers Bruce Grothaus telling the entire 4th grade class how his brother was killed in Vietnam and then showing us his medals, including a purple heart.
• Report cards with S’s and N’s for “Satisfactory” and “Nonsatisfactory.”
• The excitement of winning a ribbon at Field Day. The 50-yard dash, softball throw, jump roaps, broad jump, etc.
• The smell of freshly mimeographed paper.
• Cloakrooms, morning meetings, autoharps, and milk breaks.
• Jaime remembers the day of the moon landing. “Televisions were set up out in the halls and we all got to watch!”
• Julie recalls the push for physical education in the 60s: exercising to “Chicken Fat,” climbing the ropes, kick ball, square dancing, and dodge ball. Donna remembers dodge ball with a dress on – “boy did that ball sting!”
• Doing our banking each week with F&M (Farmers and Mechanics Bank) savings envelopes.
• Being a patrol. The prestige of wearing that special belt, holding the fluorescent pink flag (or was it red?), and feeling we were doing an important job. Tim remembers one of the patrol posts was guarding the teachers’ parking lot. We received hot chocolate on really cold days. I remember being a patrol captain with Becky Lindstrom. Our job was to go around to see if people were on time, had their belt on straight, etc., and giving demerits. Patrols who got three demerits were taken off the squad. I remember when we had to “fire” Greg Ulrich and we were too embarrassed to do it. We argued back and forth about who had to tell him. [Editor’s note: just what did Greg do and who ultimately fired him?]
• What ever happened to Ranga Charyulu, Cheryl Fosdik, Laura Hong, Joan Fraley, Robby Solberg, Lynn Burrington, Bruce Broberg, Ginger Sutton, and Charles Larson?
• Who still remembers the Declaration of Independence, Gettysburg Address, or the Preamble to the Constitution that we had to memorize and recite daily in Miss Larson’s 5th grade class?
• Finally, Tim remembers “the high school kids walking across the parking lot on their way to Washburn and wondering if that would ever be me.”

These are just some of the memories of Fuller school. Jaime echoes how we all feel when she says “I’ll never forget the day that the wrecking ball took down the building. That was a sad day.” Here’s to our carefree childhood days, and here’s to you, Margaret Fuller Elementary School.

	About the Author...
			Sue Black (Rosenbloom) lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with her husband Joe and children Elana (14) and Ethan (11). She does Recruitment / Admissions / Marketing for a private school where she frequently uses writing skills she learned working on The Grist. Sue finds herself thinking back to Washburn days a lot lately as her children enter high school age.