Remembering a long-ago era

Seven members of the Washington High School Class of 1945 wonder if today?s young people would have any idea of what it was like to grow up in their generation. World War II was raging and no one knew how the war would end.

Some boys in their graduating class didn?t graduate with them. Many of them answered the call to duty when they turned 18 years old, and a few 17-year-olds lied about their age in order to enlist.

Seven members of the class met at Halcyon House for lunch and reminiscing on Tuesday, April 28. They enjoyed lunch, including rhubarb pie, before sitting around the table and thinking back to their high school days.

Tuesday was a beautiful and refreshing spring day. Barbara (Peiffer) Steele said she remembers sitting in a science class and gazing out the window on a much earlier gorgeous spring day through an open window. She was amazed about how the days with a 70-year gap were so similar. Steele lives in Washington.

Donna (Durr) Schoonover, also of Washington, recalled moving from Williamsburg to Washington when she was in seventh grade. She is fond of music and enjoyed singing in the choir in high school.

Another Washington resident, Sara (Miller) Morrison has vivid memories about being a Thespian and active in the drama department. A highlight of those years, she said, was traveling to the Adler Theatre in Davenport to watch Paul Robeson in ?Othello.? She and her fellow travelers took the train to Davenport for the occasion.

When it came to the prom in 1945, Barbara (Etter) Kessell of Washington said they had their prom at the Country Club, although the girls wearing high heels had to stay off the greens. It was the first prom at the Country Club in years because of the high heels? issue.

Kessell also remembers having three chemistry teachers in one year. One of the teachers was Ralph Schoonover.

Marie Vittetoe of Iowa City said the most beneficial class she took in high school was typing. She got a ?C,? but she was able to transfer her skills to a computer keyboard. She knows of people who use the Christopher Columbus method ? they find a key and land on it.

Keith Cook of Dubuque recalled going to away football games. Whenever a player with the last name of Beenblossom was announced, the away crowd would react with laughter.

He remembers the typing teacher. When he worked at Winga?s he often waited on her. He got a good grade even though he deserved a ?C,? he said.

Cook also talked about the math teacher who learned to fly so that she could do a better job when teaching aeronautics. He told the tale of flying to Cedar Rapids when he noticed the plane?s shadow wasn?t moving. He went on to join the Naval Air Corps, but he didn?t fly. He said they tried to make an officer and a gentleman out of him, but it didn?t take.

Chabal said that on the last day of school, the class went on an out-of-town picnic. It was a big deal because it was World War II and tires were scarce. Everyone had to be very frugal.

Cook also remembers a classmate, Bob Chabal of Grundy Center asking him for a dime in high school. In fact, Chabal really hassled Cook for the dime. Cook ultimately gave Bob a dime and in return got a balled-up piece of paper, which read something to the effect of ?Don?t be an ass and don?t whine, go get a dime the same way I got mine.?

Cook tried the joke on his boss, John Winga. After much badgering, Winga gave him a dime. However, in his next pay envelope he was paid $15.90 instead of $16.

While the group was on the topic of prom, Vittetoe said that she grew up on a farm and she lost her dad in a car accident when she was a child. The landlord on the farm they lived on while she was in high school built a new barn. She decided she wanted to have a barn dance. It was announced at school as a Vittetoe dance. She said all those at the dance also were treated to a hayrack ride. The landlord was upset when it was all said and done. He said someone could have lighted a cigarette and started a fire in that new barn.

Vittetoe also talked about the fact that there were no silk stockings for women to wear during the war since silk was needed for parachutes. She said women would buy brown leg makeup and draw a line down the back of their legs to mimic the seam that joined silk stockings to together.

Classmate Harrison Coppock wasn?t able to attend the reunion, but he sent an e-mail message to Vittetoe. He said he left his high school in Niagara Falls in his junior year because he hated school. He came to Washington to stay with his half sister, Lola White, whose husband taught music at Washington High School, but who was overseas at the time.

?My best friends at WHS were Keith Cook, Dale Caldwell, Bob Chabal, [and] John Gamble,? he wrote. ?All in all, it was one of the best years of my life.?

Other memories included the way everyone in town walked wherever they needed to go, and there were no hot lunches at school.

Morrison remembers going to the cafeteria on Dec. 8, 1941 to learn from President Franklin Roosevelt that the United States was at war. The Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor the day before.

Life in Washington, Iowa, so far from Europe and Japan, changed forever that day. Young people may want to ask the people who grew up during the war what life was like back then. Not only is there much history to learn from such conversations, there are also lessons on how to survive and thrive during hard times.