Graduating from College

My Graduation From College

These were the depression years. It was 1937 when I graduated from Wausau High School. I had decided I wanted to become a teacher, but times were hard and there were many of us. We lived on the farm and it was no small undertaking to send me to Wausau to attend the Marathon County Normal School. This was before the buses went to the country to pick up children, so I had to stay in town. I had worked for my room and board for four years while I attended high school, but it didn't seem appropriate for me to continue doing this. I found a place to stay near the Normal School with eight other girls in a private home. The people's name was Kiekhoefer, so we became known as the KK, or the Kiekhoefer Klan. I shared a bedroom with one of the girls and we shared cooking facilities with the family. I worked in the school office to pay for my tuition.

After two years I graduated and taught in a rural school for two years. Then I taught in a State Graded School at Irma for three years, after which I went to Trinity Lutheran School in Wausau, where I stayed for twenty-one years. This made a total of 26 years, during which time I attended summer school and night school, taking courses toward my 4 year degree. Having completed 1 year toward my degree, I decided to take a year off and enroll in Stevens Point as a full-time student and finish my work for a Bachelor's Degree. It took a lot of courage to be an "older" student among so many pupils that were approximately 30 or more years younger than I. At the same time, it was very refreshing to be sitting on the "other side of the desk" after 26 years, being told what to do, rather than doing the telling.

So it was that at age 50, in the year 1969, I graduated from Stevens Point with my degree, the same year that 4 of my nieces and nephews graduated from college. We thought this occasion warranted a party, which was held at Gleason, Wi., where Ruth lived at the time. For entertainment at this party, we all did our "thing". Some of the things we did were: Sang a song, read a story, read a poem or jokes, played the guitar, and played piano. We had a good time. This "program" is recorded on an audio tape, titled "Graduation Party".

Today, 26 years later, these graduates have made good use of their education. Gene is chief accountant at the Port in Milwaukee, Judy is teaching at Trinity Lutheran School in Wausau, Bob has taught in Inner City Lutheran Schools in Cleveland and Milwaukee for 20 plus years, and is currently in his vicarage year in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. He attended the Seminary for two years to become a Lutheran pastor, and Margie is teaching at Lutheran High in Milwaukee.

I taught 11 more years after that, continuing to take summer school and evening courses toward my Master's Degree, which I never did get. I had only a Master's thesis to write, but since I was nearing retirement, and didn't like to write papers anyway, I decided to forego the degree. It didn't mean that much to me.