Class of 1947 TROUBADOUR Yearbook Found and Restored!!

Through the efforts of several Classmates of 1947, I have been able to restore a tattered and badly worn copy of the 1947 TROUBADOUR. It has now been brought back to life and will be included in the School Day Memories section and can be read by simply clicking on the tab to open for viewing and reading. This is the first edition of the Troubadour that resumed production after WW II and is chocked full of interesting information including the Junior High Student's roster. Many of us are in this yearbook of BHS history and hopefully will be reunited at the Reunion.

If anybody would like a copy, I can get Kinko's to make additional bound copies at a cost of $10 each. Check the School Days Memories tab often as I have a lot of "stuff" to add to this section.

The USA's First Lady Postmistress Appointment . . . It happened in Nuroad, MO

Mrs. Nellie M Hamilton - Postmistress

Another First for Nuroad/Berkeley, MO!

President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed the first lady Postmistress of the USA to Mrs. Nellie M. Hamilton to the Nuroad, MO Post Office. Mrs. Nellie M. Hamilton was our grandmother (Bill, Jesse (AKA Bush), Mike & Joe Sowders plus Dorothy, June and Suzy Hamilton). We all helped during the Christmas rush to get the mail sorted and the packages ready to be packed into the Post Office Bags resembling duffel bags with an official US Postal Service lock. Also, in the Springtime, a Postal Truck would deliver boxes that were alive and they emitted a "cheep-cheep" sound...They were baby chicks and were shipped via the Postal Service and amazingly they arrived alive. Can you imagine this happening today? They would be petrified by the time they arrived via "snail mail" today.

This post office was located in the front of our grandparents living quarters which had served previously as a bakery shop and was located as the intersection of Graham and Airport Roads. Some of our classmates will remember having to pick up their mail at this Post Office. For a very low sum, you could rent a Post Office Box which had your name on it and it had a combination lock which you could unlock and get your mail after hours. If you didn't have a P.O. Box, your mail was sorted to the General Delivery bin and you had to pick up your mail personally from the Postmistress during the regular business hours. She would then thumb through the stack until she found your mail and hand it to you through the clerks window. Mail service had a personal touch in this Post Office and it also served as a meeting place where many exchanged the local gossip and happenings of the town. My how things have changed today as a trip to the Post Office is akin to "A walk on the wild side".

The payment a Postmaster received in those days was the amount of stamp cancellations each day. A letter's postage was 3 cents postage at that time and if you received 10 letters to be mailed that day, you received 30 cents for your days pay. The article below makes reference to this method of payment and the paltry sum she received each month.

The attached newspaper article pays tribute to the Nuroad, MO Postmistress upon her passing away in October 1954 while I was in Korea. It portrays the lovable person she was as well as the matriarch of our family. During the "Hard Time 30's she helped our entire family through those tough times. 

                                                  To enlarge...Left Click on article

Check out the new addition to Berkeley Historical Facts Tab

I have scanned some more interesting historical information concerning early history when Berkeley was called Kinloch. Next, it was called Nuroad for about seven years before it became Berkeley City, MO  in 1937. I have a lot more facts but that will have to wait until tomorrow as it is beyond my bed time. A roster of all the inhabitants of Nuroad in 1931 will be next. You might find your parents or grandparents listed as this was published in 1931.

Great news . . . Coach Schnell and Carolyn are coming to our Reunion

Due to the change of date for our reunion, Coach Schnell, Carolyn and their son and friend will be coming and this will make a lot of our classmates very happy. Sometimes change is for the better! The picture above is Coach Schnell and Elaine (Combs) Noble at a reunion of 2003.

I have just struck the "Mother Lode" of historic first's from Berkeley, MO

I never knew some of the first's that took place in our hometown area. As soon as I can scan a wealth of historic data, I will post it on the "Berkeley Historic Facts" tab on our blog. What started out to be a Blog about our classmates has unearthed many very interesting things. This is a teaser about whats coming!
>Airmail began from Kinlock Field (Now Lambert Field)
>First Female Postmistress in the entire USA was appointed in Nuroad, MO which became Berkeley City
>A list of all the households in Nuroad, MO 1931. Plus some historic facts that will be very interesting. 
and much more with some fantastic pictures and narrative that Deann Diemeke has sent to me. I am on "overload" getting all this information together for posting. Bear with me and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have in finding all this historic information.

How about a walk "Down Memory Lane" with some of our classmates!

Some of our classmates surnames would cause an Etymologist to scratch his/her head in wonderment! It does make one wonder how did these names originate?

Schweppenstede

Blasingame

Drybread (Sammy got a lot of teasing on this name)

McGucken

Oestrich

Smiley (this is an easy one if you ever saw Carolyn Smiley's smile)

Gangwes (We pronounced it Gangway)

Wirtel

Weckerlin

Gravat

Flatbush

Tungate

Tankersley
Oesch  (We pronounced it Ash)
Combs
Sowders (Our Texas relatives jokingly think it may have been associated with Horse Thieves)
and many other names I can't recall...("Senior Moments" happen!)

The above were all classmates of ours and represented the possible European influence of a surname derived from an occupation or place of origin. There are several etymology sites on the Internet where you can spend days researching names. The above names represent what made America great. Berkeley was a personification of a blue collar community of people who worked hard each day to provide for their family. We were fortunate to have grown up in such a community that gave us exposure to "The Good Ol' Days" when you never locked your doors or worried about your children walking home from school. What a great group of students to grow up with throughout our school years!

Unfortunately, many of the our classmates listed above are no longer with us. Hopefully many of the surviving names will join us at our "Last Hurrah" reunion on Sunday, May 27, 2012.

Red School House memories of Pat (Benoist) Garthoeffner

Pat Garthoeffner garthgallery@comcast.net	Jan 28 (1 day ago)
to me

Hi:  Just looked at the photos of the red school house!  What a delightful surprise!!! I lived one block over on Garfield and went to Berkeley from 3^rd grade on and graduated in 1958.  I played at the school during the summer and fall months and actually, whenever school was out!  Many times I sat at the top of one of the slanted concrete forms on either side of the steps and acted like “Cleopatra” – my friends in the neighborhood were my “slaves” and would bow down when I clapped my hands!  I loved the play yard and especially remember the Merry-go-round that was hung with chains and bars and you would run around and swing thru the air!  I remember the swings were “huge” and went very high!  There was a story that a girl swung so high that she went over the top and had a pair of scissors in her pocket and was impaled by them when she hit the ground!  (I’m sure that was to keep children from swinging too high)! 

I thought I was the only one who remembered the school house so well…………..so glad to know there are others who have special memories of it.  I didn’t know anything about its history but it was there where I met Margie Oesch, Carole Tepe, Ronnie Coles-?, Hazel Puronen, Marilyn, Joe  Haley, Stevie Fletcher, Richard Tullock,Leroy Rhodes and so many others.  My first teacher was Miss Smith and I corresponded with her for many years.  My daughters have heard many stories about my good times at the Red School House and tried to find it one day when they were in St.Louis visiting my Mother –unfortunately, they ended up in Kinloch and never got to see the school or saw it and never recognized it from my description versus how much it had changed when they saw it!

Thanks for memories and I hope to see you all at the Luncheon if not the reunion – Pat Benoist Garthoeffner