Hawthorne School, Glen Ellyn, Illinois

By Randall A. Wells

Dear Former Classmates—

I hope you will enjoy these questions about our grade school.  In 1947 I started kindergarten there and transferred to Forest Glen for sixth grade. These questions reflect my idiosyncratic memory and that invite you to remember some details of your own.  I offer this questionnaire in honor of those years in our neighborhood school. (This list appeared in 2010 and grew in 2013.)

1. Name three songs from any songbooks.

2. Name one book on the classroom bookshelf.

3. Name one book that a teacher read aloud to the class.

4. Name one word on the annual vocabulary and general knowledge test.

(Disclosure: I remember one because I was irked that David Murphy knew it.)

5. Name one framed painting (reprint) on the wall of a classroom.

6. What was the manufacturer’s name on the drinking fountains? (Two words.)

7. Who was “The Littlest Angel”?

8. What was the name of the character on the weekly (?) classroom-radio-program whose voice sounded electronic or like a train whistle?

9. Name one piece of music that was played on that same program. (By Haydn.)

10. What was unusual about Mr. Jack’s hand?

11. What was Mr. Jack’s first name?

12. What was the first name of each of these teachers:

Miss or Mrs. Williams

Miss Smith

Miss Stange

Miss Skidmore

Mrs. Bollinger

Miss Fairbanks

Mrs. Groom

Mrs. Cordes

Miss Ericson

Miss Butler

Miss Purdum

13. What was the first name of the principal, Miss Crisler?

14. Bonus points: what was the first name of Mr. Jellies, the janitor? The maiden name of Mrs. Bollinger?

15. Name one substitute teacher.

16. Name five schoolmates who left for other towns during your years at Hawthorne.

17. Name the weekly magazine we read in first grade.

18. If you were in that classroom, name the song that our classmate Doris Scannell sang while the traveling music teacher played the pump organ. (Doris was asked to perform because she had such a good voice.) Alternative question: can you name one song we sang in Music that refers to water? Hints in next line.

Sea, ocean, canal, bay, cavern.

19. On a kindergarten field trip to Miss Smith’s parents’ house—where did they live?

20. Name one destination of a field trip in town.

21. Who was Mrs. Farmer?

22. What instrument did you play in the first-grade performance for mothers?

23. Where in the school did you have your hearing tested?

24. Name the well-known, local female author who once signed books at school.

25. Name the Superintendent of Schools.

[26, added Sept. 30, 2013]: Name one other field trip besides to Mrs. Farmer’s.

[27, added Nov. 11, 2013.] Name one item you either drew out of the grab-bag or left inside it unwillingly.

28. Name one word that helped make up a crossword puzzle in a class exercise.

29. What appeared in the north windows of the school each December? (Question by Harry Strong.)

Hawthorne School, Glen Ellyn, Illinois

Memory Challenges

ANSWERS

1. Name three songs from any songbooks. Marine theme song, Erie Canal, Amalfi Bay, Clementine, Dixie, She’ll be comin’ round the mountain, Battle Hymn

2. Name one book on the classroom bookshelf. The Boxcar Family (orange cover)

3. Name one book that a teacher read aloud to the class. Understood Betsy, the Bible, Winnie the Pooh

4. Name one word on the annual vocabulary and general knowledge test. prior

(Disclosure: I remember this one because I was irked that David Murphy knew it.)

5. Name one framed painting (reprint) on the wall of a classroom.

Sunflowers by Van Gogh. Mother holding child, by Gauguin

6. What was the manufacturer’s name on the drinking fountains? (Two words.)

Halsey Taylor

7. Who was “The Littlest Angel”?

Protagonist of a cautionary cartoon about safety when crossing the street—a child who was hit, went to heaven, but came back OK.

8. What was the name of the character on the weekly (?) classroom-radio-program whose voice sounded electronic or like a train whistle? Sparky

9. Name one piece of music that was played on that same program. (By Haydn.)

“Surprise” Symphony

10. What was unusual about Mr. Jack’s hand? Missing a finger

11. What was Mr. Jack’s first name? Clarence

12. What was the first name of each of these teachers:

Miss or Mrs. Williams (ditto) Ruth (M. Craddock)

Miss Smith (ditto)

Miss Stange (ditto)

Miss Skidmore (ditto) Wilma (M. Craddock)

Mrs. Bollinger Grace

Miss Fairbanks Mary

Mrs. Groom Delia

Mrs. Cordes Charlotte

Miss Howard Sarah

Miss Ericson Effie

Miss Butler Nancy

Mrs. Purdum Maude

13. What was the name of the principal, Miss Crisler? Frances

14. Bonus points: what was the first name of Mr. Jellies, the janitor? The maiden name of Mrs. Bollinger? Bollinger [sic]

15. Name one substitute teacher. Mrs. Brubaker, Mrs. Boylston (Someone said that Mrs. Brubaker was a full-time teacher)

16. Name five schoolmates who left for other towns during your years at Hawthorne.

Jimmy Glaser, Bobby Stege, Sandra Cottingham, Will Franger (Crescent Blvd. on hill), Sandra Shryock (from CA?, NE corner Main & Hawthorn), Ralph Nickerson (? Main St. just uphill from Pennsylvania), Ronny Nicholson, Kim Cowlin, Ronald Glassman, prob. Barbara Sorensen

I think Sandra Cottingham transferred to Main St. School before moving out of town—M. Craddock

17. Name the weekly magazine we read in first grade.

Weekly Reader. [Workbook: Think and Do]

One article explained the Buick Le Sabre, a snazzy experimental design.

18. If you were in that classroom, name the song that our classmate Doris Scannell sang while the traveling music teacher played the pump organ. (Doris was asked to perform because she had such a good voice.)

“There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight.” Songs with water: “America” (“From sea to shining sea”), “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean,” “Erie Canal,” “Amalfi Bay,” “Clementine” (slipped, drowned, bubbles).

19. On a kindergarten field trip to Miss Smith’s parents’ house—where did they live?

Cloverdale. (Mistakenly called “Bloomingdale” in my original set of questions.)

It was a farm. M. Craddock. I climbed a tree–R. Wells

20. Name one destination of a field trip in town. Library, post office. Fire station—M. Craddock

21. Who was Mrs. Farmer? Owned a country estate and busloads of children come for the day w. bagged lunches. (I may have the name wrong.] . .] No, she lived near Ann Moore and was a bird and nature expert. She came and talked to us about birds . M. Craddock.

22. What instrument did you play in the first-grade performance for mothers?

Triangle??

23. Where in the school did you have your hearing tested?

Girls’ bathroom.

24. Name the well-known, local female author who once signed books at school.

Rosamond du Jardin (answer courtesy of Carol Ann Hill McQuinn.

25. Name the Superintendent of Schools. Mr. Riedel.

26. To the farm of Mr. George Goodrich, Sr. (a memory of Alan Grindal.) R. Wells adds these trips: town’s public library (we walked downhill on Forest Ave. one bright autumn day, some of us holding hands), U.S. post office (observation peep-hole upstairs in the cavernous room full of bins), and telephone company (a row of women sitting in front of wires).

27. Signaling mirror.

28. Crocodile.

29. Faux Stained Glass Windows created by 5th-6th (till Forest Glen stole our 6th graders), using black construction paper and cut-outs with colored cellophane paper.

Our schoolmate who answered the most questions but not enough to brag about: Alan Grindal. He also remembers going to the gym-auditorium to watch TV when General Douglas MacArthur resigned. I believe he remembered Mr. Riedel’s first name: Mark. He also remembered the first name of Mr. Jellies. I am grateful to Harry Strong, who furnished one last name, corrected the spelling of another, and corrected one first name (2013).

Please let me know if you have any corrections, comments, or additional names. Even additional class photographs that you would like me to post.

Contact randallawells via my Yahoo account. Thanks, RW.

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