100 Year Celebration By: Joseph Ptacnik
Litchfield’ s 100 year celebration of the brick building was a huge success! The presentation started off with an opening from Litchfield’ s principal Wade Finley. The keynote speakers were Mr. Dudley Friskopp, Mr. Parrish, Ken Woolery, Eldon Epley, Rogene Arnold, Phyllis Rasmussen, Mr. Ed Kirkpatrick, and Mrs. Sue May. A letter from Rogene Klein was read by Mrs. Katheryn Sauer. She had noted that back in high school, they had to drive themselves to school. Rogene( Johns) Klein was the pep club president, the very first harvest of harmony candidate from Litchfield, and their class did fundraisers for a trip to Colorado Springs rather than having a senior skip day. A recorded video from Mr. Ed Kirkpatrick was shown. He included history on the old school building that was used from 1888 to 1916, and it held from 1st to 10th grade. He noted when students didn’ t want to come to school, the principal would come get them from their house. There was a band teacher who didn’ t come in for in-service, so the shop teacher came and got him out of bed. He also remembers a time where a student ran from the school and they had to stop a train but they later found the kid in a field. Something interesting is that the school policy was that the ladies could not be married and teach at the same time, so if they taught and went to get married, they had to quit their job. A recording from Mrs. Sue May was also presented. She noted that she was not a teacher when the school was built, as some students asked. She taught Fifth and Sixth grade here in Litchfield for one year and came back to occasionally substitute teach. Her salary was $ 4,800 a year and brought home $ 298 each month. The women teachers had to wear dresses. As teaching fifth and sixth graders, there were 27 at the beginning of the year and the number increased to 29 by Christmas. Mr. Dudley Friskopp taught science at Litchfield for 40 years. He originally planned on leaving to teach at a bigger school but the administration, support of the community, and the quality of students could not get any better. Dudley’ s largest class consisted of 19 students, and he believed that there are great advantages to small school education. Mr. Friskopp noted,“ It couldn’ t get much better than this.” Dwight Parish came to the school district in 1971 as the superintendent. There were about 20-25 students in each grade. Space was a big issue at Litchfield and the community was concerned that they could not afford a bond. After the addition of the blue building, it helped a lot. Many people were amazed when he added that there are swimming pool connections at the school. He later moved to a bigger school but said that it wasn’ t as supportive, helpful, or cooperative and the students here were the best. Ken Woolery taught in Litchfield for three years. He noted that he is not sure if he is an artifact or a speaker for the celebration. He lived here for a total of 13 years. His first year teaching at Litchfield he taught Industrial Arts, Physical Education, coached track, volleyball, and was an assistant for football and basketball. He later gave Industrial Arts to someone else. On his second year teaching in Litchfield he taught math and was the junior high basketball coach, and he remembers that they never lost a game. In Ken’ s third year teaching at Litchfield he taught Jr. High Social Studies and Science. He also was the first High School art teacher. His room was in the corner of the shop and when the shop teacher was gone, he just subbed for him. His favorite memory was dumping water on students when they tried to climb the fire escape. After leaving, he came back in October of 1998 to preach and substitute. Mrs. Erma Sadler has taught here for 27 going on 28 years. She came in 1989. She said,“ This is my favorite school.” She has helped with 25 proms, probably 26 because she loves the junior class. She has worked at every single concession stand for home games. She quoted,“ This 100 year old building is looking good, hopefully it’ ll be here for another 100.” The oldest living member in the audience was Irene Kieborz. She is 96 years old and graduated in 1937.
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