May 6 , 2021 The Beacon • 33
SCHOOL from Page 32
Submitted
Jack Lowe shared some of his memories of school days in Blissfield . always had Christmas programs , and in the spring we had an Operetta . We have a lot of good memories .”
John “ Tony ” Cochran attended Plainfield School in the sixth grade . “ It wasn ’ t a very big school ,” he said . “ Mr . George was the teacher and the principal . We moved from Bakersville to 541 , and I knew 30 % of the kids in Plainfield from school in Bakersville . We lived 3 miles from Plainfield , and we were the first to be picked up by the school bus . Then it went way out to the strip mine area to pick up one kid and on to the Hall Road intersection . It was a long bus ride . In junior high we didn ’ t like the hour-long bus ride , so we would walk or run the 3 miles home . From the school we could see the biggest dragline bucket . It was called The Chief , and it had an Indian painted on the side .”
Gym class was the most fun for Cochran . “ It was like training for a circus sometimes ,” he said . “ We learned juggling , walking on stilts and tumbling . We played Little League Baseball . We were the Plainfield Panthers . Our coach was Art Sampsel and Troy Maple . Some of those guys had late birthdays , and they were a little bigger than the rest of us . We didn ’ t win a single game the first year , and we didn ’ t lose a single game the second year .
“ One vivid memory was in gym class . We were playing three-way dodge ball . There were three teams , one on each side and one team in the middle . Dave Allen was on the middle team . Steve Eckelberry threw the ball , and the stars must have been perfectly aligned because his ball hit Dave ’ s ball , broke his finger and punctured the ball . There was a big pop , a scream and a deflated ball . Being boys , our only concern was we need another ball and was he out or safe ?”
Kathleen Baker Thompson shared memories of her mother , Betty Baker , a teacher in the Coshocton City School District . She taught at Chestnut , Sycamore , Lincoln and Washington elementary schools .
“ She was a wonderful teacher and quite beloved by her students ,” Thompson said . “ She was extremely dedicated and would keep track of her students ’ names and birthdays and send them graduation cards . She was a sub when I was in elementary school and too objective with me . She treated me like everyone else . Sometimes I would help my mother grade papers if they were true and false or something .
“ I remember grading my husband Scott ’ s paper . And now we have been married for 35 years . We all walked to school with friends and made new friends . It was a neat experience walking to school . It was a good time to grow up , and Coshocton was a wonderful place to be raised . Families were important , and friends were important . In the 1950s and ‘ 60s , things were different . It was like ‘ Ozzie and Harriet ’ and ‘ Father Knows Best .’”
Judy Philabaum and her daughter , Lasha , both have memories of the same school but with different names . Judy attended Coshocton High School , and Lasha attended when it changed to Central Elementary .
“ There was a room in the basement we called the dungeon . It was terrifying to us ,” Judy Philabaum said . “ It was the old coal room , and it still had coal in it , and they said it was haunted down there . There were two original showers from physed down there too , and they still worked . And that old coal was still in there the day they tore that building down . When kids were being bad , you would ask , ‘ Do you want to go to the dungeon ?’ And they would say no . The old gym had a banister and a balcony . We got to sit up there and watch the games . That was a thrill .”
Judy Philabaum was the youngest of 10 children . She remembers her older brother , Skip Holder , playing basketball at Coshocton High School in the late 1940s . Her mother fixed a dinner for all the guys in honor of winning the basketball championship . They had a player piano in their home , and her brother said , “ Judy can really play the piano .”
“ He put me on his lap , started working the peddles , and I acted like I was playing ,” Judy Philabaum said . “ We went to Riverside Inn for our graduation prom party in 1958 . Julie Ross was prom queen ; her dad was Judge Ross . My mother made my prom dress . It was a beautiful dress , but she wanted to save the material so she could use it for kitchen curtains later — so many pins .”
Bill , Judy Philabaum ’ s husband , wore a black suit and tie and a pink shirt to match Judy ’ s dress . Judy and Bill were members of the first class to graduate from the new gym in 1958 .
Lasha said kids were still afraid of the dungeon and still thought it was haunted down there when she went to Central . “ Kids used to dare each other to go down there . The music room was still down there , and if you took a wrong turn , you could still end up in the dungeon . Classrooms had loudspeakers for daily announcements , both the original speakers and the new ones as well .”
There were still some original drinking fountains too , and Lasha said when she
was getting a drink , she noticed a plaque that said the speakers were a gift from the Class of 1933 .
“ Sometimes announcements would come across on the old speakers , sometimes on the new speakers and sometimes you could hear them both in stereo ,” she said .
Lasha also remembers Mrs . Mann ’ s class had bunk beds and bean bag chairs in bright colors that you could sit on and read in the Accelerated Reading Program .
Judy Philabaum was always involved in her children ’ s school programs and visited the school ’ s planetarium when she was at a family reading program . The first time she went , she thought they opened the ceiling so you could look at the stars .
“ We still see Mr . Z and laugh about that . It was a good , old school , and I was sad to see it torn down ,” she said .
Country Kids elect officers
The Country Kids 4-H club elected its officers for this year .
Nick Rinehart was elected as president one , and Blaze Minet was elected president two . Tyler Israel and Jaiden Arnold will serve as vice presidents . Secretaries are Hunter Bisel and Kyra McWhorter . The news reporter is Saylor Starkey . The treasurer is Grace Dickson , and the litter leader is Brayleigh Cox . Health leaders are Kade Starkey and Pressley Wise-Sturz . Safety leaders are Gavin Williams , Izik Stokes , Blaze Minet , Kodi McWhorter , Cole Minet and Jacob Arnold . Recreation leaders are Nick Rinehart , Kade Starkey and Saylor Starkey .
The club scheduled community service projects in April and May .
Join us at Maple Valley Fence for Rotational Grazing Demonstration on May 28th , 2021 .
• Decks & Porch Railings
• Picket & Privacy Fence
• Picnic Tables
• Arbors
• Hotbeds
• Dog Kennels
• On Guard Stain ( one coat coverage )
• Stock all kinds of farm fence supplies
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