Clarence Kooker: "When I started teaching in 1951-52 there were 41 students in my classroom"
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"I started teaching in Bluffton schools in 1951-52. I taught fourth grade and in my first class there were 41 children. The room I had in the old grade school had only windows in the back. With 41 children, the room was crammed full. The rest rooms were in the basement.
"However, my fourth grade students were very good students. When I mean my classroom was crammed, I didn’t even have room for a table. It was wall-to-wall kids. There were huge blackboards with chalk. Although the desks had a hole for inkwells, we didn’t use the inkwells. We had ball point pens.
"I had an extra year of college, so they paid me $2,500 my first year. There were no medical benefits and I can’t think of any other benefits we had.
"In my first year I had two twins in my class – Connie and Nancy Patterson. Thy were kind of jokers. In the first week of school they switched seats on me."
- Clarence Kooker
This is a sample of the content of "Bluffton Anthology - A creek runs through it." Copies are now available for $24.95 plus tax in Bluffton at:
• Roots by Strattons
• The Food Store
• The Black Lab
• Bluffton Senior Citizens Center
• The Dough Hook
• Polished
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Friday, June 27, 2025
Thursday, June 26, 2025
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- Bluffton Senior Center activities schedule for July 2025
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Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Monday, June 23, 2025
- Anna Marie Beagle taught at Allen East Elementary
- Noteworthy dress rehearsal and concert with potluck in Ada, June 23 and 29
- First Bluffton Art Walk provides a welcome outing on a rainy day
- Hardin County Commissioners send letter objecting to HB 335
- Duckie Cosplay underway at Bluffton Public Library
- Upcoming BPL events, June 23-28