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
Stories Posted This Week
Monday, November 9, 2026
- Healing and life beyond incarceration explored at Forum
- Nov. 12 opportunity to learn Mahjong
- Door hanger craft class at Pandora library, November 17
- BPL after school movie, November 16
- Hailey's Wellness and Massage provide chair massages at Senior Center
- Bluffton area Women in Business Meeting November 19
Sunday, November 8, 2026
Saturday, November 7, 2026
- Pirates Essinger and Gatchel finish cross country season at OHSAA Championships
- Nov. 7 Bluffton Schools athletics lineup, streaming
- Pirate football hits Archbold roadblock in playoff loss
- Forum: Vaughn explores biblical and multicultural accounts of spirits and exorcism
- Bluffton University relaunches Leadership Development Program with NetVUE grant support
- Weekend Doctor: When distraction becomes the default