Arizona School Yearbooks by County
First, second and third grade students posed for this photograph in front of the Old Main School in Holbrook in 1922. They included (front row, left to right) unknown, Frank Ferguson, Ed Hennessey, Jack Wallace, Amy Thompson, Zella Farr, Lee Thompson, unknown, Evelyn Hennessey, (middle row) Darryl Shumway, Winston McCleve, Joe Franklin, unknown, (back row) unknown, Beaulah Divelbess, Fairy Greer, Agnes Jahns, Nyal Rockwell, unknown, Phillip Patterson, Winifred Cameron, unknown, unknown, Gwendolyn Sapp, unknown, Chester Shumway, Marjorie Crumley and Garnette Meadows Franklin.
Because we were always traveling and were together so much of the time, I had learned to read by the time I entered kindergarten in Laramie, Wyo. The teacher was unhappy because I had not learned the phonics method of reading and she did not approve of learning to read until first grade. I was unhappy because all we were expected to do was play, and I felt the other kids were stupid.
I enjoyed the first grade in Albuquerque, and would have been promoted to the second grade at Christmas if we had stayed there. But, the Arizona schools were so far ahead of the New Mexico school system that I to finish the first grade in Holbrook. My teacher was Helen Hopkins, whom I dearly loved. She taught me phonics and was delighted that I could read.
The elementary grades were all located in the middle of what was later called Old Main, and then was called the high school. The removal of this beautiful building brought sorrow to the many students who attended school there, including me.
The first and second grades were in a room on the southwest corner, and the third and fourth grade room was on the southeast corner. The fifth and sixth grade room was on the northeast corner, and the seventh and eighth grades, or the junior high, had the room on the northwest corner. A stairway leading from the basement to the upper story ran through the center of the school. How we all loved to slide down the banister when the teachers were not apt to catch us.
The high school was on the upper, or top, floor, with the library and auditorium taking up half the space. The remaining area was divided into classrooms and the principal’s office. The shop and home economics departments were in the basement, with restrooms and showers in the rear.
We did not get to keep our beloved Miss Hopkins many years. A forester employed by the Sitgreaves National Forest, Pinky Arnold, married her and took her away. She was replaced by Lorraine Botkin, who came to teach us in the third grade. I don’t remember her as well as Miss Hopkins, but I do remember how the whole school resounded with the thunderous strains of "Hall of the Mountain King."
She had a portable phonograph that she would wind up every day to play thick platter-type records. She gave us a little background on each piece, and did her best to instill a love for classical music in our tender little hearts. I guess she did. I may not remember the name of the composer, but when I hear some of those compositions, I recognize them and think of Miss Botkin, her phonograph, and the third and fourth grades.
In the early 1920s, the school had a very austere principal, Mr. Brannigan. Tall, well dressed and dignified, he ruled with an iron hand. And, as far as I can remember, he had little trouble operating the two schools. However, there was one episode that I remember. In the midst of a heated argument with the father of an incorrigible student, Mr. Brannigan was deluged with a barrage of rotten eggs as he stood on the steps of the school. The angry father was a local, successful businessman.
Near the hill and close to the cemetery, there lived a family named Crumley. The mother died shortly after we came to Holbrook, leaving a baby named Ross and two little girls, Virginia and Marjorie. There were also two older boys, Dan and Harold.
Mr. Crumley was a carpenter and painter. He painted our apartment, and told my mother that he just did not see how he could continue to care for the small children. He said it was almost impossible to get someone to come in to care for them, and noted that the baby was sick much of the time. This made it difficult for him to leave home long enough to work and support the family.
In 1923, Joseph A. Rencher and his wife, Nettie Hunt Rencher, adopted Virginia and took her to Snowflake. The Renchers were the grandparents of Tanny Rencher, who later married Allen Hensley of Holbrook.
Ross, the baby, and Marjorie, were adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Denham of Shumway. I missed Marjorie, because she had stayed with us some of the time and we had become very close. Then we heard that she had been seriously injured in an accident and had died. Her little grave is here in the cemetery next to that of her mother.
When I look back, I wonder what would have been the course of all our lives if we had taken that little girl into our home. I know my mother would have loved having her with us and I could have had a sister. But my dad was already disillusioned with Holbrook, and was hoping to move on with as little responsibility as possible.
The older Crumley boys stayed with their father and finished high school in Holbrook. I lost track of Harold, but Dan lived in Flagstaff for many years, where he was employed by the Coconino Sun, Flagstaff’s newspaper. This was many years ago, and did not seem important at the time. But, as the years pass, one would like to know what has happened to those we have known in our lifetime.
