One Room, One Teacher celebrates rural education
Nebraska’s educators now permanently recognized at UNK
Rural school teachers were honored at the dedication of the One Room, One Teacher Honor Wall on Sept. 20, 2013, at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
“These teachers have had such an impact on so many people, on so many lives in the community,” said Ed Scantling, dean of the College of Education.
Ardis G. Mullen Yost is one of the teachers honored on the new One Room, One Teacher Honor Wall at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Yost began her career in 1949 at District #85 Garfield in Webster County, signing a contract for $131.28 per month.
UNK’s One Room, One Teacher effort aims to help preserve the stories and history of rural education.
View profiles of One Room, One Teacher honorees
“These teachers have never been honored before. There’s never been any recognition for who they are and what they did,” Scantling said. “The literacy rate in the rural schools was greater than the urban areas, and that’s due to the work of these teachers.”
The university will accept additional honorees for years to come and invites individuals and families to honor someone they know who taught in a rural or country school in Nebraska.
Contributors have their name or the name of a person they are honoring permanently displayed on the One Room, One Teacher wall of honor. Many of those honored are graduates of UNK, but the university also wants to honor non-alumni.
The donation to the University of Nebraska Foundation supports the One Room, One Teacher Scholarship Fund, a permanently endowed fund to help many future generations of teachers.
Many honorees, their families and former students traveled to Kearney from across the country for the dedication event.
“The highlight, really, is an opportunity for those former teachers to share memories of teaching in one room school houses or rural school houses,” said Scantling.
So far, 35 family members, former students or former teachers have supported the program by purchasing plaques to honor a teacher.
One Room, One Teacher Honorees
These are the first 35 honorees who are permanently recognized at UNK, and the university will accept additional honorees:
Doris Rupert Allen Jackson, Sidney (deceased), Cheyenne County School District #68
Mary Lou Martin Kristensen, Minden, Kearney Co. District #54 and Adams Co. District #14
Neva Nielsen, Superior (deceased), Eureka Rural School District #80
Blanche Spade Carpenter, Overton (deceased), Dawson County #94 Sumner
Evelyn Meyer Eickhorst, Lexington/Cozad (deceased), Box Butte Co. #23 Alliance
Irene Atkinson Albrecht Hiebert, Kearney (deceased), Walnut Creek School District #3 Webster Co.
Edna Hammans Randall, Gibbon (deceased), Buffalo Country District #4 Gibbon
Richard Arneson, Aurora, Colo., Webster Co. District #9 and #51
Josephine Bissell, Kearney, Mack School District #29, Concord School #46
Avis Sandberg Brodhead, Banner County (deceased), Epworth School District #20 Banner County
Marjorie Bishop Burchell, Minden (deceased), Silver Star School District #36, District #64 Norman, Alfalfa Center Buffalo County and Hoosier Valley Kearney Co. District #25
Ann Morin Choquette, Surprise, Ariz. (deceased), District #39 Franklin County
Della Mae Courter, Lexington, Dawson County Spring Creek School District #6
Doris A. Brust Fisher, Geneva, Davenport Community School District #47
Jessie Elma Lowe Fox, Wolbach (deceased), Greeley County #27 and #37 and Howard County #50, #54, #23
Mae Hansen Grove, Cadams (Nuckolls County), Daisy Dell School District #69 Cadams
Jennie Silas Gutierrez, Lexington, Dawson Co. Rural Schools
Vivene Siemers Keller, Norfolk
Katherine Dorwart Lewallan, Lincoln, New Hope School District #153 Custer County
E. Mae Czenkusch Long, Amherst (deceased), Greendale School #31, Hardscrabble District #76, East Stanley District #13
Fern Mae Enevoldsen Martin, Benkelman (deceased), Sunnyside School District #37 Kenesaw
Evelyn Frideen Matheny, Kearney (deceased), Grandview School #37 Buffalo County
Doreen DeBeck McCaroll, Kearney and Hot Springs, S.D., District #96 Antioch
Roma Sukovaty Meyer, Silver Creek (deceased), Jefferson and Polk Co. Rural Schools
Doris Bleck Murray, Axtell, Kearney Co. Districts #43, #61 and #25 and Buffalo Co. District #61
Jean A. Nama, Seal Beach, Calif., Elder Grove School Litchfield
Colleen Pfeiffer, Amherst, Watertown School District #101 Amherst
Edith Johnson Skov, Riverdale (deceased), Garfield Co. Schools
Irma Viola Noble West, Inavale and Two Rivers, Wis., Webster County, Spring Valley and Franklin Rural Schools
Ardis G. Mullen Yost, Superior, Garfield School District #85 and Inavale School District #6
The university would be pleased to honor you or someone you know on the One Room, One Teacher Wall of Honor. Learn more about the program online [http://www.unk.edu/academics/coe/oneroom/] or contact Kristin Howard at the University of Nebraska Foundation at 308-238-0235 or khoward@nufoundation.org.
