Karl and Ida: James and Shirley go to school

After graduating from high school in 1932 Horace stayed home to help on the farm. Following his high school graduation in 1935 Vincent took a two-year electrical course at Wahpeton State School of Science graduating in 1937 with a two-year degree in electricity.

When I started school in the fall of 1934, I rode in a car driven by Clif Schantzen along with Vincent, Paul Jepson, Henry Bothmans and Stella Omundson. The car picked us up at the cluster of mailboxes, located at the intersection of two roads about a half mile north west of our farm. Vincent and I had to walk the half-mile across country. I remember Vincent making a path for me through the snow.

For my second year I had to meet the car bus at the Bothman corner. This was over 1.5 miles from home or one mile west of the cluster of mail boxes.. Since Vincent had graduated from high school and was now at the Wapeton Technical school, I was on my own. During good weather Horace took me to this corner in the car in the morning. During the winter Horace took me on Jerry, our black and white pinto pony. On the way home from school, I would walk home from the Bothman corner. My usual path was one mile east on the gravel road and then across Anderson’s field through the Larson yard where Ron Hink lived later, then the path through the woods to home. Many time I stopped at the Larson house to get warmed up. Iris Larson, who later married Art Dicken, would give me something warm to eat before I left.

When Shirley started school in 1936, they had a real bus and the route was changed and we met the bus on the county line road south of our place. To meet the bus we had two routes. We could walk either through the Gabe Peterson place that was south and east of our place or through the Dan Johnson or Peterson place. We did this for three years until Carol Walseth started school in 1939. I was in sixth grade when Carol started school. The school bus had changed route again and we met the bus at the mailbox corner which was about 1/2 mile north of the Walseth place. Thorstein took Carol and later Bob by car to meet the bus. Shirley and I would walk to the end of our driveway and Thorstein would pick us up in his Model A Ford. We did this for several years until the bus started coming south from the mailboxes and turned at the Walseth crossing. This may have happened when Robert Peterson and Bob Walseth started school. There were five getting on the bus at that location so the bus came to the Walseth driveway.