Amid storytelling and laughter, alumni of Riga District School #8 celebrated 50 consecutive years of gathering for the annual reunion on Sunday, September 17, 2006. Addie (Jackson) Coleman, a former student, and her husband, Jerry, were hosts. The gathering began with an array of foods after which the group had a minute of silence in memory of the loss of former alumni for the year. The business meeting was also held. The small group, all seniors now, say they realize that progress is inevitable but they continue to reminisce and treasure memories about days gone by and hope that Riga remains rural for many years to come. Riga #8 closed in 1946 and all the students attending the one room schoolhouse were bussed to the school in the village of Churchville, which housed grades K-12. At that time the school had only three buses to transport its students. Riga #8 memoirs During good weather, a few of us that lived fairly close to the school would walk home for lunch and then back for the afternoon session. We walked to and from school each day, all school year. I sometimes rode my tricycle and later my bicycle. During the spring we'd stop on the roadside and pick violets for our teacher. We also had a trip into the woods to explore nature each spring and we'd have a picnic each year to end the school year. It was during World War II that we would go and pick milkweed pods for the Defense Department to use in making life preservers. We were extremely proud to be able to do this small part of our country. Some other things that I remember are: that during the cold winter months our teacher would make us hot soup or hot chocolate on top of the potbelly stove (used to heat the room), the dental hygienist coming to clean our teeth each year; raising and lowering the flag before and after the school day and going to the outhouse (especially during the cold winter months) was an icy cold proposition and not always sanitary particularly when no toilet tissue or hand washing facilities were available. Gertrude (Neal) Embling Walking a mile or so to our one room school in the 1940's at the age of five years was an ordeal. When I first started school my older brothers and sister would ride me on their bike or pull me on the sled during the winter. When the icy cold wind blew over the open fields during the wintertime, I would arrive at school stiff as a board from the cold. The youngest of six children, I was always the "baby." One of my older brothers, McKinley, who was going to the school in the village of Churchville at this particular time was always looking for an innovative mode of transportation to the school bus stop, which, incidentally, was a nice little walk from our house on Jenkins Road. One day my bold and daring brother, McKinley, decided to ride our milk cow as close to the bus stop as he could and then hitch the cow to a nearby tree in our neighbor's field until he returned from school to ride her home. As my brother DeLeon, two years my senior, and I trekked home from Riga #8, nearly a mile away, came upon our cow hitched to the tree, it seemed as if our cow was beckoning us to ride her home. It really was a fiasco trying to get both of us on the cow. We were about six and eight years old. I would help my brother up onto the cow and then I couldn't get on. He would get off and get me lifted up and on the cow and then he couldn't make it up. This effort went on for quite a little while but finally, we did it - we were both on the cow. Off we went. Our cow was accustomed to someone leading her by her halter but not accustomed to being ridden like a horse and following commands. She wasn't bucking or trying to get us off her back but she wasn't moving like a trained horse either. We zigzagged all the way down the road and finally made it home. When our bold and daring brother, McKinley, arrived home from school he was madder than a hornet. He ripped into my brother and me with a vengeance. Needless to say that after a while the incident was forgotten and life went on as usual. Addie (Jackson) Coleman While visiting my cousins during the school session I had the opportunity to attend Riga #8 schoolhouse with them. I remember each row in the room being a different grade. There was a wood/coal-burning stove in the classroom to keep the room warm. We played outside during recess and were called back to school by the teacher ringing the school bell. Barbara (Saidah) Smith Afternoon classes were starting when Audrey (Baker) Embling excitedly came into school and said that an airplane had landed in the field across the road from our school. The kids were all excited as well and wanted to see the airplane. "It's gone now," Audrey added. For the next forty-five years we all talked about the airplane that landed one summer day near our schoolhouse. At a recent reunion Gertrude (Neal) Embling remarked about the airplane incident. "That never happened," Audrey Baker Embling remarked, amused. "I was a kid, I lied. I thought we needed some excitement around there." The group was flabbergasted but also greatly amused by the deception of a little eight year old so many years ago Fleda E. (Jackson) Gibbs I can remember having to plow through the snow to go to the outhouse just to take a pee. Glenn Neal The Susan B. Anthony Connection Fleda E. (Jackson) Gibbs *Judy Emerson, former Curator of Collections, Susan B. Anthony House National Historic Landmark Museum. All former students feel that we had great times and learning experiences in the one room schoolhouse called Riga #8. Submitted by Fleda E. Gibbs/Addie L. Coleman November 12, 2006 |
