Remembering Cato school

Saturday, May 7, 2011
Maudine Picht (center), Fort Scott, points out one of her former students in an old Cato School class photo. Picht and Ava Mae Adams, (right), Arcadia, who also taught at the former one-room schoolhouse, recently met at Picht's home to talk about memories of their experiences as teachers at the now-restored schoolhouse. Also pictured is Cato Historical Preservation Association Chairwoman Susie Stelle.

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Memories of life in a one-room schoolhouse are as clear as day for retired Cato School teachers Maudine Picht and Ava Mae Adams.

Picht, 80, of Fort Scott, and Adams, 86, of Arcadia, recently got together at Picht's home to talk about memories of their experiences as teachers at the now-restored Cato School -- a former schoolhouse built in 1869 and located in the Crawford County town of Cato -- during the late 1940s and early 50s.

The meeting was arranged by Cato Historical Preservation Association Chairwoman Susie Stelle.

Adams, who taught at the school from 1947 through 1949 and for 14 years at other schools, said she also attended the school during her seventh and eighth grade years. Adams began teaching after graduating from Arcadia High School during World War II.

"They were calling for teachers," she said. "My mother had been a teacher at Cato School."

Adams recalls using a gasoline lantern for light because the school had no electricity until 1949.

"The days were dark on rainy days," she said.

Adams said she has mostly pleasant memories of her time teaching at Cato School.

"The kids were nice," she said. "The only thing I dreaded was Lifebuoy soap ... It made the classroom smell awful."

Picht, a 43-year teacher, taught at Cato School from 1949 to 1951. She said a typical school day during the time period ran from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Many kids were taken to school by their parents, but youngsters who lived close enough came on foot, Picht said.

"They would walk a mile," she said.

Picht said she also remembers students playing ball in the schoolyard and calling her by her first name, "Miss Maudine."

Adams also remembers bringing water into the school each day from the outdoor pump, and starting a fire in the stove at the beginning of each day to "warm the children."

There was also a coal house and teacher's garage next to the school.

"It was a livelihood," Adams said of her job in those days. "I loved it. It was the only thing I knew."

Adams graduated from Pittsburg State University in 1955. She taught school to pay her own way through college. Picht graduated from the University of Iowa in 1963. She said it took her 13 years to earn a degree by also working to pay her own way through college.

Adams said she still sees some of her former students on a regular basis. She said she is grateful for all the work that has been done in recent years to restore and preserve the old school.

"To think that schoolhouse is still there ... I just think it's great," she said.

Picht and Adams said they typically had around 20 first-through-eighth grade students in their classes and usually had to rush to fit all the scheduled activities into the school day.

The Cato School was built in 1869 and served as a schoolhouse and meeting house until the mid-1950s. Generations of students attended the one-story school over the near-century it was in operation.

Stelle said the steps on the front of the building are steep and dangerous and because of this, Kay Woods, a descendant of Hope Simpson, a teacher at Cato School in the late 1800s, donated $500 to build a ramp leading into the former school. Woods is Picht's second cousin.

"We want to encourage seniors to come to the fall tours, and make access to the school much safer," Stelle said. "And we're trying to make the building handicapped-accessible."

This year's Cato Tour, set for Oct. 21-22, will feature historical re-enactments, interpretations of music from the 1800s, hayrides to area cemeteries and other activities.

Other former Cato School teachers who could not attend the gathering at Picht's home were Howard Armstrong, who is in poor health, and Velma Jewell, who died last December. Armstrong taught at Cato School in 1943 and also preached at the Cato Church located near the school. Jewell taught at Cato School in the 1940s. She was also Picht's teacher at another school.

Stelle said any other former Cato School teachers who would like to share their stories may contact her at (620) 232-6944.

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