"Doc" Remembered By Those He Touched

BADGER

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes
Date: 2/10/2014 at 15:23:26

"DOC" REMEMBERED
BY THOSE HE TOUCHED

By John Darda
Assistant Editor

R.J.H. "Doc" Badger died Monday, Dec. 4 at the Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines. He was 98.

Hanging on a wall in a hallway of the Montezuma community School is a collection of class photographs, some dating back to the 1920s.

Running your eyes across them is a history lesson in popular culture. Hairstyles lengthen and shorten. Clothes change, class mottoes reflect the sentiment of the times.

If you were to take a graduating senior from 1928 and compare him or her to one from 1970 it would be mind boggling to imagine how their high school experiences were different. Even more mind boggling is the fact that they had the same principal: R.J.H. "Doc" Badger.

His funeral service on Friday packed the United Methodist Church with family, friends, educators and admirers. The Masons and the Eastern Star honored him. State Rep. Danny Carroll, a personal friend of Badger, spoke of the man with such humor and eloquence the congregation was both laughing and crying at once. This was a man who touched lives.

An active member of the Lions Club and the United Methodist Church, Badger spent most of his life in Montezuma. Having served as principal at Montezuma High School for 42 years Badger has left an indelible mark on the community.

Robert John Helwig Badger was born Jan. 29, 1902, in Murray, Iowa to an Irish immigrant father who worked as a meat cutter. He had an older sister Opal, who taught country school, and two younger brothers.

In an interview with The Republican, in Nov. of 1990, Badger shared some of the following stories of his life with then editor Catherine Stephens.

Badger started grade school in a class of 26 students, but by the time he graduated high school only 13 were still in school. Of those 13, he was the only one to attend college.

"My folks bought a graduation suit for me, so I would have something nice to wear while I was in college. I remember the material as a kind of green burlap," Badger joked.

"I arrived in Montezuma the year the new school building was completed, the building that is now the junior high school.

"Kenneth Cox was the first person to call me Doc. During the first Montezuma football game of the 1928 season, one of the players was having leg problems. I went in to the gym to offer my assistance to the coach and recommended a few stretching techniques. Ken was captain of the team and said something like, "Thanks, Doc," and it stayed with me all through the years."

Badger was mutually liked and respected by faculty, students and parents alike.

Darrell Brand served as principal a few years after Badger had retired. Having been a teacher during Badger's administration he remembers what it was like working with the man.

"I don't want to say he commanded respect, but you respected him a great deal. One reason was because of his wisdom and the other reason was the fact that he had been here so many years," said Brand.

"The foundation of our school system began with Mr. Vanderwal, Doc Badger, and Irving Gabriel. Those guys were here forever and they built a very strong foundation in terms of belief systems and in the way things should be. They were all very fair and they always cared."

"If you kept your eyes open and your ears open you could learn a lot from them."

Lew Lundy came to Montezuma in 1959 as a coach and a history teacher while Badger was still administrator.

"I learned a lot form him. I found out that the things he stood for, I stood for. He was not afraid to tell you how he felt about something," said Lundy.

Badger's deep personal faith showed through in his work.

His faith was very important to him. He was a very, very solid Christian. The people in the community really admired Doc as a person and as an educator," Lundy said.

Larry Homes started teaching at Montezuma in the early 1960s. He, like the others pointed out how Doc's humor in addition to his faith helped him to survive.

The Monte girls basketball team was going to a district or regional tournament at LeGrand," Homes said. "At that time we were really big on riding the pep buses to the games. Doc called ahead and spoke with the principal to find out when the doors opened and to insure the students on the pep buses would get seats. The pep buses showed up at LeGrand to find the doors already open and the seats nearly all taken.

"Doc was livid" Homes said.

"He told the principal 'you promised these kids seats now you're going to find them seats.' So he lined the students up and said 'ready, CHARGE!' And they made space for the Monte students. People had to squeeze way over, but they did it," Homes said.

Badger's personal commitment to the school ran long hours, said to be the first one here in the morning, and often the last to leave at night, his dedication astounded the staff.

Badger believed in seeing the job through. In his opinion, a high school diploma was a necessity whether a student planned on attending college or working on a farm.

Badger said "One of the most important things is that a child needs to have a well rounded education. Academics, music, speech and sports all have something to add to the individual."

Badger believed in the integrity of the individual, that every child needed to feel special. His faith supported that belief and compelled him to see it through.

"I like to compare kids to apple trees. You can plant all of the apple trees you want, but only God can make them grow," Badger said.