1929? Wilderness Clan Picnic

APPLEGATE, AYERS, BELCHER, FINLEY, JOHNSON, LAIRD, LASH, PINN, ROOD, WARRICK, WHITAKER

Posted By: Sandra Breitkreutz (email)
Date: 5/9/2003 at 21:17:50

WILDERNESS CLAN ELECT OFFICERS
(from unidentified newspaper, possibly in 1929)

Mrs. Ida Belcher was elected president, Mrs. Elsie Finley vice president, Ms. Ellen Ayers secretary-treasurer of the Wilderness school clan picnic which is held annually around June 17 at Wilderness school southeast of Nevada and which was held there last Saturday.

This event commemorates the destruction of the original school building by a cyclone June 17, 1882. At that time Miss Georgia Warrick, then of Nevada but for a number of years principal of one of the Des Moines schools was the teacher. While the cyclone was very destructive it occurred on Saturday afternoon when there was no school in session.

At the annual meeting held Saturday there were present many who have attended Wilderness school during the early years. Among those was Mrs. Laura Whitaker of Maxwell who taught the school in 1869 whose pleasure it has been to ring the school bell and call to order those gathered annually as she rang it in to call to order her pupils of sixty years ago.

One other feature of the program Saturday was a talk upon "Our Girls of Today" by Mrs. Fannie Lash of Santa Ana, Calif. Mrs. Lash’s talk was a tribute to the girls of today and strong in condemnation of the criticism which is being generally directed toward the present day young womanhood.

While the 50 present Saturday were not as large a group as usually gathers annually, yet the same good fellowship, the same keen interest in old time school associations was manifested as has marked these annual gatherings heretofore.

Among those from a distance present were Mr. And Mrs. John Whitaker, Mitchellville, Mr. And Mrs. Frank Johnson and family, Ankeny, Mr. And Mrs. Laird of Des Moines, Mrs. Laird being formerly Miss Lizzie Rood of the Wilderness school district and Mrs. Maude Applegate and Mrs. Fannie Lash of California. Mr. And Mrs. Frank Pinn of Lucas county thinking the picnic might be held Monday drove over Sunday to be here for the event.