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A glimpse into the past... Greenhand, Funk's 304 Bushel Challenge Award, Jim Lutz Memorial Award, Scholarship and Leadership pins. To highlight the evening, a guest speaker or other entertainment is provided. The State and National FFA organizations sponsor district contests in many different areas. Contests include parliamentary procedure teams, creed speaking, FFA manual quiz, public speaking, secretary's book, treasurer's book, scrapbooks extemporaneous speaking, conduct of meetings, proficiency awards, livestock, crop, and dairy awards, and a welding contest. Contests are graded by a bronze, silver, and gold ratings. The gold winners of each area advance to the next level of competition. Contestants can advance from subdistrict, to district, state, and the national contest held in Kansas City, Missouri during October. New officers are elected yearly at chapter, district, state and national levels. Claude Greiner, President of the 1965 class, was honored to be elected district Vice-President that year. Community projects are of interest to the FFA. They promote communities through a new program called "Building Our American Communities" (BOAC). They try to improve and help the community in which the chapter is organized. Members also plow and disk gardens during the spring and fall season. The club has a tree planter which can be used by anyone. County Extension help borrows this utensil to help individuals plant trees which would be too numerous to plant by hand. FFA and FHA cooperate together to sponsor sledding parties and hayrides for the members of the Chapter. Co-sponsored projects help develop interest among members and cooperation among chapters. The FFA offices of the chapters delegates the most responsibility a member can obtain in the club. The officers are the leaders and plan all activities of the chapter. This years officers are: President, Joe Sieren; Vice-President, Randy Richardson; Secretary, Doug Vincent; Treasurer, Charles Fladung; Reporter, Scott Bennett; Sentinel, Bob Romoser; Advisor, Duane Sprouse. By — Kevin Greiner F.H.A. Future Homemakers of America is the national organization of girls and boys studying homemaking. Any student who has taken or is taking a homemaking course may become a member. The overall goal of the organization is to help individuals improve personal family and community living, now and in the future. The motto is "Toward New Horizons" and the flower is the red rose. The organization was formed in 1945. The officers elected to serve the Keota Chapter in 1945-1946 were: President, Pauline Dill; Vice-President, Lora Mae Palmer; Secretary, Janet Hulse; Treasurer, Mary Ann Jaeger; Reporter, Nadine Gretter; Parliamentarian, Joan Vogel; Song Leader, Janet Hulse; Historian, Martha Jean Peiffer. Keota hosted the District F.H.A. convention in 1947. The local chapter has been well represented at the state level. The following girls have held state office: 1947-1948, Lora Mae Palmer , President 1949-1950, Norma Sellman, Music Chairman 1950-1951, Helen Holmes, Parliamentarian 1952-1953, Barbara Parsons, Music Chairman 1956-1957, Margaret Holmes, Gloria Sheets, Music Chairmen. Following is a list of the presidents who have served the local chapter:
KEOTA SCHOOLS
161 A glimpse into the past...
162 A glimpse into the past... KEOTA HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES
163 A glimpse into the past... DEDICATE
NEW On Sunday, November 13, 1960, at 2:30 p.m., the Keota Community Elementary School was the scene of the culmination of a community's dream. This dream began five years ago when the committee to study school reorganization was appointed by the various school boards of the area. As a result of the recommendation of this committee, the formation of the Keota Community School District was approved by the voters and became a legal district on July 1, 1956. One of the first projects of the new school board was to appoint a committee of citizens to study the educational program of the new district. This committee found that Keota student population was overcrowding the present classroom facilities. Upon consultation with the Iowa State Department of Education, it was suggested that a new 16-room elementary building, a varsity gymnasium, with a recreation area and kitchen facilities, would leave the existing building for junior and senior high school. The Board of Education submitted this proposition to its constituents. On May 1, 1958, a $450,000.00 bond issue was passed with 87 1/2% voting yes. The school district is made up of the Town of Keota and 13 districts in Washington county and 12 districts in Keokuk county. This educational improvements program has been carried out under the administrative guidance of Superintendent V. H. Barnum. The members of the Board of Education who planned and carried out the building program were A.E. Hotle and Robert Vincent of Washington County, John E. Klein, Mrs. Dean Morris, Mrs. Gayle Brinning and Ralph Herr in Keokuk County.
January 1, 1970. The architectural firm of Kohlrnann-Eckman-Hukill of Cedar Rapids has been retained by the Board of Education of the Keota Community School District for planning of new school facilities. February 12, 1970. The School Board met with the architect and they directed the Board Attorney, Stephen Gerard of Sigourney, to prepare petitions for a bond issue of $990,000 for the purpose of building and equipping a Junior-Senior high school. April 2, 1970. The school bond issue carried by 61.3%. A total of 1,134 votes were cast—696 in favor, 438 against. June 25, 1970. The all purpose room and locker facilities addition to the Elementary School was started about 10 days ago by the contractor, Conner Brothers of Sigourney. The Keota Community School District Formed. Thirty-two school districts voted June 26, 1956 on school re-organization. Twenty-six of the 32 school district plan, gave favorable votes for the proposal. The new district will bring together the area that the Keota school has serviced in the past with a total enrollment of approximately 500 pupils. The total vote was 728 yes to 182 no in the 32 districts. Note: Since the 1956 election the six remaining school districts that voted against re-organization have voted into the Keota Community School District and the district now operates nine bus routes with nine school buses with three spare buses in case of emergency. Since 1968 Denny Bohrofen has been School Bus Transportation Supervisor for the Keota Community School District.
ARCHITECTURE OF KEOTA SCHOOL IS HONORED November 30, 1972. Officials of the American Association of School Administrators have announced the selection of the recently completed junior-senior high school in Keota for inclusion in the 1973 Exhibition of School Architecture at Atlantic City and San Francisco early next year. The Keota building will be featured in the AASA 1973 filmstrip, a widely circulated document illustrating North America's outstanding educational buildings.
164 A glimpse into the past... The Keota facility was selected from a large number of entries, and was judged on the basis of adequacy of program, aesthetics, accessibility, community use, environmental controls and safety. The Keota school is the seventh educational plant designed by architect William Hukill of Design Associates, Cedar Rapids, to be similarly honored in recent years. V.H. Barnum is superintendent of the 350-student $850,000 structure which opened this fall for classes. —Cedar Rapids Gazette SCHOOL SONG Joyous and ever loyal We will boost for our old high Let every heart sing Let every voice ring There's no time to grieve or sigh It's ever onward, Our course pursuing May defeat ne're our ardor cool, But united, we will boost for her, Our old high school.
St. Mary's Parochial School A frame school building was erected in the year 1915 under the direction of Rev. L. Heinen. It was a two-story building 42 x 45 feet. The Keota Lumber Company furnished the lumber and George Conklin was the carpenter. St. Mary's Parochial School was dedicated March 16, 1916, but the building was opened to the pupils on Tuesday morning, January 4, 1916, in charge of Sisters Constantine, Rose and Mauritia of Milwaukee. There were four classrooms all on the south side of the building, both upstairs and down, and the sisters' living and sleeping rooms were on the north side. The first commencement exercise from St. Mary's High School was May 29, 1919, at the Princess Theater. There was one graduate, Margaret Ollinger, and two eighth grade graduates, Frances Gretter and Johnny Klein. St . Mary's School discontinued its high school department in 1931 with students attending their nearest high school. When the present church and rectory were built, the old frame rectory which had been built in 1912 during the pastorate of Rev. N. J. Peiffer was converted into a convent for the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Family. Two classrooms were thus added to the school. The new $28,000 St. Mary's Parochial Grade School was dedicated May 21, 1964. The building contains four class rooms, a faculty room, a music room and toilets. An 80 x 80 foot all purpose room with portable stage is to be used as a gym and auditorium. The building includes two complete kitchens, one for the school lunch program which has functioned at St. Mary's since 1947, the other for parish functions. In 1969 St. Elizabeth Parish and St. Mary's Parish in Keota combined in an eight grade consolidated system. The board approved a plan with grade one through four at Harper and five through eight at Keota. The Keota-Harper merger necessitated the buying of a school bus for the two schools. September 15, 1969, marked an important event of the newly formed Keota-Harper Catholic School. Parents and teachers met at St. Elizabeth's, Harper, for the purpose of organizing their Home and School Association.
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166 A glimpse into the past... STORY OF KEOTA'S "ATHLETIC BOWL" In the winter of 1933-1934, the government started a relief program called the Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.). The C.W.A. supplied funds to local authorities such as mayors of cities. These funds made possible such public projects as building streets, roads, schoolhouses, cleaning up parks, or doing other useful tasks. In the fall of 1933 when the C.W.A. set-up was being made and funds were available for public works, N. G. McNurlen, then a member of the board of education and later its president, conceived the idea of reclaiming an old tile factory pit and converting it into a natural stadium. One of the earliest business enterprises in Keota was a tile and brick factory owned and operated by E. A. Kennell and later by other men. After many years of successful operation the plant became unprofitable and was shut down and deserted. Eventually the kilns were torn down, the buildings became dilapidated and the great pit, 10 feet deep in places, grew into a picturesque place, with willows, maples, poplars, birch and wild plum growing in profusion, interspersed with little pools and lagoons of water where the frogs croaked in the springtime. It was a playground for the children of the town, and it was also a favorite hide-out for tramps. The hobos utilized old bricks from the factory ruins to build a fireplace in a sheltered nook; there they cooked their food and believe it or not they sometimes washed their clothes. They slept under an improvised shelter and — well, Keota was a good town for tramps to visit. The hobos had so increased in number that the pit was no longer a safe place for children to play. What to do with it had long been a subject of discussion. The cost of reclaiming it was prohibitive. Then came along the C.W.A. Mr. McNurlen presented his idea to the board of education, and it was also presented to the town council. The "Athletic Bowl" became a community project, the completed bowl to be used for general athletic and recreational purposes and for public gatherings of other kinds. The pit, which was approximately two town blocks long and one block wide, was purchased from Stewart Bros., who donated parking space along the north side. Later another lot was purchased making the project about two blocks square. Among those who were prominent in the development of the project were B. B. Brown and J. S. Carris, mayors; B. J. Bryne, local attorney; H. D. Corell, athletic coach during 1934 and 1935; H. A. Hofer, superintendent of schools; J. B. Ochs of the Community Club; and R. H. Teets who was marshall of the town during the greater part of the work, and to whom, more than any other one man, credit for supervision is due. The project is owned jointly by the town and the public school. The ground was purchased by the high school from the school's athletic fund at a cost of $300. Incidental expenses amounting to approximately the same amount were paid by the town. All labor, except that donated, was paid for with public relief funds. (The Works Progress Administration, WPA, which was established to provide work for persons without jobs.) The track is considered one of the finest tracks in southeastern Iowa. Keota's new stadium was opened September 18, 1936 when Keota and Kalona played the opening game of football.
********** BOYS' SUMMER
CAMP IN ED HOTLE TIMBER Anton Hotle and Mr. Gills of Elmhurst, Illinois, have established a boys' farm camp in the "76" area in the Ed Hotle timber which will be composed of boys of high school age. They have named it the "Crooked Creek Farm Camp." Twenty-five boys will come from Elmhurst to spend two weeks and will return to their homes and 25 more will come to camp. The camp at present is in the building. Mrs. Hotle and Mrs. Gills will do the cooking for the camp. July 5, 1945. "Crooked Creek Farm Camp" is a reality in "76" since last Tuesday when 25 boys came by bus from Elmhurst. They range in age from eight to 14. According to schedule they have a delightful summer planned for them. Even the menus are planned a month in advance.
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168 A glimpse into the past... 4-H CLUBS STARTED IN KEOKUK COUNTY
KEOTA AREA 4-H
CLUBS The other members were Susan Huber, Karen Martin, Pam Anderson and Jeanne McCrabb. The club was to meet the first Monday night of every month in the home of one of the girls. Carol Huber and Mrs. Hotchkiss attended State Convention at Ames this first year. President Glenda Stoutner had charge of the program enjoyed by 60 mothers and friends. Carol Huber went to North Carolina to be a guest of a 4-H girl there in the Exchange Program. THE DUTCH CREEK FLYERS BOYS' 4-H CLUB They now have 20 members and the leaders are Jim Barnes and Bob Vincent. Leaders: Mrs. Donald Hahn; Assistant, Mrs. Gail Trier. |
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