I started to school in Loon Lake in the fall of 1941 and graduated from the 8th grade in the spring of 1949.  I rode to school on Mrs. Just’s bus, I believe it was a 1929 Durante passenger car. There were no big yellow buses at Loon Lake then.  Besides Mrs. Just, there was Mrs. Gardner from Deer Lake and Mrs. Swope.  They each used the family car to transport the students.
When I started first grade there was myself and four others.  When I started 2nd grade I was the only one in my class.  Miss Klobucher was the teacher for grades 1 through 4.  About half way through third grade Garth Andersen from Deer Lake joined me.  I think about 4th grade Ruffy Easley and Charles VanSlyke and Ken and Pat Himes started.
There was no play ground equipment at all, also no lawn.  There was a hole just east of the school where I think they got the gravel to make the cement for the basement. We used it for different enterprises. We played a lot of hide-an-seek, pum pum pull away, jump rope, ante over the wood shed, work-up base ball, cops and robbers, marbles, hop scotch and I don’t remember what else. There were several large pine trees in the back of the school.  They provided lots of cones for pine cone fights.  There were also some forts built.
Some times we would line up single file and pass blocks of wood from the wood shed to the furnace room – one person to the next.
Each day right after lunch the teacher would read one chapter from a book to the room. Several times a year they would have spell downs or arithmetic downs. The girls usually always won.
The Christmas play was probably the big social event of the year. I think every student had a part in the cast or was in a support role. Mrs. Morgan, the big room teacher, was the director. The Ladies Club would have a sack of treats: a popcorn ball, an apple or orange, hard candy and peanuts.
The Halloween party was a popular event also.  I think it was the Ladies Club fund raiser for the year. There were several carnival games; base ball toss, ring toss, fish pond. One year I remember I got a candy bar for my pirate costume.
When I was about 5th grade we got some play ground equipment. A swing set with 2 seats for big kids and chair like swings for little kids, a teeter-totter and a merry-go-round.
Also about 5th grade the school got a movie projector. I don’t know where the films came from but about every 3 weeks there would be a movie of an educational nature. There was most always a short cartoon.
If you were good and had your work done Mrs. Morgan would let a couple of kids at a time go outside during class and clean chalk board erasers. You would tap them on the school house foundation to get dust out. It was an earned privilege, not a punishment. But, if you did get in trouble at school, you would get in even more trouble at home.
Kids from the big room sometimes went out on the steps and tutored kids from the little room that were having difficulty in a subject. I speak of Big Room and Little Room. The rooms are both the same size. It is the size of the students the rooms are named for.
Mrs. Follett was the lady who came once a week and gave piano lessons. Mrs. Troutman had a craft class for the big room. I still have a billfold I made for my mother.
Each year at the end of school there was a school picnic. The mothers brought food for the dinner. There were races: three legged race, wheel borrow race, along with regular races. Usually we all would go to Morgan Park. One year I remember it was at Sam & Rita Gardner’s beach at Deer Lake.
The school yard was fenced, not to keep the kids in but to keep roving animals out. At the end of the walk there was a group of post set so people could walk through them but large animals could not get through. The reason being that is this area was all open range at that time. If you didn’t want other people’s cows or horses in your garden or yard, it was up to you to fence in your property. Cattle and horse owners didn’t have to keep their animals on their property. But if your car hit a cow or horse on the road, you had to fix your car and probably pay the owner for the animal.
Cliff Meyer, Loon Lake, WA

Do you have school memories to share? We have several in a three-ring binder, both from teachers and students. We would like to include yours. Come visit us at the Old Schoolhouse.