Week 35: School – Lela Nell’s School Report Cards Help Tell a Story

When my mother, Lela Nell Johnston, was a young child, they moved around a lot due to her father’s job as carpenter before and during World War II. Because of their frequent moves, they don’t appear in city directories. They were enumerated in Stephenville, Erath County, Texas in 1940, living with her mother’s parents, Warren and Lela Lancaster. Lela Nell was five in that census, having not yet turned six that year.[1]

In family papers, we have copies of some of her report cards that help fill in that story. I’ll highlight the cards and fill in with additional research I have done.

The first report card is for the school year 1941-42 where she was in second grade at Nash School in Fort Worth, Texas. She was in lower second grade and her teacher was S. Moore. I don’t think she was there long. She attended only part of the first semester, fifteen days in the second report and 23 days in the third.[2]

The school building still stands in Fort Worth and is called Charles E. Nash Elementary School, which was constructed in 1927.[3] Here is a shot from Google street view.

Another document showing information about her textbooks, gave their address in Fort Worth at 1302 E. Belknap Street.[4] A check of the street view, showed the house and neighborhood replaced by a freeway off ramp.

In September 1943, she was attending Highway School in Mountain View, California. She was in lower fourth grade from September 1943 to February 1944. There are only grades showing for the first period.[5] I couldn’t find a photo of the school, which is long gone. It was located on the corner of El Camino and Caderon. One person described it as having large wood paned windows, oak floors, wide halls, and huge cloakrooms. There was an underpass beneath the busy road to get to the school.

She finished fourth grade in Stephenville at Central Ward School, and was promoted to fifth grade. Her teacher was Atha McIlroy.[6] Unfortunately, the textbook card does not have their physical address.[7]

I learned that Central School was completed in March 1908 and had three floors with a basement, bell tower, eighteen large classrooms on the first two floors, and a large auditorium on the third floor. Science labs were in the basement. This school was for first through twelfth grades. In the 1920s a high school was built and the building was for primary grades until 1938, when it was deemed unsafe. The three floors were removed and only the basement was used for classrooms.[8] Also, the school’s Junior Red Cross group collected over 2500 articles of needed supplies that were shipped to hospitals in camps and air bases in Texas. Lela’s teacher, Miss Atha McIlroy was one of the teacher sponsors.[9] Below is her fourth grade class. Lela is the one marked "me."

She attended the full fifth grade in Walnut Creek, California at Walnut Creek Elementary School. Her teacher was Fay M. Palmer and the school year was September 1944 to June 1945.[10] I believe the family remained in California after this move to Walnut Creek.

The final report in our collection is from her eighth grade in the Walnut Creek school district. Her teacher was Mr. Elmo Giulieri, later became the superintendent of schools.[11] 

This grammar school was located in downtown Walnut Creek. There is a historical marker located in the Plaza Escuela shopping center.

She went on to attend Acalanes High School in Lafayette for two years, and when they moved to Pleasant Hill, she had to transfer to Mt. Diablo High School in Concord because their new home was in a different school district.

These report cards help expand on the timeline of my grandparents Tom J. & Pansy Louise (Lancaster) Johnston’s lives. All kinds of records can help tell your relatives’ stories.

This is my fourth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

 

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[1] 1940 U.S. census, Erath Co, Texas, population sched., Stephenville, ward 2, ED 72-7, 4A, household 75, Warren Lancaster; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 April 2012).

[2] Report card of Lela Nell Johnston, grade 2L, Nash School, Fort Worth, Texas; Johnston Family Collection, privately held by Lisa S. Gorrell, [address for private use], California.

[3] “Historic Schools,” (https://www.fortworthtexas.gov/files/assets/public/development-services/documents/historic/historic-schools.pdf), Charles E. Nash School, p. 31.

[4] State of Texas Free Textbook Card, Lela Nell Johnston, Nash School, 1941-42; Johnston Family Collection, privately held by Lisa S. Gorrell, [address for private use], California.

[5] Report card of Lela Nell Johnston, grade 4L, Highway School, Mountain View Elementary Schools, Mountain View, California, Johnston Family Collection; privately held by Lisa S. Gorrell, [address for private use], California.

[6] Report card of Lela Nell Johnston, grade 4, Central Ward School, Stephenville, Texas; Johnston Family Collection, privately held by Lisa S. Gorrell, [address for private use], California.

[7] State of Texas Free Textbook Card, Lela Nell Johnston, Ward School, 1943-44; Johnston Family Collection, privately held by Lisa S. Gorrell, [address for private use], California.

[8] “SISD Says Farewell to the Alamo,” Stephenville Empire-Tribune (https://www.yourstephenvilletx.com/article/20121228/News/312289941 : accessed 4 Sep 2021).

[9] “Local Junior Red Cross School Folk Finish Year’s Work,” The Stephenville Empire-Tribune, 12 May 1944, p. 6; The Portal to Texas History (https://texashistory.unt.edu/).

[10] Report card of Lela Nell Johnston, grade 5, Walnut Creek Elementary School, Walnut Creek, California; Johnston Family Collection, privately held by Lisa S. Gorrell, [address for private use], California.

[11] Report card of Lela Nell Johnston, grade 8, Walnut Creek Elementary School, Walnut Creek, California; Johnston Family Collection, privately held by Lisa S. Gorrell, [address for private use], California. For superintendent, see “Elmo Giulieri—1999,” CCFOA (Contra Costa Football Officials Association (http://ccfoa.com/hall-of-fame/ : accessed 4 Sep 2021).

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