SNGF–Share A Unique Document -- Anne Hork Was a Superior Teacher

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:

It's Saturday Night again -

time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is:
1)  Have you found a unique document or record (e.g., not a vital record, military record, probate record, etc.) that provided new and/or unique information for one or more of your ancestors?  How did it affect your research?  Please share your find. Thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting this topic.

Here's mine:
My grandmother, Anna Marie Sullivan Hork, was a schoolteacher. She first taught school in the Deer Lodge County schools after graduating from Montana Normal School. I don’t know the names of the schools she taught near Hamilton, so I should contact both the district and the historical society to see if records are available.

She likely met her future husband in Hamilton, where he lived and she did not teach once they were married. They moved to Los Angeles after their marriage and had five children, the fourth child dying shortly after her birth.

In the thirties, there was struggles with work and my grandfather’s drinking and they were separated in the late part of the decade. In 1940, Anna’s sister’s husband asked her to come up to Napa to live. So, she packed up the four children (my father was just ten years old) and moved into her brother-in-law’s home. Her sister had died in 1928. She worked in her brother-in-law’s restaurant and later taught at a one room schoolhouse on the Silverado Trail.

In 1949, she moved to Concord, California to teach at the Mt. Diablo School District at Williams School, teaching second grade. In the meantime, she returned to school to be able to teach in California. She graduated from San Francisco State in 1952

I have a copy of her diploma.

Here is a copy of an evaluation of her performance at William School in 1954. It says on the back:

“Mrs. Hork is particularly outstanding in the area of pupil and parent relationship. Her interest and understanding of her pupils, her use of tact and consideration in handling situations, plus a quiet tolerant allowance for differences of opinion has gained the respect of parents and has resulted in an excellent class atmosphere. R.W.”

 And another in 1955. The comment on the back for this one:

“Mrs. Hork should be classed a superior teacher. Her personal qualities, the social climate within the classroom, her interest and understanding of pupils, plus a superior amount of tact consideration, and tolerance are the chief contributing factors.”

In 1957, the principal, Robert White, gave her an honorary life member of the Parent-Teacher Association. I have the transcript of what he said.

The Napa Register wrote about it in the “Over the Gate” column written by Lucy Case.

I am not sure when she retired, but likely before 1959, as she was shown visiting Hamilton, Montana during the school year in late 1958. I tried getting information about her teaching career from the Mt. Diablo School District, but they couldn’t find any record. I do have an article showing when she was hired in September 1949.

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