Glenn Arthur Lehmann was a Faculty-Chemistry in Halstead High School.
1 He was educated in University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, Masters.
3 A standing ovation from students, staff and visitors at the high school awards assembly marked the final appearance of Glenn Lehmann as a faculty member of the Halstead High School.
In the following article Glenn reminisces about his early life and the many changes he has seen during the years he has been a part of the American education system.
I was born September 17, 1901, on a farm seven miles north of Halstead, and lived all my boyhood in the South Garden vicinity, most of it on the farm now owned by Milo Georing. I attended old District 33, now a part of Garden View. Others attending included Dettweilers, Schroeders, Rupps, Koehns, Beckers, Unruhs, Jantzs, and McBurneys, along with Lehmann and Allen cousins. My second grade teacher was Dora Ahrens, then starting her career. Besides promoting the three R's she aided deportment with a convincing ruler. My last teacher was Goldie Gunzelman (Mrs. Will Pierce) now in California. County graduation was a big event and was held in the old Page schoolhouse east of Burrton.
Our school terms were mostly seven months. For several years the Garden Mennonites sponsored a German school to which children from surrounding districts came for two months of German and religious instruction. Miss Bachman was the teacher.
In the fall of 1915 I entered Halstead High School. On good days I rode my bicycle. When weather threatened I drove old Daisy and the buggy. This latter method provided an hour for study as the seven miles rolled slowly by. From November through March, bad weather and basketball season, I stayed in town with my great-uncle and aunt, the D. C. Lehmanns. High school was a great opportunity for a farm boy. I actually wished school would run six days a week, for Saturday was clean-out day at the barn. Tractor-minded people, today, can scarcely imagine what eight horses and four cows can accomplish in a week.
We had good instructors, among them Walter Lee, Julia Frizzell Lee, Blanche Adair, Rex Davis, Karl Nelson, and Wm. R. Thompson. The main outside activity was basketball, which was played in the City Hall. We had a good team in 1918-1919 when we were seniors, winning all our games except for losing two to Nickerson and one to Newton in the district tournament. The team members were Adolph Rupp, Art (Cement) Schowalter, Gene Thornhill, Roland Mitchell, and myself, with Charles Saylor and Clifford Barnes as subs.
Our class had 28 when we started in 1915. Of the sixteen who graduated in 1919 only four still live in Halstead, Ladeen Dettweiler, Hazel Lehmann, Josephine Peterson, and myself.
I attended the College of Emporia getting my degree cum laude in seven semesters. Most of the time I aided my finances by helping the custodians. As a tenor on the men's glee club I enjoyed many pleasant concert tours. Also earned my track letter as a distance runner.
In 1923 I began teaching at Netawaka High School, about forty miles north of Topeka, which had 68 students and a faculty of three. In 1925 I sought adventure going to the Philippine Islands as an English teacher, also serving as principal of the Nueva Vicaya Provincial High School in Bayombong my second year there. This was in Central Northern Luzon in a very beautiful but fairly isolated mountainous post. Ilogatos across the Magat River were headhunters, taking at least five heads in my two years there. They frequently came to town in their G-strings, carrying spears and bolos. Our main recreation was hiking. I did much of it in Ifugao and Benguet sub-provinces. After teaching two years I finished circling the globe, visiting 15 countries, including a week in Egypt, ten days in the Holy Land and Syria, and three weeks in Europe. Near Munich I visited the old home from which my great grandparents, the David Ruths, had emigrated in 1852.
As I went by ship it took 26 days to reach the Philippines. It was four months from the time I left Bayombong until I arrived in Halstead.
In 1927 I went to Ottumwa, Iowa, High School, then the largest in that state, as chemistry teacher. In 1928 Fern Brooks, a home economics teacher, who had taught six years after graduating from the University of Missouri, and I were married.
In the fall of 1929 we went to K.U. where I was assistant instructor in the chemistry department while obtaining a master's degree.
During 1930-31 I was interim professor of chemistry at Friends University. I also lectured to nurses in training at St. Joseph hospital. In Wichita our first son, James, was born and died.
In 1931 I went to Wyandotte High School, Kansas City, Kansas, as chemistry teacher, remaining there twenty-two years. At one time we had 2800 students and a faculty of 90.
During our years there Robert and David were born. Robert, instructor of electronics in Hutchinson Community College, and wife, the former Wilma Roush, have two sons, Kirk and Dan. David and wife, the former Karen Rankin, are leaving the Kansas City area for Springfield, Missouri, where he will be an instructor in the mathematics department of Southwest Missouri State College. frequently came to town in their G-strings, carrying spears and bolos. Our main recreation was hiking. I did much of it in Ifugao and Benguet sub-provinces. After teaching two years I finished circling the globe, visiting 15 countries, including a week in Egypt, ten days in the Holy Land and Syria, and three weeks in Europe. Near Munich I visited the old home from which my great grandparents, the David Ruths, had emigrated in 1852.
As I went by ship it took 26 days to reach the Philippines. It was four months from the time I left Bayombong until I arrived in Halstead.
In 1927 I went to Ottumwa, Iowa, High School, then the largest in that state, as chemistry teacher. In 1928 Fern Brooks, a home economics teacher, who had taught six years after graduating from the University of Missouri, and I were married.
In the fall of 1929 we went to K.U. where I was assistant instructor in the chemistry department while obtaining a master's degree.
During 1930-31 I was interim professor of chemistry at Friends University. I also lectured to nurses in training at St. Joseph hospital. In Wichita our first son, James, was born and died.
In 1931 I went to Wyandotte High School, Kansas City, Kansas, as chemistry teacher, remaining there twenty-two years. At one time we had 2800 students and a faculty of 90.
During our years there Robert and David were born. Robert, instructor of electronics in Hutchinson Community College, and wife, the former Wilma Roush, have two sons, Kirk and Dan. David and wife, the former Karen Rankin, are leaving the Kansas City area for Springfield, Missouri, where he will be an instructor in the mathematics department of Southwest Missouri State College.