Two Room School

I am the product of a two room school, Clarks Grove Independent School District 21. After six years of this, we were bused ten miles down the road to Albert Lea for grades 7 through 12, so we could catch up. Most of my shortcomings in life are due to the fact that I was deprived of a kindergarten education, pissed away six years in unsupervised chaos trying to educate myself, and I've spent most of my life struggling to catch up. This grade one through three photo was taken in 1951.

I need help with some of the details here (Everett, are you listening?)

Row one, desk one: JoDell Johnson, my first girlfriend. Her father and mother ran the "beer joint" on the edge of town. Our young love was cut short when her father, drunk and angry over a card game, shot his neighbor dead. He went to prison and her mother took JoDell and just went.

Row one, desk two: Sue Rietveld, cute as a button then. Still is.
Row one, desk three: Eugene Thompson, he's a third grader, sitting with the first graders. I assume he was already being punished for something. Being a third grader, he already had a history. He and Ben were regularly locked in the coal room in the basement with the lights out for punishment. One time they got loose and made their escape out the back door. Which may explain the later rope incident.
Row one, desk four: I think she's a Meyers. If so, her father was electrocuted the next year in an accident at the grain elevator.
Row one, desk five: (?) Johnson. I think she moved during the year.
Row one, desk six: Me. I was in shock. I had never been called "Neil" in my life. I was not Neil. Neil was my grandfather. This is obviously taken on day one before it was discovered that I am as blind as a bat. That may explain the blank look.

Row two, desk one: Ruth Anne DeRaad. Never as innocent as she looked, but really nice. She died as an adult in a terrible automobile accident that killed four people. I still miss her when I remember.
Row two, desk two: Joyce Steinbeck. Known as Foyce, because she struggled with her cursive. She taught me a lot when we hit Junior High.
Row two, desk three: Karen Marie Peterson.

Row two, desk four: Duane Lembke. My cousin Dewey. We always had a tenuous relationship. I have no idea where he is now. 

Row two, desk five: Karen Meyers (See row one, desk four).

Row two, desk six: June Jensen. "Bugs".

Row two, desk seven: Shirley Jacobson.

Row two, desk eight: Kenny Nelson. "Mouse".

Row three, desk one: Karen Rae Peterson.

Row three, desk two: Joylene Hanson. My sister-in-law. Deceased. 

Row three, desk three: Jack Jensen. Lorna's cousin. I had dinner with them last Sunday. He's still smart.

Row three, desk four: Gail Ravenhorst. Another smart kid.

Row three, desk five: Jay Bowman. .

Row three, desk six: Steve Halvorson.

Row three, desk seven: Ben Schoen. Eugene's partner-in-crime.

Row four, desk one: A guess - Linda Phillips? Pretty sure on Phillips. Always kind of scary looking. She stared a lot.

Row four, desk two: Vallie Jensen. Bugsy's sister. Should have been a model. She's still a knockout at 67.

Row four, desk three: Another Johnson sister.

Row four, desk four: Leigh Swenson. "Polecat". A lot of memories, none of which are fit to publish. The preacher's son. He was always afraid God was going to strike him down. Eventually he did.

Row four, desk five: Chuck Wedge.

There they are, 26 kids in three different grades, taught by one teacher, Mrs. Violet Jensen, who probably had a year or two in a "Normal School". She tried her best. And they wonder why I'm... slow. So much of what I remember is either too personal or too hurtful to publish here. They are as responsible as my parents for what I have become (except for that genetic thing). In so many ways, they are me.