I have added a page about W.S. Rea Elementary School in Terre Haute, Indiana. It is one of three different elementary schools I attended and it is the one where I spent the most number of years. There is surprisingly little information about the school on the internet. There are probably few people who know it ever existed even though it was demolished only 27 years ago.
I would like to know whatever happened to anyone I attended classes with there. My family left town after I completed 6th grade and it would be interesting to know what the path through Chauncey Rose Junior High and North High School would have been like.
I have a fondness in my heart for Rea Elementary. My great-grandmother’s home was on the property next to the school that became their kickball field. Generations of my family went to Rea. Mr. Duly, the principal, was my mom’s teacher when she was little. Our family kept in touch with him until he died in recent years. I find it very strange that there is little information on the internet about the school and I was thrilled to find your picture. This is my Kindergarten class! I am the little girl with the ribbon in her hair, standing next to my very tall cousin, Kris Shaw in the back row. I remember the teacher (was it Mrs. Robertson?) as being very mean and yelling at me because I asked to go to the bathroom when it wasn’t bathroom time. My mom promptly went to the school and set the teacher straight, telling her I was prone to kidney infections and needed to go to the bathroom whenever I asked. I remember feeling privileged about that. I also remember we had snack time and we were allowed one milk and cracker with peanut butter on it, or we could have chocolate in our milk in lieu of the peanut butter. I went to Rea for Kindergarten and 1st grade, then we moved to the Collett School district. I came back to Rea for 5th and 6th grade when I had to attend special classes for academically talented kids. I was so sad to see that school torn down. It amazes me that they tore down the school and overpass and did nothing with the property.
I too went to Rea Elementary as a kid living nearby. I remember the fun we had at recess running around that big playground and playing wirlybirds – I think there was a show on television at the time about helicopter pilots. I also remember having a race with a kid on a bike and beating him. Everybody was amazed at how fast I was for a little kid. I don’t remember any of my teachers by name but I do remember our Kindergarten teacher allowing us to get up in front of the class and putting on shows for each other and getting peanut butter sandwiches for a snack break. They were always good. I hate that they have torn down the building. Fond memories from the 1950s.
I also went to Rea, I went there k-6. I remember going down to the music room after lunch and watching cartoons. When it was raining in morning they would make the boys go to on side of the basememt and the girls the other side. My class was suposed to be the last 6th grade before it closed, but there was a delay in building the other school. Some of my teachers were, Miss Clevenger, Mrs Yeager, Mrs Wedding,Mrs Slivermen,Mrs Lawson, Mr Smith and Mrs Ard. I can’t belive that i can still remember all of them, but when you go to a great school, I guess you can. Even though it’s gone it lives forever in my memory.
First off, THANK YOU John for starting this blog. I had Mrs. Robertson for Kindergarten too and then went to a Catholic school for the next 3 years and returned for 4th – 6th grade! I also had Mrs. Tryon and Mrs. Lawson, but I cannot remember my 6th grade teachers name. She was tall and thin and had reddish hair. I remember Mrs. Tryon was mean and would slap the chalk board with her ruler when we were doing our chalkboard assignments wrong. She scared me to death.
I went on to McLean and was the last class to graduate from there and then on to North High School and graduated in 1975. I was an Elementary major at ISU and did my internship with Mrs. Lawson. She was always so kind and pretty and she had not changed a bit.
It’s so sad that they tore this building down. I remember the beautiful stairways with the wooden rails. Does anyone remember the basement and walking through the area with furnace or whatever that was in the “caged” area? I was always afraid down there. They also had those monkey bars on asphalt! I am sure that would NEVER fly today! I would go over after school and in the summer and hit tennis balls off the side of the building and ride my bike down the overpass. So many good memories. I am still friends with several of my classmates from Rea.
I would love to find Susan Tucker. She was a little younger than me and would have graduated from HS in 1977. Her mother died when she was very young and she moved. If anyone has any information, please let me know.
Again, Thanks John!