Ipha L. Widdersheim
For forty-one years Ipha L. Widdersheim taught children in Nebraska. A native of Bladen, Nebraska her first teaching assignment after completing 72 weeks of normal training and graduating from Bladen High School in May 1930 was that fall at District 68, a one-room schoolhouse in Webster County with 13 students, grades 1-8. The following year she taught at District 42, also a one-room schoolhouse in Webster County where she had 12 students, and where, interestingly, her older sister Goldie had taught previously. Ipha continued to teach in rural schools in Bladen, Norman and Upland until the fall of 1953 when she began teaching in the Hastings Public Schools – first at Spencer Park where she taught nine years and then at Hawthorne Elementary where she taught second grade for 14 years.
Ipha received her Bachelor of Arts degree in education from Kearney State, but it was earned the hard way – through correspondence and summer school, and, during the hard times of the 30’s. She recalled quite vividly the smallness of some of her paychecks during her early days of teaching during the depression. The lowest salary she remembered receiving was $45 a month.
When asked about the difficulty of teaching in one-room schools to children in all eight grades early in her teaching career, Ipha didn’t remember it being particularly difficult. “The older students seemed to help the younger ones,” she said. Though having taught all eight grades she especially enjoyed the younger children. “It is so enjoyable to see how much they can accomplish,” she said.
For forty-one years Ipha L. Widdersheim taught children in Nebraska. A native of Bladen, Nebraska her first teaching assignment after completing 72 weeks of normal training and graduating from Bladen High School in May 1930 was that fall at District 68, a one-room schoolhouse in Webster County with 13 students, grades 1-8. The following year she taught at District 42, also a one-room schoolhouse in Webster County where she had 12 students, and where, interestingly, her older sister Goldie had taught previously. Ipha continued to teach in rural schools in Bladen, Norman and Upland until the fall of 1953 when she began teaching in the Hastings Public Schools – first at Spencer Park where she taught nine years and then at Hawthorne Elementary where she taught second grade for 14 years.
Ipha received her Bachelor of Arts degree in education from Kearney State, but it was earned the hard way – through correspondence and summer school, and, during the hard times of the 30’s. She recalled quite vividly the smallness of some of her paychecks during her early days of teaching during the depression. The lowest salary she remembered receiving was $45 a month.
When asked about the difficulty of teaching in one-room schools to children in all eight grades early in her teaching career, Ipha didn’t remember it being particularly difficult. “The older students seemed to help the younger ones,” she said. Though having taught all eight grades she especially enjoyed the younger children. “It is so enjoyable to see how much they can accomplish,” she said.