On January 4, 1965, I enrolled at the Malcolm Public Schools for the second semester of kindergarten. Malcolm is located 12 miles northwest of Lincoln. My first semester was spent at Prescott Elementary in Lincoln.
Malcolm must have been a poor district because students were spread throughout the community in four different buildings. While our house was only two miles from Malcolm, my parents had my older brother and I ride the school bus rather than drive us to town. It made sense. My two younger brothers were ages four and two, so why pack up four kids every morning when there was free transportation?
My kindergarten class was housed in the basement of the Methodist Church, which had no indoor plumbing. An outhouse was available for use just outside the back door of the church.
I cried several times the first week at my new school — church — dungeon — or whatever one might call it. I eventually warmed up to my new surroundings, especially when Mrs. Hoffman, our teacher and the Lutheran Church pastor’s wife, resigned to have a baby, and Mrs. Charlotte Mabie assumed the teaching duties. Mrs. Mabie had a much calmer demeanor and made learning easy. By the time May rolled around, I grew to like school and many of my classmates. Being educated in a Methodist Church basement with no bathroom certainly has made for some interesting story telling. Since that time, the Malcolm Methodists have erected a new church on the north side of town … with indoor plumbing.
In September 1965, I entered the first grade in a one-room, brown, brick building across the road from the Methodist Church. The school building now houses the Malcolm Post Office. My first-grade class shared the building with the second grade. The first graders occupied the first two rows of desks on the east side of the building, while second graders were seated in the two or three rows of desks on the west side.
Mrs. Fern Westfall, our teacher who would become an institution in the Malcolm Public Schools, would alternate her time in half-hour (or more) increments with each grade. If the first grade was working on writing or arithmetic assignments, the second grade was listening to one of her lectures, or vice versa.
Mrs. Westfall required that my class recite The Pledge of Allegiance at the start of each school day and that we take a short rest break each afternoon. Lunch was eaten while at our desks and we played outdoors on a gravel road that was closed to public traffic during our recess periods.
Mrs. Westfall taught us several songs, including “My Nebraska,” which she accompanied on the piano. Mrs. Westfall also organized our Christmas program.
A loving woman who gave lots of hugs, Mrs. Westfall was also a stern disciplinarian. Back talk was not tolerated, and it usually resulted in a light slap in the face with her open hand or a rap on the wrist with a ruler.
Mrs. Westfall slapped my face only once while I was a first grader, but I remember it to this day. I will never forget that six plus seven equals 13, not 12.
The Malcolm Public Schools facilities have improved immensely over the past 60 years. The campus, which includes state-of-the-art facilities, is located on the north side of town.
It includes the Fern Westfall Elementary School.