Battle Creek Enquirer from Battle Creek, Michigan • Page 21

1 I nnn Sunday, February 5, 956 Section Two Page 9 Her Life of Vigorous Toil Leaves Spirit Undiminished By KATHLEEN MUDGE DELTON It has made a 1 1 nh 11 IT ffS SL 1 1 -V. teurfavx V-tWfvNJ II VfaC "i 4 i i i i VAX Vi Photos by F. W. Kassner again teaches simple skills which come hard to children who do not learn quickly. A pupil blows soap bubbles in the picture at lower right, during free play which continues the learning process.

Mrs. Gaylia Rathbun, assistant teacher, helps the children at the table. Work is play and play is learning for these handicapped children at Barry County's Special Education School near Hastings. Washing dishes is fun, upper left, and it teaches cooperation and responsibility. Playing roll-ball, upper right, is absorbing, and it teaches physical coordination, while the noon meal, lower left.

"Results Well Worth Cost' Lions Club Bulb Sale For Youth Projects Special School Reviewed Making two round trips totaling 100 miles per day, the two drivers of private passenger cars are reimbursed 10 cents per mile. This means an average cost per student a year of about $300. Supporting the project are the W. K. Kellogg Foundation (paying about half the operating costs), the parents' association, the county board of supervisors, the participating school districts and state aid for education.

The' school receives the same amount of state aid as other schools, plus Reclamation of Pioneer Farm Is Slow but Rewarding Work great difference in the life of Sarah Catherine Brandstetter to move into a daughter's home after 94 years of a very active and independent life. It was hard for her to break up her home in Delton to move into the, home of Mr. and Mrs. Mason Norwood of Crooked Lake, last year. Mrs.

Brandstetter, a diminutive per son, still likes to feel that she is carrying her own weight. Those sages who tell us that to live long one must work hard, must have been thinking of Mrs. Brandstetter, or Aunt Sarah, as she is affectionately known in the- community, for she has worked hard all her life. If a twinkle in the eye and a ready wit and a charming sense of humor could be credited for longevity, it also would apply in her case. Modern View She was born in 1861 of a Scottish shepherdess and a New York carpenter who had found their way to Hope Township and settled near the McCallum district.

Her mother's maiden name was Isabelle McEwen, and her father was Asher Warren Rob erts. What a contrast it must seem to one whose childhood memories are filled with the severity of parental authority, to see the grandchildren and great-grand children of today. The Sundays ot ner youth were quiet, if not grim. No running, whistling, or laughing were permitted in her very religious home. She observes the activities intended for the amusement of children today with a broadminded view.

Only occasionally do some of the tele vision shows seem to her unfit for the youngsters, for her out look is modern. As a girl Mrs. Brandstetter helped her family make the can dles to illuminate their home. By the time she was 13 years old she had mastered enough household duties to take a job as mother's helper. For this she was paid $1 a week and it didn't mean mere babysitting.

She helped get breakfast (a real item in those, days), baked, mended, and did the washing and ironing. But as she says, when she was a little older she was qualified to take a real job, lived in and did all the house work and-got a raise in pay. She then received $1.25, besides her room and board, for seven' days work per week. Ox Power A trip to town meant Hastings, of course, since it had been a city for five years when she was Dorn, and, she says, Kalamazoo was just a village. They traveled in a lumber wagon drawn by oxen.

Mrs. Brandstetter remembers the courthoilse in Hastings at that time as a little white house which stood on the site of the present one. Her family finds it interesting that she and their grandfather were married without a marriaee license by an unordained minister. The presence of a justice of tne peace made the marriapp legal and the law making a li- Union Gty Honor Roll Has 11 All UNION CITY Eleven high school students earned all -A grades for the first semester, ac cording to the honor roll just releasd by Principal William L. Adams.

Another 74 dudiIs achieved grades averaging or nigner, with no mark lower than C. Freshmen placed more names on the two lists than other classes, having 20 honor roll stu dents. The all -A list included: Ninth grade, Jim Kingsley, Gloria Sickal and Robert Walter: 10th, Sharon Hammond" and Helen Pendill; 11th, Betsy Craig, Ilo Craydon and Sharon Warsop; 12th, Ecke-hart Bandemehr, Petra Johnson and Ann Wise. Pupils receving an average grade, were: seventh grade, Mike Boatman, Janice Brown, Olga Checklick, David Donovan, Shir ley Funk, Janet Gregg, Mary Martin, John Mathews, Sharon Miler, Paula Nelson, Rex Putman Martha Peck, Linda Riley, Sherry Thomet, Theresa Walters and Lynna Watkins; eighth, Carol Augustine, Chester Keeton, Con- alda Clark, Roy Funk, Sandra Weiderman and Frank Wilcox. In the senior high school were freshmen, Carol Burkhardt, John Converse, Spencer Dunn, Carol Edwards, Gordon Glen, Charles Gregory, Stephen Hagerman, Robert Irish, James Johnson, Yvonne Lair, Sabin Mroz, James Perkins, Pat Phillips, Keith Reed, Carol Swain.

Margo Wagner and Lu cille Zarmstorf sophomores, Charles Adolph, Mary Beard, Shirley Bennett, Ron Clutter, Gloria Gregg, James Grohalski, Nina Hubbard, Mary Mathews, Linda Hobinson, Kathleen Wil liams and Virgebe Wisnieski; juniors, Edward Adolph, Wanda Arney, Joel Bartlett, Russell Clut ter, Ruth Crane, Roselyn Ely, LaVerne Hill, Joslin McDowell, Leslie Moran, Margaret Morrill, James Putman, Judith Tule and Marlene York, and seniors, Judy Aldrich, Patricia Bingley, Joyce Cartwright, Janice Cline, Judy Ely, Joyce Gregg, Alice Harris, Bruce Smith, Audrey Spinlow, Martha Williams and Rachel Wood. HOMER The second annual light bulb sale of the Homer Lions Club has been set for Wednesday evening. Club mem bers will canvass the town to sell the bulbs. The proceeds from the sale will go to the Boy Scouts and the ice skating rink here which the club is sponsoring. The rink is located on South Webster street.

OES MEETING QUINCY The Order of Eastern Star, No: 12, will meet on Feb. 9 at 8 p.m. Honor members 011 side line and Valentine box social. Mr. and Mrs.

Parker were "town folk," knowing little of farming. Mr. Parker works at Post Cereals in Battle Creek, where he will have completed 31 years employment in May. The farm, however, appealed to them as a good place to raise their four children three boys and a girl and the past 15 years have not proved them wrong. Bob, the youngest son, has taken over full management of the large acreage, and the pro duction yield is more than four times what it was when the Park ers first took over the land.

An example is the wheat crop, which yielded eight bushels to the acre the first year; now the yield is 35. Pool Project From the very start, the farm-living program has been a family venture. The latest is a swimming pool about which the Parkers have been dreaming and studying many a winter evening and which now appears about to become a reality. A stone's throw from the house, excavation has been made for a 25x35 pool, eight feet deep at one end and gradually sloping upwards to a depth of two feet. If all goes well, the cement bottom will be poured this spring, the sides will be reinforced with chickenwire; and then it will only remain to fill the pool from the electric pump, in readiness for the summer season.

The whole family is pitching in, financially and otherwise, to finish the project. There's a special incentive, for what could be nicer, after the chores are. done on a hot day, than to take a plunge in your very own swim- nun hole? Three guesses where the gang will congregate on Verona road I come next July! an additional aid to the mentally handicapped. Parents of the children enrolled are certain the results are "well worth the cost. As members of the advisory board have indicated, "Barry County parents in the association are not typical of the average parents of the mentally retarded child.

They are generally stable and contribute much to the welfare of their children. They are -never too busy or too tired to work for the good of the school." purpose of dumping grain through to the basement. This was only one of the handicaps the Parkers had to overcome in their renovation of the old homestead. How did they have the courage to undertake it? "I guess we saw the possibilities," said Mrs. Parker.

There was no doubt about the "worthiness" of the fine, old house. Hand-hewn studding 12 to 15 inches in diameter of solid walnut put together with wooden pegs; a stone foundation of 26 inches thick (the Parkers found that out when they started to wire for electricity); solid brick walls, three courses thick. This was the way they built in the "good old days" when Peter Lockwood had the brick for his house hauled by wagon train all the way from Ionia back in 1865 New Year's day, to be exact. All the lumber for the home' stead came from the virgin forest land homcsteaded by Peter's father, Isaac Lockwood, in the 1840's. In spite of the nearly 500 acres that Isaac carved out of the Mar shall Township woods in those early years, there is pitifully little jn historical records concern ing the family.

Lockwood road. Lockwood bchool both are named for the first settler, whose land was parceled out to his sons, Peter and Augustus, and subsequently subdivided and sold to others of the next generation. The Peter Lockwood farm of 160 acres and the home thereon were owned by Charles William Owens secondarily; then by Arthur Casey, who disposed of half the land to DeSautels. Here the Parkers enter the picture, ''purchasing the 80 acres from De Sautels and subsequently, the re maining half from Mr. Casey.

BRANDSTETTER hands have stiffened and she finds rug making too heavy, so her handwork is limited to pot-holders. But she still turns out a loaf of bread or a batch of cookies occasionally. Mrs. Brandstetter family is having open house today to cele brate her 95th birthday at the Norwood home from 2 to 6 p.m. They ask that no gifts be pre sented.

58 on Kellogg Honor Roll HICKORY CORNERS The following students have been placed on the honor roll at the end of the first semester at the Kellogg Consolidated School: Curt Davis, Bette Davis, David Dewey, Dan Flach, Mary Godde, Elizabeth Gore, Charlene Meyers, Wayne Snyder, and Joan Van-Ducsen, eighth grade; Betty Kay Adams, John Armstrong, Dar-lcne Black, David Cook, Jane Davis, Stephanie Dolan, Carol Falkner, Jack Graham, Susan Helgeson, Melvyn Herring, Virginia Hill, Lenore Hope, Janet Lenz, Ronald Replogle, Fred Sherriff and Warren Solomon, ninth grade. Judy Adair, Edward Dennis, Judy Hedlund, Peter Ordway, Judy Scobey, Don Stafford and Charlotte Ward, tenth grade; Janet Burr, Phyllis Dishman, Shirley Dishman, Pat Dolan, Peggy Grenier, and Eileen Kerr, 11th grade, and Phyllis Armour, Paul Ashbury, Juliana Bean, Mar guerite Bostwick, Gary Chaney, Martha Cristy, Norman Doaglas, Dianne Elliott, Jeanne Harlan, Barbara Lesch, Norman Lang- shaw, Elizabeth McCandless, Nan Moss, Annabelle Piper, Betty Stafford, Lois Stults, Allan Sweet, Bill Ticknor, Kay waters and Connie Zimmerman, 12th grade. Eaton Teachers Plan For County Institute CHARLOTTE The annual Eaton County Teacher's Institute will be held Monday at the Eaton Rapids High School. The session will be under the direction of Wendell Anderson, county super intendent of schools. All public schools in the county will be closed that day.

Don Meyer and his committee of Eaton Rapids teachers have arranged the program for this year institute. The Eaton Rapids High School band under the direction of J. Dean Winter will open the morning session at 8 a.m. By cooperative errangement with a number of other counties, Mr. Anderson has obtained Herbert Duschak as the main speaker for the morning session.

Mr. Duschak's address is entitled "The Light of A Candle." Following the address various section meetings will be held with the following people as chairmen: Mrs. Donna Brown, Charlotte kindergarten; Mrs. Ethel Richardson, Grand Ledge arithmetic; Mrs. Iva Reed, Ver-montville reading; Mrs.

Ruth Bugbee, Olivet spelling; Mrs. Nevah Long, Eaton Rapids geography and history; Mrs. Ruth Grier, Charlotte language and literature; Mrs. Olive Greiner, Eaton Rapids writing; Forest Boster, Bellevue science and health; Miss Mable Olive Miles, M.S.U. East Lansing music; Mrs.

Iva Weiler, Vermontville art. For the afternoon session the teachers will visit the V.F.W. Home near Eaton Rapids. Transportation will be furnished by the Eaton Rapids school buses. i.

"t's Xj! it I BY BETTY WOOD MARSHALL The Peter Lock-wood farm on the Verona road, one of the richest agricultural areas in Marshall Township, is coming back into its own. The homestead too, which like the farmland, had fallen into disuse over a period of many years, is gradually being restored, thanks to its new owners, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Parker. "lO-Year-Plan" A great deal has been done, and there is much more to do.

The Parkers had intended a "10-year-plan" for the house when they first moved in, in 1939, but soon found it necessary to change the perspective, and concentrate on soil rehabilitation, to get the farm on a paying bais. The outdoor project thus has taken precedence over the indoor one, although Mrs. Parker has been "chipping away" little by little at the job of making the house livable. This is no simple task, with eight rooms on the first floor and five on the second, especially in view of the fact that the house had not been fully occupied for a number of years before the Parkers bought it. Dining Room, Granary The immediate past owner was a colorful character, one Alfred DeSautels, who, as rumor had it, did a little of everything, in cluding a good bit of horse-trading.

The upper floor of the house was tenanted not only by people, but by small as the story goes and the De- Sautcls occupied only a portion of the downstairs as living quarters. The present dining room was a granary, where the former owner had cut four large holes in the floor, apparently for the Work of By MARIAN KELLEY HASTINGS Legislation during the past, few months in Michigan has made many of its citizens realize for the first time the need for institutions to care for mentally retarded children. Institutional care may be the best solution for great numbers of these children. However, in Barry County more than five years ago, a small group of parents decided that they did not wish to place their severely retarded children in such institutions. They did feel, though that these same children might be trainable, and they worked unceasingly to establish a school for such training not a school placing the most emphasis on academic subjects.

State Project School At the end of the first year of operating a school for a group of seven severely mentally retarded children, interest began to develop in areas far removed from Barry County. Because of the interest in the type of school established, it was chosen one of three for the Michigan Demonstration Research Project for the Severely Mentally Retarded. The three-year research program will end this August. The progress of children placed in the Barry County Special Education School has been encouraging although standards of measurement can-j not be set up as for the usual 1 public schools. In October 1951 the first school was established at Circle Pines; Center in Yankee Springs.

Dur-1 ing that year school was held three days a week with pupils being transported in private passenger cars, as they still are. From September 1952 to May 1953 the students were trained at the home of Mrs. Frank Saunders, west of Hastings. Mrs. Marie Carlson and Mrs.

Maxine Odgen, two of the original group who worked tirelessly to establish the school, did much of the training with help from-volunteers from various organizations throughout the county. In May 1953 the 'Barry County Assn. for the Mentally Retarded, a parents' group, arranged to rent a large farm house located on M-43 -about two miles northeast of Hastings. The parents felt that this location wag desirable both because of transportation difficulties in other locations and because sufficent space was available for play and garden areas. The school has four rooms on the first floor used for classrooms while the upstairs is used for offices of the entire staff.

A few months later a signifi cant change took place when the school became part of the re search project. The Hastings school was chosen as representa tive of a rural community for a wide range of ages 5-16 while the Kalamazoo center was set up for studying young children in the. age group of 4 to 8 years and the Grand Haven center for adults, age IS and over. Training Study Made To assist in the research project, Richard Gucnthcr was em ployed as coordinator for the three schools with Fred Kassncr as clinical psychologist. It was then that more complete records were started and a study was made to determine what training should be emphasized and what type of long-range program should be developed in the fu- ture.

The answers are far from being complete but a pattern is being developed. Mr. Guenther, the coordinator, and Mr. Kassncr, the psychologist, are continually explaining to people not closely connected with the project it should be recognized that the purpose of the special education school is not to teach the 3 R's. Rather, emphasis is placed on coordina MRS.

SARAH cense necessary had not yet been passed. She married Stephen Phillip Brandstetter on March 13, 1884. Mr. Brandstetter was a stock buyer and young Sarah found that her years of experience in house work and cooking, to say nothing of child care, came in very handy. Her table has a reputation for being loaded with food and usually surrounded by guests.

Her own reputation for cleanliness is illustrated by her lifetime habit of changing her dress every day as soon as the lunch dishes were finished. An indication of her hard work is the story of her method of washing clothes. It seems that for many years Mrs. Brandstetter found it easier to do her washing (by hand, of course) after the rest of the family were in bed. She had large washings and the days were too full of other activities.

During the winter months, when the snow was on the ground, Mr. Brandstetter would go out with his snow shovel and make a path for her under the clotheslines before he retired. Then, in the silence of the night, after her hours of scrubbing she would follow the paths he had dug by lantern lieht and hang her clothes. Gives Up Farming In 1905 Mr. Brandstetter eave up farming and bought a half interest in the Delton Grain Elevator.

He kept up some of his former business and also boueht and sold wool. He died two years after this move, however, and Mrs. Brandstetter was left tn fend for herself and their three living children Fern, now Mrs. Mason Norwood; Clayton, Hastings and Cleone, now Mrs. Burr Van Houten.

of Rockv River. unio. A person naturally careful with money, she now put her ability to manage weu to double effort. The late Frank Doster of Delton purchased the Brandstetter half of the elevator, and Mrs. Brand stetter went to work.

She took in boarders and roomers and by managing her investments pare. fully she was able to put two of ner inree children through high school. Fern stopped school and stayed at home to help her mother while Clayton and Cleone unisnea Hastings tush. A 1.1 1 Auaougn wiaoweo lor nan a century, Mrs. Brandstetter has made a place for her familv Well-known as she is for her in dustry, she also has quite a reputation for handicrafts, church work, and last but not least her love of a joke.

To her a joke on herself is as funny as any other. Recently, after one of her nine flights to Cleveland, it was told on her that, sleeping poorly in a strange bed she got up te take a sleeping pill. When she awoke after a fine night's rest she discovered that she had" forgotton to take the pill. "Well she said when teased about it, "that just snows how potent they are." Open House Until a year ago her breads and cookies and her handicraft were still on display for her neighbors' pleasure, but her Barry Man Can Go On Double Time Now HASTINGS Marvin Smith, 17, of Route 5, Hastings, recently was named first place winner in Michigan in a milk production contest sponsored by the National Dairy Products Corp. As winner he was awarded a plaque and a gold wristwatch.

This would have been fine be cause last fall Marvin's watch had come up missing. But three days before being notified that he was winner of a watch, his father, Melvin Smith, surprised him by tion of eye and hand in order to perform simple tasks and to make the child more sociable. In the latter category, children are' taught scjftcare such as listening, eating, resting, personal cleanliness, use of clothes, group dressing and undressing, drinking, talking, -and doing minor useful tasks. A trainable mentally retarded child has only from Vi to V-i the learning capacity of a normal child. A child must meet certain prerequisites to qualify for enrollment in the school.

He must undergo medical, psychological and social examination to determine if he is trainable. 11 Are Enrolled Eleven students are enrolled this year with Mrs. Laura Walk-ington as teacher. She is one of the few certified teachers for the mentally handicapped. Assisting her is Mrs.

Gaylia Rath-bun. In a report of the research project made last fall, the per capita cost for Barry County's Special Education School was listed at $938.88, which is about twice the cost of a normal child's year at school. The greatest single cost, however, is for transportation of the students to the school. Cold Weather, Lack of Funds Halt Restoration DELTON Work on the restor ation of the Community Hall, sponsored by the Boosters and Lions Clubs, will be temporarily halted this month because of the weather and lack of funds. Re- decoration of the interior should be completed soon.

A new roof, costing $700, which was installed late last fall was paid for the Boosters and Lions Clubs, with each contributing d50 from their club treasury. The first coat of white paint was applied by volunteer labor to the outside of the building be fore the weather became too cold, and a second coat will be applied in the Plans for this spring include giving the exterior of the build ing a second coat of white paint, the installation of eavestroughing, as well as equipping the building witn inside toilets, and modenz-ing the basement dining room and kitchen facilities. For the above proposed proj ects the committee is seeking additional donations of cash and labor. Although the restoration of the building is not complete it is being used regularly for Services of the Interlakes Baptist Church, and meetings of the Boosters and Lions Clubs, as well as Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Blue Birds, and camp tire Girls organizations. CHIEF'S REPORT CHARLOTTE Police Chief Barton Howe's annual report to the city council revealed that 1955 was a very busy year for the police department.

The traf- 11c arrests totaled 3,717, the largest item of which was 2,846 parking-violation tickets issued. The department answered 1,603 police calls of which 153 were auto accidents. No fatalities were recorded during the year and 501 speeding tickets were, written. INHERITANCE TAXES MARSHALL Inheritance taxes have been received at the office" of County Treasurer Miss Marjorie M. Russell in the estates of Mamie Klamer, late of Battle Creek, and Donna M.

Woods, also late of Battle Creek, $226.38. I -94v i r- Photo by Alan Pottl Four-quare as a fort, yet with a grace supplied by tall windows and the proportions of the original plan, this brick farmhouse on the Verona road near Marshall is symbolic of the decline and recovery of its land, and of other farms of the vicinity. Its interior beams are of hand-hewn walnut. It's construction date was 1865. buying him a new one..