The La Crosse Tribune from La Crosse, Wisconsin • Page 14

Crosse Tribune, Sunday, July 1, 1973 There's No Place Like Home For Tunrielton's Graduates NOTE For years, youngsters graduated from Tunnelton High to step out into the world The trend now. though, is to stay in the community. Graduation, it seems, has become a gentle rite of passage into family footsteps By VICTORIA GRAHAM TUNNELTON, Ind (AP) Graduation from tiny Tunnelton High School means a burnished silver dollar for luck, a slice of strawberry pie and probably work at a foundry, farm, quarry or marriage It means a gentle rite ot passage into family footsteps. Ten years ago there was an exodus of Tunnelton graduates. the trend now is for these kids to get married, buy a few acres and build homes here, says Principal Jimmy Pounds They travel now They know what like outside the community, and they want to return kids who left IO years ago are moving back Most of this year's 19 seniors say they will cling to the hamlets of Tunnelton, Leesville, Fort Ritner and Buddha, cradled in the green, remote limestone hills of south-central Indiana.

The towns have a combined population of about 2,500 in the six-mile-square Guthrie township. Four graduates will attend industrial. business or state college, but plan to return to Lawrence County or stay in southern Indiana. Many say they will work at the General Motors foundry in nearby Bedford. No one wants to join the military now that the draft has ended.

The class of 73 says more magic in a mushroom hunt and a niche in the community than in the precarious attractions of a city. Its members appear driven by elusive aspirations as they whiled away the day before graduation. guess we re not too bitious and our dreams are sweet and ordinary, says Mary Ann Abner. 18. basketball queen and pep club president who will marry this summer and work as a aide.

But we know what we want I know everyone and everything about them, and I just love it Small towns are nice because you can get a focus on them. People here will do anything for says Billy Johnson. 18, the portly school editor who plans to study engineering in college and return to the community. The class seems less sophisticated and less attuned to social problems, but possibly more content than its urban counterparts School and police officials say no drug problem at Tunnelton with 275 students from first through twelfth grades. The students know about Watergate, Skylab and the bombing in Cambodia.

But they don seem to care. Almost all are Republicans and Baptists. Many wear small crosses Youths cut their hair relatively short. Dress ranges from jeans and work overalls to fashionably flared slacks for both boys and girls. Only Randy Brooking, 19, a shy and quiet youth, comes from a family of full-time farmers.

the only one in the class who wants to be a full-time farmer, too. Handsome valedictorian Paul Shirley. 18, earned a 3.9 grade point average but has no plans for college. He wants to get a job at the foundry. probably stay in this community because all my friends are here, he says.

He lives in the country and his father is the business agent for the carpenters' union in Bedford. Joe Green, 17, lives on a farm with his grandparents. His father is a steamfitter in Bedford He took welding in vocational school and plans follow in my footsteps as a steamfitter, which has been handed down for William Arthur 18, lives in the country His father works at the foundry wanting to work at the foundry, go to General Motors Institute and become an engineer at the he says. I like to find a spot about 40 acres to build a house and raise a few horses and cows. I like to rabbit hunt, coon hunt, squirrel hunt and groundhog Nicola Haws.

17, varsity cheerleader and State delegate, lives in Leesville where she used to help her father at his auto body shop. take a one-year nursing course at Indiana University to become a licensed practical nurse. Nicky will marry this summer and live in Fort Ritner. get close to people says Kevin Bridwell, 17, who wants to go to business college in Louisville. and return to the community.

The only dissonant voice belongs to tall, striking Rita Mills who lives on a farm with her mother. She drives a sporty silver car and likes to speed away from the limestone country. really like the try and I like she says with disdain. hated a small school for 12 years boring. Sure, you get closer to people around the community, but that going to help when you get out of Rita plans to marry her boyfriend.

Jimmy, a foundry worker. and move to Bloomington, a city of 80.000 and home of Indiana University. She says her dream is to work as a secretary for a big city firm On the day before graduation, members of the class of 1973 piled into cars and spun through the town of Tunnelton with its rows of small, white, vine-covered houses with shaded porches. They drove over old covered wagon routes, past fragrant, tilled soil and reached over the White River. Leaning in a line over the rail, they silently watched the sun flashing silver in the water.

Now and then one would split into the river and say, you hear the spit hit, then your wish will come LURE OF COUNTRY LIFE Randy senior at Tunnelton. High School, is member of the class to come from a family of fulljtiflnp farmers. also the only one who wants to be ai time farmer himself, on the family farm. But nbt'tflfc only one who intends to stay on home ground after graduation most of the other seniors say they will cugg to the hamlets of Tunnelton, Leesville, Fort Kitner and Buddha, cradled in the green, remote limestone hills of south central Indiana. Photo.

Observes 29th Wedding Anniversary Barbara Thompson Takes Oath Monday DISSONANT VOICE really like the says Rita Mills, a senior at Tunnelton, Ind High School. Hers is the only dissonant voice in the Class of her peers expressing general satisfaction with their surroundings and way of life. She plans to marry her boyfriend, a foundry worker, and move to Bloomington, a city of 80.000 and home of Indiana University. She says her dream would be to work as a secretary for a big city firm. Photo By TONY WALTER Madison Bureau MADISON Barbara Thompson remembers her 25th wedding anniversary quite well.

That w'as the week that both she and her husband received doctorate degrees from the University of Wisconsin. It was also the week that her son was married It is likely remember her 29th anniversary, which is today, just as clearly This anniversary will someday be recalled as the day before Barbara Thompson was inaugurated as first woman Superintendent of Public Instruction. The 48-year-old Mrs. Thompson will take the oath of office from State Supreme Court Chief Justice E. Harold Hallows in the rotunda of the State Capitol Monday afternoon and replace the retiring William C.

Kahl. The oath, she insists, will be nothing more tham a constitutional requirement and will not signal any sudden changes in her lifestyle. LII still be she said from her small, makeshift office whose colorless, concrete walls were bare except for a single KLINKNER JENSEN SEMI-ANNUAL CLEARANCE SHOE SALE 6 min ssh 6 es Values to 19.98—Vitality, Not all sizes in all styles DRESS CASUAL SHOES SANDALS NOW 1 OOO ONE GROUP MEN'S DRESS AND CASUAL SHOES 10 19 Values to 24.98 I Mm I ALL SHOES ARE ON RACKS TABLES FOR EASY SELECTION AND FAST SERVICE KLINKNER JENSEN SHOES 1 220 Caledonia St. Next To The Parking Lot" map of Wisconsin. still be Mrs.

Glenn Thompson. There is still just so much I can do in one day just a person, you know. I can see that I have to change just because She will get rid of the cramped office, anyway, moving a few feet away to occupy more expansive quarters. She will also be given an office in the State Capitol from which she hopes to base her legislative liaison. Mrs.

Thompson who was elected to the office in April, becomes the first woman to hold the job in Wisconsin and the third in the United States to have such a position The other two are in Guam and Wyoming A dignified-looking woman with a ready smile and confident, trusting air, she care to engage in long conversation about the fact that she is a woman about to do a job that has always been done by a man. But she doesn't avoid the question either. I can feel the excitement of becoming one of the constitutional officers of the she admitted. is a great sense of pride in that. Because I'm a woman, I II be expected to perform at the top level.

And I want to do well for the women and allow them to say, a woman can do a job such as this At the close of her superintendent-elect reign, Mrs Thompson is already visualizing a reputation for her administration. administration will be recognized for its research based procedure of making she added, indicating a comfortable reliance upon the Department of Public vast resources, with which she has been connected for several years as consultant. will see increased emphasis on vocational- career education, as well as early-childhood she added. Hut 1 particularly want this administration to be visible, to be seen throughout the state. As a woman.

1 guess I will be automatically visible but I want the DPI personnel to be available to the entire state. I personally plan to travel Barbara Thompson throughout the state quite a The determined side of Barbara Thompson is unleashed at the suggestion that her new job. perhaps, would take on more of a obbying aspect rather than decision-making not she rebutted I want to collect information from the legislators and learn about educational conditions in their areas. I certainly hope that I can remain bipartisan in this and keep my political independence. But I'm going to make my stand known to the Her stand, in some respects, brings one back to the recent campaign in which her views concerning teacher strikes were well publicized since her opponent, Krnest Korpela, was endorsed by the union.

the Wisconsin Education Association. At the same time, her stand takes on a more contemporary atmosphere with the current state budget struggle having such a direct and immediate effect upon her department I plan to lobby the legislators to help keep teacher strikes she promised, echoing one of the campaign's most written-about issues. think we've collected enough opinions to find that there is general public as well as much teacher opposition to strikes. They must continue to be The words were not delivered with the intent of establishing battle positions against the teachers. But to make certain they were not misconstrued, she added.

are interested in having an input into the curriculum, as they she said. all, closest to the children except for the parents. We have to be able to share recommendations. do think the teacher unions are sometimes too strong in that there are many individual teachers who would prefer to act as individuals but see the union vote for them. If the teacher unions regionalize their negotiation teams, have to counteract and have regional negotiations.

I see this as a threat." She meant a threat to local control of education which she supports earnestly. Mrs. Thompson stressed that each school board must maintain its control over school activities and that the DPI will offer guidance, information. research, but no more. Property tax relief is a major she stated.

want to ease the burden but we never want to get to the point where public education is funded from other sources completely. This would mean the loss of local control. We should check the possibility of using part of the income tax or sales tax. Still remaining politically independent, Mrs. Thompson lent her support to Gov.

Patrick J. plan to equalize state school aids by drawing more money from the richer districts. This issue has been hotly debated and is the center of the current budget battle. concept of power equalization is she said. It meets the constitutional mandate and if there is a phasing in period, it will be better.

A few individual districts will be unhappy but we have to consider the total state The budget dilemma worries Mrs. Thompson who views education in its basic forms, as a service to boys and girls. really doing is providing education for boys and girls and I include preschool and post-secondary education as well. Sometimes we become so hung up on politics that we lose sight of why passing bills. Education for the childf.en^ihat should be the ultimate foremost in our minds.U,CJ> Although born and in the Dane County area.

Mrs. Thompson says she sees great benefits in the school concept which sopie, -(districts are leaning toward. must also promote kindergartens statewide. Wisconsin is the birthplace of kindergarten. In we have to emphasize special, tion needs and provide four the handicapped.

This is sorpetjiing the state must promote aM feel receiving too many, federal monies as it When Mrs. Thompson was campaigning for the opponents questioned or not she could fre? iSrself from the threat of becoming a tool of the DPL a mereittiice of the department which suraeifeel has become too bureaucratic in its growth. jonOI Mrs. Thompson will; aflkiwer those fears during her tenure. But it is difficult to dtatTust someone who says: silt want to give the peopfte the chance to meet uq Not for Everyone but perhaps just for you! This charming figurine titled Love Refused" made entirely by hand, from Bing Grondahl, Copenhagen, Denmark $88.00 also 1973 BAG Christmas Plates have now arrived $otise ON THE GREAT RIVER ROAD, GENOA WIS.

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