From Hope's history: I had started teaching at Peterson in September 1915 for $50 a month. The next year I got $55 and the third $60. I was offered $90 at Declo. Although I had a teacher’s certificate in Utah, it was not honored in Idaho, so I had to take summer school in Albion and take the Idaho State Teacher’s examination to get a permit to teach.
The Move to Idaho
I made plans to go to summer school at Albion Normal. Albion was not more than ten miles from Declo. I persuaded Ray’s sister, Alice Whittier, to go with me as she had graduated from high school. When we arrived at Albion Normal, we were made aware that Utah teachers were not welcome in Idaho. We were a week getting registered. We were sent from one office to another for one excuse or another, just to freeze us out, we thought. But we had a stubborn streak in us, and we stayed with it until we did get registered, and started in the classes we wanted to take.
Wash day at Albion, 1918
We got board and room at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Aseal Chatburn. They had two little girls, Margaret and Catherine, about six and eight years of age. They were a very nice, kind family. This was at the time that food had to be rationed during World War I. It was impossible to get good flour for bread making. It was necessary to use grain substitutes. Mrs. Chatburn did the best she could to make good bread, like all the other women then did, but I still have an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach when I think of that wartime bread. Mrs. Chatburn often made French toast to try to make the bread more palatable, but it was still soggy. She did very well by us anyway.
Near the closing time of summer school we had to take the Idaho State Teacher’s examinations to get a permit to teach in Idaho schools. We made the grade on most of the subjects, but I felt they purposely flunked us on a few to discourage us on teaching in Idaho. Yet we had plenty of company when we had a second chance in late November.
Cheating
One thing that surprised and disgusted me was to see how many teachers cheated on those teacher’s examinations. I figured if I couldn’t make the grade on my own ability I would have to flunk, which I did on two subjects the first time. I thought teachers should make honesty a prime factor of their teaching and be good examples of the same.
When it came time for us to retake the examinations in the subjects we had failed in before, we had to go to Albion to take them. The weather was frigidly cold. We got a room at the only available hotel in Albion. Four of us shared one room. The only heat was a small oil heater which we huddled around to try to keep it warm. It couldn’t keep us warm. We combined the bedding of the two beds, put chairs along one side of the bed, and slept crosswise, four in a bed. That is, we tried to sleep, but were not comfortably warm enough to sleep well.
The next morning we had to go to the Courthouse. Incidentally, Albion was the County seat for Cassia County at that time (1918). The building was a large barn-like frame structure, and not much more comfortable for warmth than the hotel. I got a bad cold during the time I spent in Albion that took quite a while to get over.
1918 Albion Water Tank, Possibly Alice Whittier, Albion Ida.
1918 Hot Springs near Albion
1918, Alice Whittier 1918 Albion Idaho
Alice Whittier 1918 Albion Idaho
1918, Hope Hulet
The following photos are from D. cds -- a real treasure trove.
They were taken in 2010 at our family reunion. Hope mentions this place in her history. She attended the Normal school here. We found her name in a book in the museum.
We enjoyed it so much we went back last June. Mom passed away a few days later.
I included a 2010 picture of Dad with J. Gardiner (S oldest son) From C.
2009 Albion, ID:
Albion State Normal School was an institution of higher learning located in Albion, Idaho. The school was established by the Idaho Legislature in 1893, as one of two Normal schools in the state. (The other, in Lewiston, is now Lewis-Clark State College.) Citizens of Albion had actively lobbied for the school's establishment, and donated land and labor for the new campus.
The school remained a small institution throughout its history, focusing on the training of teachers and drawing its student body primarily from south-central Idaho. Albion Normal offered a two-year teacher training program until 1947, when it was renamed "Southern Idaho College of Education" (SICE) and authorized to confer baccalaureate degrees. The school remained troubled by low enrollment and a lack of funding, however, and was finally closed by the state in 1951. Its academic programs were transferred to Idaho State College (now Idaho State University) in Pocatello.
During its existence, Albion Normal awarded some 6,460 degrees. Perhaps the most notable alumnus of the college was Terrel Bell (1921-1996), who served as United States Secretary of Education from 1981 to 1984.
The campus was deeded to the city of Albion the following year, which continued to maintain the grounds while alternative uses for the property were explored. Finally, the empty and deteriorating property was sold at public auction on June 2, 2007; a group of Idaho investors were successful with a bid of $810,000. The new owners have begun rehabilitating a portion of the campus to serve as a conference and retreat center, called "Campus Grove at Albion
Diamondfield Jack