Cox Canyon School
I have mentioned Wills Canyon a number of times already and now I will point out that Cox Canyon was a main canyon in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico. It ran from west to east and Wills Canyon was a branch of Cox. Just below the junction of these two canyons was a barn-like structure which housed the Cox Canyon School. It was a frame building with only one room and on the outside were two "Johns."
The school was the center of community activity and was the site of dances, Christmas parties, box suppers, political rallies and a host of other activities. Pupils came to the school from up and down the canyons and were of all ages. Most were Anglo but there was one Indian family. The teacher was Miss Ivel Davis who just happened to be my aunt. She had graduated from high school and finished a short teacher training course so was qualified to teach all grades from First through Eighth. I still have her first teaching certificate authorizing "Teaching in a Common School."
Floyd had started school at Logwood on the head of Cox Canyon but when I started we changed to Cox Canyon and I really do not know why we made the change. At any rate, we walked down to Grandpa Davis' house and rode to school with the teacher, Miss Davis. Of course if she were ill or other wise indisposed we rode a horse. Our "school bus" was a buggy pulled by a small mule and a roan horse. The horse came to Arizona with us when we moved.
I do not remember many details of that school. It seemed rather easy to learn to read and write and since we already knew and loved the teacher we had little adjustment to make. I do know that I saw my first automobile there. The Bass family had purchased an Overland car and one of them came by the school to give all the kids a ride. I got my ride just in time because the car ran off the road as it left the school and was a total loss.
The center of attention at that time was World War I which was raging in Europe. We were especially interested because two of Mother's brothers, Douglas and Bert Davis, were in the Army and were in Europe. The school put on a program for the community and all the pupils had some part in the program. As a first grader, my part was a "recitation" that required me to get up in front of the crowd and give the following recitation: "Kaiser Bill went up the hill to take a peek at France, Kaiser Bill came down the hill with bullets in his pants." Someway I got through the whole thing and got an enthusiastic applause from the audience ( which consisted mostly of relatives.)
During the summer of 1919 Dad made a trip to Arizona in an attempt to find a place where we could move and which had a lower altitude and also have range for our cattle. He decided that a place in Arizona would fill the bill. It was called Pleasant Valley and the post office was Young. So in the fall of 1919 Dad sold the ranch in Wills Canyon and we moved to Cloudcroft. That was the only time I lived in a town until I went to high school in 1928. Although I did not know it at the time, my Mother was pregnant with her fourth child and we could not leave for Arizona until the baby was born
Floyd and I enrolled in a "City School." My teacher was a Mrs Reddock, highly touted as the "best teacher anywhere." I saw nothing remarkable about her and much preferred Aunt Ivel. We had some trouble with Mexican students and had a few fights but I now know it was not the fault of the Mexicans. They were the first minority group we had ever been exposed to and we hardly knew how to work with them.
I remember we were vaccinated for small pox after we were chased down and forcefully handled. Floyd's vaccination did not take and he was given shots every little while for the rest of his life because he had no smallpox scar on his arm. Imagine being in the Navy and getting vaccinated every time you got new duty. None of them ever took.
All this time, we were waiting to move to Arizona. Finally on January 6, 1920 the baby was born and we would be able to leave as soon as Mother felt that she could travel. I think this is the only time Ruth held up the parade in her whole life. Most of the time she was out front.