Nogales and Patagonia
I have taken a side trip to a number of other subjects since I mentioned my leaving the Jelkes family and taking a teaching job in Nogales. This was my first venture in my chosen profession and I was a bit unsure of just what was in store for me. When the bell rang to open school for the second semester at Roosevelt School in Nogales in 1937, I was looking at sixty eager fifth graders of all sizes and shapes. The youngest was nine years of age and the oldest was seventeen. We opened with the pledge of allegiance to the flag even though some of them were from Sonora, Mexico. I introduced myself and began to talk about our first subject of the day when the State Superintendent of Public Instruction walked into the classroom. I happened to know him since he was the main speaker at my college graduation ceremony so I introduced him to the class and then turned the class over to him. He did not know what to do so he said a few words and left. I was not about to give a demonstration of my teaching techniques to the State Superintendent. As a matter of fact, I was not sure that I had any such techniques.
I must admit that my first class was my best. At least they remain the fondest in my memory. There were at least twice the number of students that I should have had. Many did not speak English. I did not know how to handle the situation but somehow we got through it and enjoyed the experience. I have seen a few of those students as adults and am glad to say they have been quite successful so I did not ruin them. As I reflect on that experience, I realize that not once did a principal or supervisor visit my classroom although they evaluated my performance. I was completely on my own and appreciated their confidence but often wondered how a principal could judge my work without seeing at least a little of it.
As previously noted, I thought fifth grade was wonderful but I really wanted to teach in high school. I also thought I wanted to coach major high school sports. To this end, I began to coach a junior varsity team in football and basketball. This was a lucky move because a vacancy occurred at Patagonia High School just east of Nogales in 1939 and I could qualify for the position by going to summer school. I applied for the position and got it.
Patagonia turned out to be quite an experience. It was a school of about one hundred students most of whom were bussed in from as far away as fifty miles. I taught chemistry, mathematics and occupations. I directed the girls glee club and the Senior play. I drove the school bus on athletic trips and coached all the major sports. All this was done on the salary of a regular teacher. Each teacher negotiated his own salary and I was paid the highest amount on the staff.
The team uniforms were purchased from funds raised by my wife and other community women who sold coffee and pie at Saturday night dances to " hard rock" miners and cowboys. I was also able to get a few cast off uniforms from the University in Tucson from J.F. McCale and Fred Emke. There were no district funds to support student athletics. It was a rather shoddy operation but the boys enjoyed it and played rather successfully in football, basketball and baseball.
As we moved toward 1941 I became convinced that the country could not stay out of the war raging in Europe. We were still hiding behind a wall of "isolation" but I knew we had no choice but to get into the war. Guin was pregnant with our first child and it seemed to me that I needed to stay at home but I also needed to get into the war effort. We decided to go to California during the summer of 1941 and there I went to work at Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica. I resigned my job at Patagonia and began to build airplanes for Douglas.