Jefferson Memories When Jefferson Elementary School Turned 90, Students From Across The Years Came To The Party

CORRECTION: 6-10-99; S3 Teacher Ron Jared’s name was misspelled in a story in last week’s South Side Voice about Jefferson Elementary School’s 90th anniversary.

Last Wednesday, Don Engdahl marked his 54th birthday. He celebrated by sharing the day with a friend turning 90.

Jefferson Elementary School still looks pretty good for its age, and Engdahl considers the school a big part of his past.

“Forty years ago this month I was ready to graduate (from Jefferson),” Engdahl said.

Engdahl joined many other Jefferson students and teachers, past and present, in the school gymnasium last week as they compared memories over cake and punch.

The gymnasium itself took Engdahl back to 1959, and his former basketball teammate, Mike Cochran.

“Just walking in this gym … it seems so small,” Cochran said, pointing out the changes he noticed. “We used a chalkboard to keep score.”

Cochran was reminded of the dances and how the boys would line up on one side and the girls on the other. In those days your dancing partner was decided by line order.

“The boys were always counting to pair up with the girl they wanted to dance with,” Cochran said. “Invariably you would be one off and the girls did some counting of their own. The boys line was always shuffling, but the girls moved around, too.”

The Cochran family has had a long-standing presence at Jefferson. Mike Cochran and his sister, Susie Johns, started at the school in 1952. Mike’s wife, Mardell, has been teaching there since 1968. Johns’ children attended Jefferson in the ‘70s; her grandchildren are there now.

And the kids’ great grandfather, Roger Cochran, is a volunteer tutor at Jefferson.

“I have sort of adopted this school,” Roger Cochran said.

Mardell Cochran remembers teaching one fifth grade class in the basement boiler room because the school was so crowded.

“All the girls wore dresses and boys didn’t have to wear their bow ties on Fridays,” she said.

Ayshea Yuksel went to Jefferson in the ‘80s and she couldn’t believe some of her former teachers had the audacity to age without her permission.

“You spend a year with these people and when you come back they are supposed to be the same,” Yuksel joked.

Jody Fergin had a hard time allowing Yuksel to grow up.

“This little girl came right off the boat from England and it was quite a culture shock,” said Fergin, now a retired teacher.

Another one of Fergin’s students — Dan Ankcorn and his sister Denise — were glad to tell Fergin they were both pursuing a career in teaching.

“We must have done something right,” Fergin laughed.

Dan Ankcorn, 25, tried to explain what that something was.

“I was one of those children that needed a lot of help in reading. My fourth-grade teacher got me focused. She let me do book reports in an artistic way so I could express myself in a different way. She was strong, firm and had a caring heart,” said Ankcorn, who is finishing his reading major and special education minor at Eastern Washington University.

Ron Jerred has been teaching at Jefferson since 1971. This year is his last.

Jerred noted that since he first began teaching students come and go more and move faster in general.

“There used to be more stability. Years would go by and we would not lose or gain one student,” Jerred said. “That doesn’t happen any more.”

He observed that improvements in technology have played a large part in students’ more advanced writing and match skills.

Jerred said 30 years was as long as he had planned on teaching, but change is not easy.

“Besides the kids, this staff is a tight-net group and I will miss them,” Jerred said.

“I have a ton of friends that I won’t get to eat lunch with anymore.”

JEFFERSON LIFE In the early 1930s, boys were allowed to go without neckties … after May 1st. Each morning the custodian sharpened a pencil for each student with a knife, since there were no pencil sharpeners at the time. Before the gym was built in the late 1940s, physical fitness classes were held in the basement boiler room. Teachers had to shout over the noise of clanking machinery. For many years Jefferson ran from first to eighth grade. In those early times, graduating eighth graders had a simple ceremony and received a diploma. The boys wore identical gray suits, white shirts and blue ties. The girls wore identical white dresses with blue sashes. The first Jefferson teachers were not allowed to marry. In 1909, students moved into the new building at the present location. It had four classrooms. In 1911, the second section of four rooms was completed. These are now classrooms for fourth and sixth graders. Source: Jefferson Elementary