Olive Fordham’s class, the class of 1943, was the final class Oceana County Normal produced, closing before the start of the next school year. When asked what she believed caused the school’s closing, Olive answered, “There weren’t that many people interested, evidently…it was doomed…nobody was going.”
Apparently, County Normal had been suffering from low attendance for many years, but despite the school's struggles, the final class had no idea that their alma mater would be non-existent within a couple months of their graduation.
Olive spent the summer of 1943 at home, searching for a job opening in nearby rural schools. “I knew I had to get a job…my dad had insisted that I have a job,” Olive said.
Prospective teachers could search for openings. Olive’s first job outside of County Normal, at just 19 years old, was in the fall of 1943 at Marshville School - located in Benona Township and run by Henry Hendrickson - where she spent one year teaching. This particular job was notable because of one child, Frankie, who Olive described as “not the brightest…but he was cute.”
Olive’s family still had only one car, so she was back to boarding, this time with the Hendrickson family. On the weekends, however, her brother Floyd would take the family car to pick her up and take her back to the farm in Montague until the next Monday.
Olive doesn’t remember every single rural school she taught at, but she remembered going back home to teach at Flower Creek, the same one-room schoolhouse she attended from kindergarten through eighth grade. Because Olive was able to stay at home, she could start setting some money aside for savings. Olive recalled her monthly teaching income to be about $100, at least at some point in her time teaching at country schools.
She was at Flower Creek for about three years, which meant that Olive had to organize three box socials to help supplement the school’s funding. Of course Everett Seaver was brought in as the auctioneer. “There was no one else…you wouldn’t dare get anybody else.”
Olive couldn’t remember how Everett was compensated for his work as the go-to Claybanks auctioneer. When I suggested that perhaps he just donated his time to the school or perhaps just did it for free for the love of the game, Olive responded with a chuckle, “Knowing the background of the Seavers, I’d say no…he got a fee.”
At some point, the money Olive saved was spent wisely at Michigan State University, where Olive’s brothers Floyd and Clifford had received their degrees. She took a year off from teaching to live on campus in East Lansing and earn her bachelor’s degree.
Outside of the southern Oceana County and Montague area, Olive taught in the Twin Lake area, then finally moved to the Muskegon Heights school district. She was at Glendale Elementary School for a number of years, where she taught first and second grades. Olive always preferred “the little ones.”
After over a decade of teaching, Olive received a call from the Muskegon Heights superintendent, Fred E. Strong, who worked in the Heights from 1957 to 1969. Strong said, “Olive, I’m sitting here working on staff, and I’m putting you in as principal at Glendale.”
To this generous offer, Olive replied, quite understandably, “I’m not ready for that.”
Strong then explained why he chose Olive, saying “teachers come to you with their problems,” which is certainly one aspect of the job description. But Olive was adamant, “I’m not ready.” Strong’s response? “Well, I decided," and then he hung up.
So that was that. Olive worked at Glendale Elementary and, later, Roosevelt Elementary Schools as principal for a total of over 30 years. While she had many of the same responsibilities as expected of a teacher, she had to tackle hurdles that County Normal could have never prepared her for. She recalls her time, particularly, interacting with students’ parents. Joanne Kessler described her as “a force to be reckoned with,” but Olive recalls it simply as a process of mutual respect - “[the parents] respected me, and I respected them.”
Olive couldn’t recall when she retired, long before she met Joanne, but Olive’s niece Lydia reckons that she retired in 1982 or 1983. Following the sudden, successive deaths of her older brothers, Olive decided it was time to travel the world before she too followed in death after them, not knowing that she still had 40-plus years left in her.
I noted how, at the beginning of our conversation, Olive had said she wanted nothing to do with teaching, yet ended up as a principal of multiple schools. She credited the push from her father to getting her moving in the right direction. “My dad was a precious soul. He was always kind. Made suggestions, but he never forced me.”
Olive misses her family, now having outlived her parents and brothers by several decades. She still has their photos on her windowsill - mother and father, and Clifford and Floyd.
So there’s Olive’s story, but teaching was just a small portion of her 103 years. If any of our readership recalls Olive as a teacher and can perhaps fill in some of the gaps, your insight or memories would be greatly appreciated. From 1943 to 1983 is a lot of ground to cover!
