Collett School

 Situated near the bottom of a hillside about three miles west of Brookville, on US #52 West, and right off a body of water known as Collett’s pond, this school building yet stands.  Today, it houses a family probably totally unaware that it was the site of learning for a bunch of lively students who walked to school carrying their dinner buckets.  Totally lacking in modern plumbing, there was a pump, hand operated, to supply drinking water in the yard.  The needs of nature could be met by the outhouse which were present some distance from the school proper.  The nearby pond served a double purpose: the children often swam in it during the warmer months while the pond, covered by winter’s ice, served as an excellent location for ice skating.  Denver EDWARDS and Lee KOLB both attended classes in this old structure and each gave the writer anecdotes concerning this school.  Denver related that all but a few of the children walked, but that Jacob SAUTER, a Brookville mortician, increased his meager income by operating his hearse as a school bus.  With a homemade sign reading “School Bus,” the hearse became a bus for the children, then at the end of the run, SAUTER removed the sign and the “bus” became a hearse once again ready to carry on that duty for which it had been originally designed.  Denver recalled that in warm weather, children often walked to school in their bare feet.

Lee KOLB, former student at Collett had several tales to relate:  That versatile vehicle which served both as a school-bus and hearse one day figured in a most unusual accident with a happy ending.  KOLB related that a little girl student, Daisy CAREY, who was no more than 6 or 7 at the time, was severely afflicted with strabismus (cross-eyes).  One day, after school had been dismissed, this little child carelessly ran into the street and into the path of the moving bus.  She was struck by the right front fender with considerable impact so that she was thrown, unconscious, away from the bus and against the hillside.

In a deep coma, the severely injured child was removed to the hospital where she was given the usual supportive treatment.  Next day, Little Daisy, head swathed in bandages, opened her eyes.  Those at the bedside were astonished to note that her eyes were no longer crossed.  The impact had, miraculously, brought a happy ending to what might have been a most disastrous event.

KOLB also recalls that the fence surrounding the schoolyard was not animal proof.  One day a sow and her pigs made their way into the yard.  Seeing Leo as a threat to her pigs, the sow began chasing him.  KOLB managed to escape, but in so doing managed to drop his straw hat.  Failing to catch Leo, the sow in her frustration, began munching around on his straw hat until it was all eaten.  Maybe, Leo thought, that sow needed roughage in her diet.

KOLB also recalls that he did janitorial work for the teacher, Marge MONTGOMERY.  Although the final month of the school year was not a complete month of school, yet the teacher paid him the magnificent sum of two silver dollars.  Elated, Leo took his treasure home only to learn that he had to give it to his impoverished mother to help her buy groceries for the family table.

Teacher Hazel FRANZMAN FRITZ reported that she never had a discipline problem in her years of teaching at Collett, nor did she ever have to seek the aid of a truant officer.  Both of these statements speak well for the parents of these pupils.  In many instances, denied of the education which was now being offered to their children, this older generation was determined that their children would not waste the opportunity.

Mrs. FRITZ recalls the name of some of the children who ere among her students.  She gave some of these family names: WILDER, IRRGANG, COMBS, CASTEEL, BURCH, EDWARDS and KOLB. 

Other teachers who had taught here besides Mrs. FRITZ and Mrs. MONTGOMERY were Estella HILLMAN and Beulah COOKSEY MCCARTY.

                                                                                                Elmer E. Peters, MD,

May 21, 1995