Walking to School

Ed Note: We have all heard of the stories of walking to school two miles in the snow....all uphill. . . etc but this one is apparently true.

Lawrence County News October 14, 1937

Sometimes he got a ride, and sometimes he didn’t.

John Dean Birkhimer, son of Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Birkhimer, St Francisville, walked 11 miles to Lawrenceville High School each day and 11 miles back home in the afternoon, graduating in 1928. He entered the University of Illinois where he graduated with the class of 1932. He won the county superintendent’s scholarship which gave him free tuition at U of I for 4 years. In 1937, he had a job paying him $170 month as a chemist for the Gulf Corporation, Philadelphia, PA.