White Oak School- 1920s and 1930s
- Lawrence Lore
- May 29
- 5 min read
Edith Highsmith taught the 1924-25 term at White Oak, while Mabel Buchanan taught the following year. The 1926 school year ushered in Ross L. Daily, who had 18 years of teaching already under his belt. While all the records cannot be located, it is believed he taught for the next twelve years with a beginning salary at $700 annually rising to $800. School occasionally had to be held on Saturday so Mr. Daily could attend to his duties as the Lukin supervisor during the week.
On December 16, 1926, one of Ross’s students wrote a letter to Santa. “Dear Santa, I am a little boy 7 years old. I go to school every day and I go to White Oak School. My teachers’ name is Ross Daily. I want a coaster wagon, oil truck, a watch, a top, organs, peanuts, candy and all kinds of nuts. Santa don’t forget my sister, bring her something nice too. I will go to bed early. Please don’t forget to come. I am your little boy, Good bye Santa, Melvin Dale Moore.
The “gossip” column of the newspaper reported the visitors to the school such as Rev Douglas, Inez Daily and daughter Wilma Jean (the teacher’s wife and daughter), Mrs. Gaddy, Mrs. Hattie Wright and Grace Cunningham as well as other entertaining bits of news. In November 1927, the children of White Oak entertained at a masquerade party for the community. In December 1928, the paper reported that White Oak students, Junior, 5, and Virginia, 6, children of Roy Harness, had whooping cough. In October 1929, all 15 pupils at White Oak had perfect attendance. And finally, the 1928-1929 closed March 30, 1929, after a 7- month term with a program and a dinner for the patrons of the school.
Front row L to R: Jerry Robinson, Mary Moore, Wilma Jean Daily, Jack Cunningham, Esther Cunningham, Bernard BrunsonSecond row: Pauline Robinson, Carl Cunningham, Melvin Moore, Byard Brunson, Bob WhiteThird row: Mary White, Martha White, George Foss, Charles Daily, Fred Foss and Ross Daily (teacher) Fourth row: Pearl Moore, Robert Whitthrow, Herbert Moore and Roy Bicknell
Wilma Jean and Charles were the children of teacher, Ross Daily. Note that the student enrollment was decreasing with the times. (Some of you may know that cute little girl in the front row identified as Esther Cunningham. She is now known as Esther Brumley. In an interview she said that on the first day of school she walked home through the woods and told her mother she was not going back. She didn’t like it and her father said she didn’t have to go back, but the next morning she got up bright and early ready to go. She not only continued but upon eighth grade graduation, she boarded with her great Uncle Coen Cunningham and wife in Lawrenceville and attended LTHS because at that time, there were no school buses for rural students. Upon receiving her diploma, she studied music at Eastern, graduated, and taught at Palestine, IL for a couple of years, had her family, and then taught at Brookside school for twenty years. Wow, quite a career for a five-year old who didn’t want to go to school.)
In July 1930, the members of the S. N. Cunningham family had a reunion and picnic in a groschoolouth of White Oak School, the school in which all members of the family had attended during childhood. In this wooded grove there is a natural spring that added to the attractiveness of the spot. That spring also abounded with a species of mud turtle. During the day the grandchildren had a great time digging them out of the mud in the creek below the spring and carving their initials on the shell, hoping their turtle would be found at the following year’s reunion.
Although the depression and the drought made things difficult for farm families, rural school boards showed great consideration in not cutting teacher’s salaries. Many families realized that education would better their children’s futures. Ross Dailey reported the names of children entitled to awards for perfect attendance and perfect spelling in 1931: Geraldine Robinson, Esther Cunningham, Bernard Brunson, Gail Cunningham, Roy Bicknell, Herb Moore, Wilma Jean Daily, Mary Moore, George Foss, Fred Foss, Jack Cunningham, Melvin Moore, Mary White, and Martha White.
By the first of November 1931, Ross Daily, the teacher of White Oak school, reported that his pupils had completed the Everyday Arithmetic, the standard county text for the rural schools. He advertised that he would pay 25 cents each for used Felmley eighth grade math books “because the examples contained therein made muscles on the brain if one could solve them.” The author of those books was David Felmley, president of Illinois State Normal University, and the books had been used in the county about twenty years previously.
Daily didn’t just care about his students’ minds, he also cared about their health. A month later, all the pupils of White Oak were immunized against diphtheria. Again in 1936, the paper reported that the county nurse immunized all the students who hadn’t been immunized already.
White Oak, like most country schools, participated in holiday programs and the county fair. The patrons of the school enjoyed a nice afternoon program during the 1931 Christmas season, after which Santa made his appearance, handing out treats and distributing the presents from under the tree. Martha White entered a group of maps for the White Oak school display at the county fair but the exhibit was lost probably caused by another teacher gathering together her own school’s exhibit and including Martha’s by mistake. The county superintendent asked all teachers to check their returning materials for these maps.
On March 15, 1932, White Oak’s enrollment was 21 pupils and the average attendance for the previous month had been 97 percent. County Superintendent Cunningham noted that this was excellent attendance particularly for a school located on clay roads.
Music was not neglected at White Oak. Esther Cunningham Brumley in an interview March 2021, said that Mr. Ross brought instruments for all the students to play at school, and that there was a piano in the classroom. In January 1932, the pupils of White Oak led by Ross Daily gave a music recital at the Farmer’s Institute. Charles Daily played saxophone, Jack Cunningham flute, Wilma Jean Daily violin, Martha White trombone, and Byard Brunson violin. Four years later White Oak students played at the county commencement. This time Wilma Jean Daily played her brother’s saxophone; Pauline Robinson and Annabella Ash played Hawaiian guitars (these were probably ukuleles); Edna Worstell played the Spanish guitar, accompanied by Byard Brunson on violin, and Bob White playing the trombone.
When this photo was published years later in the newspaper the caption said this was the "entire school population", but that is incorrect. Esther Cunningham Brumley stated that this photo shows a group of students who had won awards (bananas, candy bars, etc.) and is not a photograph of all the students who attended the school. In fact, Daily gave each girl and boy with a perfect attendance record for the month a five-cent bag of candy. According to Supt. Cunningham, “his pupils do some scrambling through the Lukin clay mud to get to school on time for this treat.” Daily’s plan had been in successful operation for a number of years.
Front row: L to R: John White, Don Cunningham, Madge Hen gal, Dorothy Bell Second row: Ross Moore, Annabel Worstell, Esther Cunningham, Thelma Locoer Third row: Teacher Ross Daily, Mary Moore, Carl Cunningham, Bernard Brunson
In May 1937, Mary Moore a student at White Oak School played a piano solo for the 8th grade rural commencement held at the BTHS auditorium. Annabelle Worstell and Dorothy Bell won awards for spelling and attendance. The was the last year Ross Daily taught at White Oak; the next year he taught at Prairie School #52. He continued to teach for several more years and died at the age of 91 from injuries resulting from a car accident in 1980.
