Old Chester, PA: Schools: Wetherill

Principals:

Miss Laura U. Dougherty (Photo courtesy of Eleanor Nealy) [Another Picture]	Miss Laura U. Dougherty (1931 - 1956) - 1, 5, 6
Mr. William G. Nealy, Jr. (Photo courtesy of Eleanor Nealy)	William G. Nealy, Jr. (July 1956 - June 1982) - 2, 5, 6

Faculty:

Some Teachers:

Miss Jolene Beggs, Music - 1
Miss Adelaide Cornogg, Sixth grade (?) - 1
Leonore R. Mullin, (d. 8/12/2000)
Miss Sherwood, Kindergarten - 1

(Picture of first Wetherill Kindergarten class, 1930)

Miss Springer, Kindergarten (c. 1945-46) - 4

c. 1959-1966:

Mrs. Painter - Kindergarten - 2
Mrs. Farkas - First Grade - 2
Mrs. McClure - Second Grade - 2
Mrs. Beatty - Third Grade - 2
Mrs. Long - Fourth Grade - 2 (Mrs. Long's husband, Charles, was superintendent of schools)
Mrs. Berger - Fifth Grade - 2
Miss Watkins - Sixth Grade - 2

Music:
Mrs. Barrie W. Vaughn - 2

"[My wife,] Barrie W Vaughan taught vocal music at Martin and Jefferis before going to Wetherill in 1946 and served the balance of her teaching career there." - 5

Mrs. Roberts - 2
Anthony Panalopolous (Instrumental music) - 2

Fall 1956 - Spring 1963: - 3

Picture of the 1956 Wetherill School Faculty - 5

Kindergarten:   Wilhelmina K. Patterson followed by Marion Painter
lst Grade:          Elizabeth Coeburn followed by Deborah Farkas and Georgianna Bowen
2nd Grade          Elizabeth McClure and Eleanor Bullock
3rd Grade          Lydia Bliss (later Beatty) and Louise Casciano
4th Grade          Eunice Long and Anna Holt
5th Grade          Catherine Giles followed by Ethel Berger and Mary Mutzel
6th Grade          Adelaide Cornogg and Lavina Watkins

Music: Barry Vaughan

A list of Wetherill School faculty taken from the notes of William G. Nealy, Jr., principal July 1956 - June 1982: - 6

Picture	NAME	FROM	TO
	TEACHERS:
[Picture]	BOWEN, Georgiana W	March 2, 1931	June 1964
[Picture]	COBOURN, Elisabeth	March 2, 1931	June 1962
[Picture]	CORNOGG, Adelaide D	March 2, 1931	June 1963
[Picture]	GILES, Catharine McAskie	Sept. 1943	April 26, 1961
[Picture]	BULLOCK, Eleanor	Sept. 1945 also Sept 1953	June 1946 April 19, 1976
[Picture]	NOTHNAGLE, Clara J	Sept. 1945	October 31, 1956
[Picture]	VAUGHAN, Barry W	Sept. 1947	June 1964
[Picture]	WATKINS, Lavina J	Sept. 7, 1946	June 16, 1972
[Picture]	BOFFEMMYER, Leonore R	Sept. 7, 1946	June 12, 1959
[Picture]	BLISS, Lydia Sweney	Sept. 7, 1948	June 16, 1972
[Picture]	LONG, Eunice	Oct. 2, 1950	June 16, 1972
[Picture]	CASCIANO, Louise	Sept. 3, 1952
[Picture]	SMITH, John J	Sept. 1953	June 1957
[Picture]	HOLT, Anne Logue	Sept. 1954	June 1973
[Picture]	HARTMAN, Thelma Z	Sept. 1955	June 1956
	FARKAS, Deborah Miller	Sept. 5, 1956	June 1971
	PATTERSON, Wilhelmina	Sept. 5, 1956	June 12, 1959
	SELIGMAN, June	Sept. 5, 1956	June 1957
	DAVIS, Reese	Sept. 1957	June 12, 1959
	RHOOD, Frances	Sept. 1957	June 1958
	ROYER, Lee	Sept. 1959	June 17, 1960
	PAINTER, Mrs. Marion	Sept. 1959	June 1968
	MUTZEL, Mrs. Mary	Sept. 1959	June 1964
	PECK, Miss Sara Lou	Sept. 1960	June 1961
	KOMARNICKI, Mr. James	Sept. 1961	June 1964
	NEMETZ, Miss Carol	Sept. 1962	June 1965
	BERGER, Mrs. Ethel	Sept. 1962	June 1970
	GORDON, Mrs. Christine	Sept. 1964	June 1968
	HORNE, Miss Patricia	Sept. 1964	June 1965
	MONKAITIS, Miss Jeanette	Sept 1964	June 1967
	STANDRING, Mrs. Lucille	Nov. 1, 1964	Nov. 3, 1972
	MARTINEZ (WILLIAMS), Mrs. RUth	Sept. 1964	June 1977
	CARTER, Mr. George	Sept. 1965
	ROBERTS, Mrs. Maureen	Sept. 1965	June 1968
	DEJARNETTE, Mr. Willie	Sept. 1966	Dec. 23, 1975
	FASS, Miss Margaret	Sept. 1967	March 20, 1970
	HOLMES, Mrs. Mildred	Sept. 1968
	RUDNICK, Mrs. Selina	Sept. 1968
	JACKSON, Mrs. Clara	Sept. 1968
	CONNOLLY, Mrs. Frances	Sept. 1966	Oct. 31, 1971
	(DEJARNETTE) MURRAY, Miss Pamela	Sept. 1970	June 1979
	WALKER, Miss Connie	Sept. 1970	Oct. 1971
	GOLDSTEIN, Miss Sandra	Sept. 1971
	BRODY, Miss Helene	Nov. 1, 1971	June 1976
	CARUSO, Miss Lynn	Sept. 1, 1972	June 1976
	DOYLE, Miss Belinda	Sept. 1, 1972	June 1974
	CRIST, Mrs. Margaret	Sept. 1, 1972
	SAVAGE, Miss Ann	Sept. 1, 1972
	COUGHLIN, Miss Joan	Nov. 6, 1972	June 1974
	SUMMERS, Mr. Jan	Sept. 1, 1973	June 1974
	BALLARD, Mrs. Mary Ann Twarog	Sept. 1975
	SEIVERD, Mrs. Karen	Sept. 1976
	PALM, Ruth	Sept. 1976
	MASISCHIN, Jonathan	Sept. 1977
	WEBSTER, Mrs. Alma	Sept. 1976	June 1980
	WILSON, Miss Alice	Sept. 1976	June 1977
	KAIN, Mrs. Cheryl	Sept. 1977	June 1978
	HIEGLER, Bernardine	Sept. 1976
	SMITH, Deborah	Sept. 1979	June 1981
	ARCE, Juanita	Sept. 1981
	JACKSON, Jane	Sept. 1981
	GUIDANCE COUNSELORS:
	BLAKE, Gertrude
	HOWETT, Helen
	ZURERBLKEROSKI (?), Christine
	WEIR, Arlene
	WRIGHT, FLorence
	MOYER, Amanda
	KRAUS, Maureen (Secretary)
	WOODLAND, Miss Grace
	ROTHSTER, Mrs. Faye	Feb. 2, 1968	Feb 3, 1978
	GEORGE, Mrs. Eleanor	Feb. 22, 1978	Nov. 23, 1981
	BURNELL, Nancy	March 1, 1982
	LIBRARIANS:
	WRIGHT, Mary
	McKIM (?)
	MARQUEDT, Joan
	(KREIDER), Patricia Fry
	GIBBS, Suzanne

Staff:

Mr. William E. Walley, custodian for many years and beloved by pupils and teachers - Thanks to Kay Hutchinson, niece, bkhutch@dmv.com

Custodians c. Fall 1956 - Spring 1963
Mr. Costello
Mrs. McVay - 3

Sports:

Some Phys Ed. Teachers

Phys Ed.:
Lee Royer - 2
Mr Jim Korminicki - 2, 3
Mrs. Martinez - 2

Classes:

Picture of Miss Marion Sherwood's Kindergarten class, 1930, (the first Kindergarten class at Wetherill) courtesy of Janet Andrews Moulder, jmoulder@aol.com

Kindergarten Class 1938

Picture of Miss Springer's Kindergarten class, 1945-46,
courtesy of Janet (Goldsworthy) Kelly-Ogurko, born2beluved@aol.com

School History:

John L. Wetherill School opened on March 2, 1931. The building had a total cost of $160,000. Interestingly, some of the architect's early sketches depicted a three-story building.

Miss Laura Dougherty, a native of Chester was chosen as the school's first principal and she served in that capacity until her retirement on June 30, 1956.

The previous John Wetherill School (formerly Oak Grove School) was located on the opposite side of 24th Street.

Recollections:

"I only lived in Chester til I was 9 but have many memories ... am I the only one to remember that wonderful kindergarten teacher in 1945-46 Miss Springer? I remember some classmates were Richard Curl... Stella Baziotis..Jane Bartholmew.....Diane Alcutt..Mickey Mason...Joan McIntyre, Joyce Hollywood...Louise? Vincent? Gail? and I have a picture of the entire class if anyone is still alive and would like to see it email me @ born2beluved@aol.com those were the days !! In those days I was Janet Goldsworthy and we lived right across the street from the school.."

- Janet (Goldsworthy) Kelly-Ogurko, born2beluved@aol.com

"People ask me how I can remember all of their [the teachers] names. My answer is that I was treated to one of the best educations one could hope for in a public school. How could I possibly forget them?

"I have many vivid memories about Wetherill. I have trouble explaining the air raid drills to my young daughter. Perhaps my most vivid single memory was the moment I learned about JFK being shot. I was in Mrs. Long's fourth grade at the time and her room was at the end of the hall on the second floor. My seat was positioned so that I was able to see all the way down the hall if the door was open. The first room on the right was Miss Watkins' room. Miss Watkins had a reputation of being a bit stern so it didn't seem all that unusual when I saw her door open and a girl came out in the hall crying. Then there was another, and another. I started to get worried about what must have been going on in that room. Then Miss Watkins came out crying ... I assumed that the world must be coming to an end. Mrs. Long went to see what the problem was and when she came back her face was a white as a sheet. She said, "Boys and girls, President Kennedy has just been shot." Wow!

"There was another moment that speaks to the times in which I grew up. Again this was in Mrs. Long's class. Each morning we said a prayer right after pledging the flag and on this particular morning Mrs. Long told us to ask God to make sure there were going to be no problems when "the colored children arrive today." It was the first day of bussing. We said our prayers and went off to gym class. When we returned there were Michelle, Valerie and James, three abundantly normal kids who completed 4th, 5th and 6th grades with us. It's hard to understand what all the fuss was about.

"I cannot express how much I completely adored my music teachers, Mrs. Vaughn and Mrs. Roberts. These wonderful women took their jobs very seriously and delivered from the heart. Their singing voices could charm birds and they instilled in me a level of self confidence that has had a profound impact on my personal and professional life.

"I'm sure the world has changed several times since I left Wetherill School. I'm just grateful that I could be there when I was."

John (Ed) Gebhart III, jgebhartiii@yahoo.com

"John Gebhart's stories about Mrs. Long's class were especially interesting. Her comments about praying the day that bussing first occurred: her husband Charles was Superintendent of Schools for Chester then.

"Catherine Giles and her husband were killed in an auto accident on the Conchester Highway in 1961 or 1962. He was Principal of Chester High School.

"Many of these teachers lived in the neighborhood and walked to work which further strengthened the community feeling there. I remember that I was in Adelaide Cornogg's last class prior to her retirement in 1963 and that Mr. Nealy said that she had come to John Wetherill when it opened its doors in 1933. It would be interesting to hear some stories from the 30's and 40's.

"I have a very strong memory of wonderful days there. I attended from fall 1956 through spring 1963. The idea of neighborhood schools where the pupils went home for lunch is so alien to contemporary life; I had the good fortune to also attend the First Presbyterian Church where many of the Wetherill teachers also taught Sunday School."

Jgodin13@aol.com

"I attended there in my youth (1935-1939-40). Laura U. Dougherty was the Principal then and ruled with the proverbial "Iron Hand"."

E. Saxon "Sax" Wyatt, racersax@magpage.com