Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter)

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To understand the background for this post, it will be helpful if you first read, “Where (and How) in the World is…..Mr. Spaulding?!!!”  [Also, at the very end of that post is a comment submitted by Mr. Spaulding today, August 5th.]

In early July the agreement Mr. Spaulding (Dave Spaulding) and I had was that I’d email to him a list of questions/topics I thought would be of interest. Questions about what made/makes him tick.  He would then bite off a few questions at a time, having the discretion to address any questions/topics he desired.

To follow up on our agreement, on July 8th I emailed to Mr. Spaulding a list of 35 questions.  The first few questions asked for very basic information.  Moving down the list, the questions became more in depth.  After he received my email, in his spunky and kind way he replied that he had received my manuscript, and proceeded with answers to the first questions.  Um…then I sent him a few more.  Which he answered, and then I sent him a few more!  (Poor guy!)

Below is how we/Mr. Spaulding started out. We plan to take our time in moving through the questions.  While you are waiting for more questions to be addressed in posts over the next weeks/months, if you have any questions you’d like to ask Mr. Spaulding, below, in the comments area, feel free to do so.

Within a few days or a week, I’ll post information again about Mr. Spaulding, most likely regarding his military service.

* * * * *

I was born in McGregor, Iowa, and went to school there until my junior year.  I moved to Monona, Iowa, and finished high school there.  After high school I enlisted in the U. S. Navy.  I served in the Navy from October 1944 to August 1946, including serving in Guam.

I went to college in Cedar Falls, Iowa, from 1947 to 1951.  At that time it was named Iowa State Teachers College.  Some years before that it was Iowa State Normal School.  Better than abnormal, I guess.

After college I taught at Calamus, Iowa, for two years.  I then moved to Bode, Iowa, and taught for the Twin Rivers School District in Bode from 1953 to 1964.

During the 1964-65 year I taught in Grand Marais, Minnesota.  My oldest son, John, was born there.

Beginning in the fall of ’65 through the spring of ’83 I taught in Rolfe, and then back to Bode again until retirement from teaching in spring of ’92.

I kept up with learning.  In the summer of ’58 I studied chemistry at the University of Alaska.  The summer of ’59 I was at Texas Tech College at Lubbock, Texas.  The summer of ’60 I went to Carleton College at Northfield, Minnesota.

Still seeking knowledge, in the summers of  ’69 and ’70 I attended the University of Washington where I studied oceanography.  Those two summers were a lot of fun!

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If you didn’t attend or teach at Rolfe High School in Rolfe, Iowa, during the time span of fall of 1965 through spring of 1983, or aren’t a family member of someone who did, you probably are wondering who in the heck this post is about.

David Spaulding and his nephew, David Althaus, in front of the metallic Mothman Statue*** located just across from Ohio in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. July 2009. (Click photo to enlarge.)

On the other hand, for anyone who did attend or teach at Rolfe High School during that time period, the name “Mr. Spaulding” conjures up memories including phrases such as “best teacher I ever had,” “pen-clicking,” “best teacher I ever had,” “clock-watching,” “best teacher I ever had,” “jokester,” “best teacher I ever had,” “strict” and “best teacher I ever had.” *  **

Over the past couple of months I’ve been involved in at least five conversations where I’ve heard people say these and/or similar comments.  Also, so many of us want to know about him on a more personal basis…um…since we are all grown up now.  (Sort of!)

A month ago I called Mr. Spaulding. When he answered, I didn’t know…could I even bring myself to call him Dave?  David?  (You may think this is humorous, but I really was nervous!)  After I told him who I was and about this blog, and the reason behind it (to promote prints of my mother’s watercolors for the library fund-raiser) I told him what I was really after.

I asked him if he would mind writing something for the blog and/or answering some of my questions about him.  In his gentle voice, with some humor along the way, he asked that I give him some ideas.

I later emailed a bunch of questions/topics to him.  We’ve had fun talking and emailing since.  He is a little skeptical about my putting his information on the web.  He wonders who would ever read it.  I reminded him that there are so many of us Rolfe-ites who speak of him with such appreciation (and memories of strictness!), and that I think people would really like to hear from him.

He’s a pretty busy guy with recent road trips to the Badlands, Ohio, and, coming up, Minnesota.  But, he’s game to let us “know” him a little better, giving us insight about his life including during those years of teaching in that aromatic chemistry lab.  As he emails me periodically with answers to my questions, I’ll post his responses.

If you want to write anything in the “comments” section below, maybe even your own question(s), I’m sure he’d enjoy hearing from you. (If you do comment/ask, using your first and last name — and maiden if you are a married female — as well as when you attended/taught at Rolfe High School would be helpful.)

I’ll post Mr. Spaulding’s initial response within the next few days.

* While at Rolfe High School, Mr. Spaulding taught Earth Science, Chemistry, Physics, and Senior Math.

** Other teachers’ names from the ’65 through ’83 period have also surfaced fondly (some with more fondness than others!) in conversations.

*** Click here to learn more about the Mothman Statue.

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