Volume 6, Number 5 - Fall 1977
Elizabeth (Betty) Kanaester
Teacher Extraordinary
by Almer A. Ridge
There were eight pupils ready to enter the seventh grade at Flint Hill School at the beginning of the 1915-1916 term. This was the first group to reach this grade under the new school grade system inaugerated under the supervision of progressive Taney County Superintendent John W. Bennett.
The Flint Hill school was located in Taney County one mile from the junction of Bull Creek with White River. The new Powersite Dam had covered the rich bottom land located in the district. A new resort called Rockaway Beach was just beginning to develop on White River in the district.
The Flint Hill school directors sent my Father, Luther L. Ridge, to confer with County Superintendent Bennett in an effort to get a competent teacher. Mr. Bennett without hesitation recommended that Miss Elizabeth (Betty) Kanaester be employed if possible. She was contacted and agreed to teach the Flint Hill School for a monthly salary of $45.00 which was the amount allowed under the then state aid law.
School opened in August and for the next two school terms Flint Hill had the privilege of having one of the finest rural teachers in the county.
My sister and I were both entering the seventh grade and today I feel that I owe much to Miss Betty for her leadership and insisting that we study hard.
Looking back I am inclined to believe that one of the secrets of her success was the group singing for the first fifteen minutes of the school day. Without a musical instrument or even a tuning fork she taught us to sing many of the songs in the "Hundred and One Song Book."
We always sang one of the patriotic songs. America, The Star Spangled Banner or America the Beautiful, early learning to respect our country. We sang the Stephen Foster songs with no feeling that they might be resented by the blacks.
A little later Miss Kanaester allowed one of our number, Esther Masters, to help in leading in the singing. I know that most of us sang off key, but we did sing.
We were all kept busy in school work by an enthusiastic teacher. Early the seventh grade was informed that at the end of the eighth grade we would take a special examination which
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would be graded by County Superintendent John W. Bennett. In mathematics we were drilled in ratio, proportion and higher addition. We even studied square root.
For reading, small pamphlets of the classics were read. I learned to love to read Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Allen Poe and many others and I am sure that most of the upper grade pupils felt the same way.
Miss Kanaester lived in the School District boarding with the John Blansit family and became a leader in the community. She organized a Sunday School which was attended by most of the pupils and many adults. She visited in most of the homes. Her spending the night in our home was a high spot for we children, I am sure that staying in our small log cabin home must have been somewhat of a hardship for her.
There was never a study period for her to rest during the day as she was holding recitations every minute during the day.
I do not recall that she spent a great deal of time supervising play. This was done by older pupils. She did show the older girls how to crochet, do tatting and they made many articles to take home.
The small pupils were not neglected and made good advancement. At times some of the older girls assisted in teaching the beginners.
In early March 1917 the eighth grade final examination questions were received from Superintendent Bennett. As I recall we took examination in arithmetic, spelling, history, grammar, physiology and civil government, we did not receive our grades until after the school term ended. Grades were mailed direct to each pupil.
I recall how happy I was when my sister and I received notice that we had graduated from the eighth grade and at the same time were notified that graduation exercises would be held in Forsyth, Missouri for all of the eighth grade graduates in Taney County as part of the Forsyth High School Commencement.
The County Eighth Grade Graduation was held in Forsyth on a Friday evening in early May, 1917.
Dad and I walked the eight miles to Forsyth and my sister, Katie, and a neighbor girl, Erna Lewis, rode horseback. We left home about 2:00 P.M. arriving at Forsyth about 5:00. There we found boys and girls from the other rural schools in Taney County. Many were in their late teens and a few were over 21. Miss Kanaester came to Forsyth to see her pupils graduate.
Several of the older graduates had already taken teachers examinations and would teach the following year. World War I was going on and older boys graduating were soon to serve Uncle Sam.
There were two girls in Forsyth High School graduation class. Following their graduating exercises Superintendent John W. Bennett took charge and presented eighth grade diplomas to the 75 rural school graduates calling the graduates of each school separately. After this presentation he announced that the pupil in the county making the highest grades was also the youngest graduate and would receive a scholarship to Chillicothe (Missouri) Business College. Much to my surprise he called my name.
Following the program Dad and I walked home. On the way Dad talked of his hopes for future education for his children. As we walked I was filled with hopes of attending Forsyth, a dream that I would not realize for three years. We arrived home about 2:00A.M.
Not long afterward Miss Betty Kanaester married Floyd Eaves who she had met earlier while teaching at Antioch School near Day, Missouri. Soon afterward he enlisted in the Army. After his discharge they moved to Arizona in an effort to regain his health which had been seriously impaired while in the Army. He died several years later. I learned later, that Mrs. Eaves was still living in Arizona. I sent her a letter trying to tell her how much her teaching had meant to me and Flint Hill and I received a fine letter in reply.
Teachers like Miss Betty Kanaester made the rural school a great school especially when lead by able supervisors like John W. Bennett.
"Without a sense of history, no man can truly understand the problems of our time" -Winston Churchhill
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