At the Lenten luncheon, I sat at a big round table with just one companion, Betty. We were served turkey salad and tea or coffee. We had a wide variety of breads from which to choose. In front of us was a large platter of desserts, meant for eight. Betty's friend let us know that our work was cut out for us. We'd have to eat all of those desserts, just the two of us. Dessert was provided for us in abundance, perhaps too much abundance.
I had also been provided with an interesting companion, who had a lifetime of stories. For a journalist, having such a companion is a great blessing. Betty is almost 93 years old. She told me about growing up in Grand Island when it was mostly farm country. She said that she is descended from Asa Ransom (1765-1835), who was the founder of the town of Clarence, New York. There is now a bed and breakfast where his home once stood, called the Asa Ransom house. He also lived in Grand Island and he became the town's third supervisor in 1857.
Grand Island was a different community when Betty was young and growing up on a farm facing the Niagara River. She said that she went to a one-room schoolhouse. There were children of a variety of ages in that schoolhouse, and there was one teacher, who had to teach all of these children at the same time.
There was no kindergarten. Children started school at the age of seven. Somehow, Betty said, the teacher was able to keep order in the classroom. The children worked quietly when students of a different grade level than their own were given instruction.
There were no schoolbuses back then. Betty's father drove her to school. Along the way, he picked up other children who, otherwise, would have lacked transportation.
Betty said that the students and the teachers had what they needed to make education a success in this community. They had been given enough.
I had been given enough. Plenty of food and a good companion who shared stories about her life with me. |
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