Ruth Lawson Rudacille—Highlights of my Teaching Experience
The reflections below, written in 1975 by Ruth Lawson Rudacille, Stuart and Anna Rae’s mother, provide a unique window into what it was like to be a teacher in Browntown in days gone by. NOTE: The words in parenthesis were added by Anna Rae in2005.
Highlights of My Teaching Experience by Ruth Lawson Rudacille (1901-1991)
“My teaching career began in September 1922 when Mr. Hugh D. Hite, Superintendent of Warren County Schools assigned me to teach at Mountain School, Browntown, Virginia at a salary of $60 a month. Mountain School was literally in the mountains. It was a one-room school nestled among trees of many varieties. I taught grades 1 through 7 with an enrollment of about 25 students. Of course, there was a wood-burning stove for heat, a spring for water, and outside toilets. I was the fire-builder, the custodian, the nurse, etc., as well as the teacher.
Although my parents lived only five miles away, I boarded with a family (Randolph and Carrie Updike, who lived where Col. Perna lives today). I shared a room with their granddaughter (Actually, Mother was afraid to stay there by herself, so Mrs Updike had her granddaughter, Nina Groaves, came and sleep with mother). Some of the students were physically larger than I was, and behavior left something to be desired. So, at the end of the first week, I went home ready to give up my job. My mother (Annie Beaty Lawson) gave me some advice which I followed, and before long everything was under control. I was told by a maintenance supervisor who traveled from school to school that my school was the best disciplined in the county.
I remember that the girls outside toilet was a favorite spot for pranks. Once a dead skunk was found hanging in it when we arrived at school; another time it was upset when we arrived.
I hoped my students learned from my first year of teaching, and I know I did.
My second year of teaching was at another one-room school of about 25 students of grades 1 through 7 at Jennings Lane, Bentonville, VA. (This little building still stands and is the first building on the left on Jennings Lane off Bentonville-Browntown Road). I was married during that school term and did not teach again until nineteen years later, except for finishing a term for another teacher.
In 1943, Mr. Tyler Miller, Superintendent of warren County Schools, asked me to complete a term at Browntown Elementary, Browntown, VA. I agreed to do this for a salary of $80 a month. I continued teaching, remaining at that school until 1964. My salary increased gradually, and at retirement in 1964, I was earning $3,400 a year.
Although nineteen years had passed, Browntown Elementary was very much like my first two assignments except that it was a three-room school instead of a one-room school, and I was teaching three grades, 5, 6, and 7, instead of 7 grades.
During my 23 years at Browntown Elementary, the school was remodeled. It became a 4-room school with heat, bathrooms, and a telephone.
I recall that the monthly PTA meetings were considered by many as the major social event of the month. These meetings, not only were business meetings but also were times when students presented planned programs to entertain their parents. Homemade icecream was often an added attraction.
The “3 R’s” were of prime importance during my teaching career, and the motto, “Practice Makes Perfect” was highly regarded.
I have many fond memories of my students. I always looked upon them as unique individuals with their own interesting personalities. I like to think that I pushed them when pushing was necessary and let them investigate and inquire as their interests and abilities demanded. I have enjoyed watching them as they raise their children and often silently share in their successes and sorrows.
I hope that our year or years together have proved to be of value to them. I thoroughly enjoyed my career – teaching children.”
Ruth Lawson Rudacille, 1975
Source: Article by Stuart Rudacille and Anna Rae (Rudacille) White in the Browntown Community Center Newsletter, March, 2005. The article was one of a series written by Anna Rae, most of which were based on lengthy interviews with new and long-term Browntown Community residents.