Smoke Signals
JULY 15, 2003
Old Schools Never Die, Not In Our Memories
Willamina High is too expensive to repair in these hard knocks days.
By Ron Karten
With every old building, a few
ghosts seem to come along at
no extra charge.
Willamina High School is one
of those great, old buildings
that went up as part
of a public works
program estab
lished to create ?
jobs at the tail
if
Moving Man Willamina High School Principal
Gus Forster is a man on the move after the announce
ment that old high school would be closing and mov
ing up the hill to the middle school. Forster spent
time collecting boxes tor weeks prior to the move.
tic, too. Athletic Director
Jerry Buczynski reported
that there's an old lounge
chair up in the building" s
attic. "The rumor is
if you can't find
the mainte
nance man,
he's probably
up there," he
end of the De
pression. Born
of Depression
and died of Re
cession, might
be its epitaph,
but that
wouldn't tell
the whole
story.
It wouldn't mention the bowling al
ley - likely apocryphal - that was sup
posed to be found under the school's
classrooms. "I don't know about the
bowling alley," said Robert Page, 25
years an English and History teacher
at Willamina High, "but I can remem
ber going down there and retrieving
kids."
"There is no bowling alley," said
Charlene Brown, who used to be
deputy clerk for the district and now
runs the Willamina Museum. "All it
is is a piping system that runs from
the Ag Shop through the lower part of
the building. I remember when I was
in school (Class of '59), kids would go
down in the Ag Shop and pop up in the
classrooms. And of course disrupt the
classes."
Brown, like others of an earlier gen
eration, had not heard about the bowl
ing alley until the question was asked,
but Brown added, "I asked my grand
son (Brandon Flynn, Jr. - Class of '04)
about it and he said, 'Oh yeah, every
body knows about the bowling alley.'"
"I heard about it," said Sam Ksionsk
(ka-shonk), Maintenance Supervisor,
"but I don't think there is one. I re
member high school kids used to jump
in the tunnel in the Ag Shop entryway
and try to get to the girl's locker room."
A fairly obvious question comes up.
"It's possible to get to the outside of
the girl's locker room," he responded,
"but you could never get in from
(there). It's about a one-foot concrete
wall."
That basement, however, remains
a source of stories and unfortunately,
sometimes a good bit more.
It is also the location of an expen
sive asbestos problem, according to
District Administrative Secretary Deb
Eisele, which is one of the reasons it
was time to close this baby down.
If the bottom of the school is replete
with stories, there are some in the at-
said.
"Actually,
that was
Charles
Heckadon,
the guy I re
placed," said
Ksionsk.
"When I
went up there my first year here to
change the light bulbs, there was a
chair there and it was underneath a
150-watt light bulb and there was a
paperback book by the chair. I fig
ured he was getting some peace and
quiet up there."
But for an unnamed student who has
long since graduated, grown and even
sion of musical chairs. The high school
is moving to the middle school, the
middle school to the elementary school
in Grand Ronde, and the elementary
school children in Grand Ronde will
move in with the Willamina Grade
School kids in Willamina. The effort
will save the district over $500,000,
said District Superintendent and High
School Principal Gus Forster.
"I don't have a long history (with the
building)," said Forster, "but I love old
buildings. I think every ball field in
the country should be Wrigley Field.
It's kind of exciting to move to a newer
facility up on the hill, but I like the
character of the old building."
A number of parts of the old high school
will continue to serve, and the way the
new configuration plays out, programs
like theater arts could benefit.
"Luckily, we are keeping the audi
torium," said Page. "There is a silver
lining here someplace. We are now
going to be allowed to have an audito
rium for the high school students."
Previously, a number of programs
shared the high school auditorium
making play rehearsals difficult and
ali i I j)
Last Day Students emptied out their lockers and some helped empty classrooms at
Willamina Union High School during the last day of school. Due to budget woes, the
school will be closed for classes, but remain open for school activities for now.
retired, the attic was anything but
peaceful. "I know one time, one of the
kids was up there," said Mitchell, "and
got over where the library was, which
is now the biology room. He stepped
off the boards and fell through the ceil
ing." Ghosts, stories, history they don't
pay the bills, and the costs to keep this
building in service are too high in these
hard knock times for schools.
"It's so ironic," said Page. "We did
fund-raisers and shipped books and
teaching supplies to Zimbabwe and
other areas of the world, and now, due
to finances, we're forced out of our
building.
"Everybody has a period of growth
and decline, and now we're experienc
ing that decline," he said.
In Willamina, that decline is trans
lating into a kind of educational ver-
sometimes impossible to schedule.
"We're going to keep a program go
ing that was in threats of being elimi
nated," said Page.
Which brings us to the time the the
ater program bought a fog maker for
one of the plays. "It worked better than
we expected," said Page. "A student
opened a window. It sent the fog into
the auditorium. The wrestlers (who
were practicing there) opened the au
ditorium doors. The fog went out and
up the hall and into the library. The
vice principal came running down
thinking there was a fire."
In all, five high school classrooms
will close for all uses, said Forster. A
little less than half of the high school
continues to be usable.
Alternative education, the city li
brary and the recreation center people
all have their eyes on using parts of
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Back In The Day Tribal members have been going to Willamina High School since it opened its doors in 1940. Now, with
school budgets lacking, the centerpiece of this small logging town in the West Valley will close its doors and most likely fade into the
memories of those students who attended over the last 60 years. The school opened with 116 students, was enlarged in 1954 to
handle 500 students and closed with a class of 283. Photo courtesy of Willamina Museum
the high school facilities in the com
ing year, according to Eisele.
"From the kids, I've seen a lot of
mixed emotions," he said. "Some of
the kids, seniors, graduating, they got
kind of nostalgic. They said, 'We're
the last class that will graduate from
here.w
While the district has reserved
enough rooms and teachers for every
student and subject, the challenge now
is to help students make their new
buildings "their own," in the words of
Math Teacher Julie Peters.
"They're already transferring the
trophies and photos and each teacher
has their own idea on their own room,"
she said. "I've got projects that my
kids did this year that I'm just going
to transfer, so they have the same
ownership. We're fixing up the court
yard and picking up tables to make it
ours. Even though we don't know how
long we're going to be there."
"What we're doing right now," said
Forster after the close of school, "a lot
of the kids are coming up with great
ideas. The Key Club kids want to come
in and paint with the school colors.
We're going to support those kind of
efforts so that they can take some own
ership in it."
"I'm personally having a hard time
looking at it as the last day," said Ath
letic Director Jerry Buczynski on the
, last day, "because we'll still have foot
I ball, baseball and softball down here
g until we can get facilities up there up
to standards."
Which brings us to the story of the
outside bleachers, originally built and
i. later rebuilt by volunteers from the
community. They burned down twice
and were once crushed by snow, ac
cording to Charlene Brown.
"In 1939," the Museum's history says,
"a Union High School district was
formed by joining about 16 grade school
districts." A Works Progress Admin
istration grant paid 45-percent of the
cost of the new building, originally es
timated at $90,900. It was occupied
for the first time in 1940 with an en
rollment of 1 16. It closes this year with
an enrollment of 283.
In Portland architect C.N.
Freeman's original drawing, the struc
ture over the front door soars high
above the building, but that structure
never survived past the drawing.
School board member Carl Wise found
a better use for the money. "He said,
'Let's cut that down and we'll put
battleship linoleum in the hallways,'"
said Lucille Mitchell. "And it's lasted."
In all her years of teaching, she was
always glad to be on that battleship
linoleum because it was put down over
wood, instead of the concrete that
formed the floors of the newer addi
tion. "When you stand on wood all day
it is certainly easier than standing on
concrete," she said.
All these years later, superintendent
and principal Gus Forster found him
self with the glamorous job of collect
ing boxes to move the contents of three
schools. One day, he went all the way
to Salem in his search.
How many boxes did it take to make
the move? "For all three schools?" said
Forster. "I don't know. I'll have to
work that number up for you." He
gave it some thought. "Fifteen more
than a passel," he said.