LIBERTY District No. 33
SW1/4SE1/4 of 29-15-26
1916-17 (6 months)
Teacher: Orville Estes, Board: A.V. Riegel, O.F. Selby, Flora Robins, Census: 25
1917-18 (6 months)
Teacher: Bessie Kelley Board: A.V. Riegel, O.F. Selby, Flora Robins, Census 24
1918-19 (5 months)
Teacher: Bessie Kelly, Board: Flora Robins, A.L. Robins, E.M. Bocox, Census: 18
1919-20 (6 months)
Teacher: Mrs. Rhea Thompson, Board: Flora Robins, A.L. Robins, E.M. Bocox, Census: 22
On July 5th, 1920 District No. 33 (Liberty) consolidated with five other small schools to form c8 or Midway.
Liberty School {part of Frankie Trammell Danner Pankey’s story}
“Mama prepared all summer for Wink(my sister) and I to start to school that fall. She made gingham dresses, flour sack drawers and pretty coats. She always crocheted an edge on the legs of the drawers. A week before school took up on September, we went in the wagon to Barber’s store at Durham. Lizzy and Cliff Barber ran a good general store and we loved to trade there. Mamma sopped and I got a primer, a big Chief tablet, a pencil box and pencils, crayons, a book satchel and a cute little dinner bucket. I was ready to launch out for an education. {Barber’s building still standing in 1983}.
Wink and I rode on a pony named Boy Wonder. My lunch pail was packed with sausage between biscuits, a slice of onion, a hard boiled egg, peach pie and sugar cookies for an after school snack on the way home. I was a happy six year old that morning. Well, Wink kicked Boy Wonder in the side and we trotted off to school. Heaven knows that horse could trot. We put our lunch pails in the coat room behind the teacher’s desk and played and got acquainted with the other children until the bell rang for us to get in line to march in.
Lilly Robins, my chum, lived on the south side of the Washita and she had a big sister who was a teacher. Her name was Bethel Robins and she was the teacher at our school. Lilly chose seats together, but soon Bethel had to move us apart, we talked too much. Bethel had a cap with ‘I am a dunce’ written on it, which she put on our heads when we had to stand in the corner.
We had box suppers and once we raised money for a new rostrum. A rostrum was a platform at the back of the room where the teacher’s desk was located. It was about ten feet wide and ten feet long and was used as a stage when we had programs. Once a month on Friday nights, we had a club we called the literary and we all did something to entertain. Miss Bethel was a good teacher and everyone loved hr. She was firm and gave everyone a chance to do what they did best. At recess and noon, we played hop scotch, tag and ring around the rosy.”