Family Memories

Submitted by Doug Hunter

East of Manhattan, Ks is the Sales School House. My uncle and aunt attended classes in this school house. I have fond memories of the Sales School house myself, as a young boy my Great Grandmother Whearty was founding and first president of the Helping Hands Ladies Club who had many a meeting in the Sales school house.

The Whearty family farm is just across the one lane bridge to the east about a quarter mile., I recently went home to Kansas (08.03/97) and drove by the Sales school house and was reminiscing with my younger brother about all the good memories we have of that old school house. It is located on Buffalo Run I believe is what they have in recent years named the old county road.

My Grandmother Whearty took over where my great grandmother left off. The ladies of the Helping Hands Club would hve parties and have a wire tied across the room, and quilted blankets hung as the stage curtains and we as little children would have cane poles with string and a clothes pin and the ladies would put toys on the clothes pins and give a tug on the line and we children would bring the catch over the top of the curtains. What innocent fun that was.

Sales school house had two out houses, one for the girls and the other or the boys. Only one is standing today. The out building that stored the wood has fallen down, but the old merry-go-round is still there hidden in a bunch of weeds. I noticed that the roof is falling in, it still has the wood shingles, although a lot of them are missing now. It has rock steps leading into the doorway.

The Sales school taught grades 1-8 then the children attended Westmoreland, Ks High School. My mother has attended the Sales Districk School in 1949 in the eighth grade. Her teacher's name was Laverna Reeves. An earlier teacher that taught her older sister and brothers name was Blanch Wolfkill.