Evelyn Groom has lived a long full life. When she began teaching at Center East, north of Allendale, in 1948, she would send kids to go pump the water and pour it in a stone cooler so everyone could have water out of their tin cups, which they were expected to wash when they got home. There were no water fountains in those days. When she finished up at Worth County in 1992, she had taught over 800 students over the years, if you figure 40½ years times a little over 20 students for each year. She still runs into many of them at the store when she goes in to do her shopping.
She has a whole wealth of stories; “It would take a whole book to write them,” she said. She lived on farms north of Allendale, and she can remember her mother operating an old fashioned wooden washer that you would pull back and forth to wash the laundry. Her mother would have one tub to wring out clothes, and another to rinse, and she would hang them up even in winter. Her mother was an avid gardener, and formed the Town Link Club, a group of 35 women in the community dedicated to quilting. Evelyn can still recite all their names at almost 90.
Evelyn was the oldest of eight children. The others were Ellen Jean, Elva Jewel, Donald Wesley, Betty Kay, twins Marilyn Dale and Madelyn Dean, and Rhonda Sue. She went to the Eureka School north of Allendale, and Eunice Dawson was her teacher.
When she started out in 1948, the requirements to become a teacher were not as strict. She took six months of summer school, and then she was ready to teach.
After teaching at Center East, she went on to teach at Amity, Allendale, Denver at the two story Schoolhouse, and then Worth County. She still remembers one student from Denver, David Brown, aka Brownie, who always wore a nice suit to school. At Amity, she taught people like David Seat, John Lutesz, and Nancy Hunter.
After she retired from Worth County in 1992, Evelyn moved to Springfield in 1996, where she found a tight-knit congregation at Ozark Baptist Church, six miles east of Nixa (MO). There, she got to see a lot of her grandchildren as well. She still corresponds with one woman from Ozark Baptist who is 99 years young and is still sharp. She moved back to Albany in 2019, where she follows in her mother’s footsteps by making a garden full of Hibiscus flowers along with cucumbers, red and yellow tomatoes, and pickles, which she cans.
Evelyn says being able to teach for 40½ years was a surprise to her, but that she couldn’t have made it without former students and friends who helped her out in time of need. At almost 90 years young, a celebration will be held in her honor at the Allendale Community Building on August 22nd from 2 pm to 4 pm. There will be cake and punch, and there will be a book for people to sign. Pictures of many of her old students will be on display, along with a quilt with all the members of the Town Link Club that Keith and Mary Kay Lambert helped put together.
She says the way to live long is to think positive. “I hope I have many more years to help people. I want to live for as long as I can be of use,” she said.
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