Trout Has 100 Year Old Guest for 100th Day of School

Trout School had a very special 100 year-old guest to celebrate their 100 ^th day of school.

Ruby Reuber was accompanied by her son Don Reuber and her granddaughter Denise Tyson.

Her great granddaughter, Emma Tyson, is currently a 5^th grade student at Trout.

The Reubers joined the entire student body at their Rise-n-Shine morning assembly to celebrate 100 days of school.

Reuber told fun facts about her life and took questions from students.

Students asked questions, such as how many students and teachers were in her class and how did she get to school when she was young.

They also wanted to know what she wore to school.

“When I was in school, I had to walk two and a half miles to and from school five days a week,” Reuber said. “When the weather was bad or extremely cold, my dad would take us in a wagon, and we had to cover ourselves up with quilts to stay warm on the trip.”

She explained that all the girls had to wear dresses and stockings to school.

“There were not any jeans or pants allowed,” Reuber said. “We only had one teacher who taught first through eighth grades.”

Students continued to ask questions such as, what she did to have fun.

“My sister and I liked to play with dolls, but we only got one doll for Christmas, and that was our only gift,” Reuber said. “We used to cut pictures of people out of catalogs and use those to play with. We also played tag and kick the can in the yard.”

Mr. Reuber brought a handmade version of the type of telephone their family had.

It was a large hand-cranked, wall-mounted rotary phone with an operator who would place the call for you.

They had to share the phone line with three or four other people, so it wasn’t uncommon for them to have to wait to make a call.

“We did not have a television, radio or telephone until after I got married,” Reuber said. “We also did not have running water or an inside bathroom. It was really hard to have to go outside to the bathroom on really cold days or when it was raining.”

Students asked what kind of chores she had to do every day.

“I had to help cook meals, clean house, wash dishes and work in the garden,” Reuber said. “I also had to gather eggs every day from the chicken house, and I was always scared to death because there were frequently snakes in the chicken’s nest.”

Reuber was a teacher for many years.

When she first started teaching, she taught multiple grades in a one-room school house with an outdoor bathroom.

When students asked what the biggest impact on her life was.

“There have been so many that I don’t really know, but teaching children in school was definitely one of the biggest,” Reuber said.

At the end of the 30 minute question and answer period, lots of students still had their hands up with more questions.

They were fascinated with the details of her life.