#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 4 - Education - from Attica White School to the USMC

Back in rural Michigan before 1970, many peple went to school in local one room schoolhouses. Such was the case for my dad, who went to South Attica White School for grades 1-8, from about 1942-1950. This school, whose name now evokes viseral feelings of contempt from WOKE culture, was named for the color of its paint, not the color of its students skin tones. In fact, there were at least a couple Jamaican, Hispanic, and other races represented in my father's classes, whch was not unusual for rural Michigan in the 1940's. He told stories of getting to school early, going in a window, and lighting the fire in the wood stove so there would be heat by the time classes began each morning. He told of a teacher, Mrs. Woodard, who passed away at the end of his 8th grade year there, and he being one of the older boys was chosen to be a pallbearer. I think she was buried in the little S. Attica Cemetery adjacent to the school. Dad went from that school to Dryden High School, leaving behind his local country friends for a more citified education. He graduated form there in 1954, and, along with a couple of his buddies, joined the United States Marine Corps. In the USMC, he furthered his education as a radio technician and electrical expert. Dad later also took an automotive engineering course through corespeondence school, and went on to work 30+ years inthe aerospace industry in southern CA. Years later, the old country school house were dad started his education was converted to a family home. Soon after that, it burned down, along with all the school recods, which were supposedly in the attic. I've never been able to find a picture of the actual school house.