This is the fourth of a series of articles on the history of Wood Dale School in Union County, Tennessee.

In the first article I shared information about Wood Dale School from 1900 through the depression years to 1940 as related in Our Union County Heritage: A Historical and Biographical Album of Union County—People, Places, Events by Kathleen George Graves and Winnie Palmer McDonald (© 1978 Josten’s); Ms. Bonnie Heiskell Peter’s book Union County Schoolday Memories: A Pictorial History of Union County Elementary Schools From the mid-1800’s to the 1960s; and from available school registers on file at the Union County Board of Education.

In the second article I shared information about Wood Dale School during the World War II years (1940 through 1945) as related in available school registers on file at the Union County Board of Education.

The third article commenced with the school year beginning August 6, 1945 through March 29, 1946. In that article I shared information about Wood Dale School through the post-World War II years (1945 through 1949) as related in available school registers on file at the Union County Board of Education.

This article continues the discussion of Wood Dale School from the term that began on August 8, 1949. That fall, one of the greatest educators to ever teach in Union County (and there have been and continue to be many) was assigned to Wood Dale, the late, great Florence Eva Beeler Chesney. I will share in later paragraphs why I have presented such a biased statement in a historical article.

According to the personnel records on file at the Union County Board of Education, Florence Chesney was born July 8, 1913. She and I share a birthday, I to be born 52 years later.

Ms. Chesney attended Lincoln Memorial University and the University of Tennessee intermittently from 1934-50, never obtaining a degree but accruing 90 quarter hours of credit.

She was teaching on a permit her first full year at Wood Dale, but would obtain a lifetime teaching certificate at some point before the start of the 1952-53 school year. She served Union County as a teacher for 37 years, many of them spent in the small one- or two-room community schools spread throughout the county. Eighty-five years ago in 1935 she was assigned to her first teaching job at Oakland School. She remained at Oakland for three eight-month terms, then was assigned to Cedar Grove for the eight-month 1938-39 term. She was reassigned for the following eight-month term to Raccoon [Valley].

There followed terms when Ms. Chesney taught only a few months for each of several years. Perhaps this was due to Ms. Chesney taking time off to raise her daughter, as her later registers record that Carolyn (who married H. E. “Smiley” Richardson) was born around the time Ms. Chesney taught the two month term at Wood Dale during
1940-41. She returned to Raccoon [Valley] for six and one-half months during 1942-43. From 1943-45 Ms. Chesney taught two months each at Maynardville, Beech Grove and Bull Run schools. In 1946 Ms. Chesney taught three months at Brocks (sic) School.

In the fall of 1946 Ms. Chesney returned to full-time teaching for an eight month term at Brocks (sic) School. Ms. Chesney taught the following nine-month term at Brocks (sic) through 1948 (it appears Tennessee state law increased the length of the school term from eight to nine months beginning fall 1947). During school year 1948-49, Ms. Chesney taught at Hubbs Grove School.

It was in the fall of 1949 that Ms. Chesney was assigned to her first of two full-year terms to teach grades 4-8 at Wood Dale School. She concurrently served as principal of the two-room school. Her teaching partner was Ms. Anna Lou Nicely (later to become Mrs. Jessee Dyer), a former Wood Dale student. I quote from Ms. Anna Lou’s obituary as published on May 23, 2016 in the Knoxville News Sentinel :

She was a member of Pennington Chapel Baptist Church. Anna attended Lincoln Memorial University. She taught grades 1 through 8 at Wooddale, a one room school in Union County. She had many fond memories of her students.

Ms. Anna Lou and Ms. Chesney both kept immaculate registers. I was privileged to meet Ms. Anna Lou, a most charming and gracious lady, when I was her granddaughter’s teacher at Luttrell Elementary.

Ms. Anna Lou was as of yet unmarried, seventeen years younger than her teacher/principal colleague. She taught grades 1-3 for both the 1949-50 and 1950-51 terms. Her register indicates that these were her first years as a teacher. Her salary for the 1949-50 term was $125 per month (it increased to $138 per month the following year). She retained five of twenty-five students the first year, all for irregular attendance, three males, two females, two different last names (from two families, perhaps?), and none expected to attend high school. Students who “failed”, their families and peers were all “prepared for it by the teacher so that no feeling of shame or punishment was felt” (directly quoted from the register). Two of my sisters (Helen and Madaline) were in Ms. Anna Lou’s second and third grades respectively in 1949-50, and both were promoted to the next grade. Helen was again promoted the following year, and so was Madalene, though she was then in Ms. Chesney’s class.

Ms. Anna Lou reported that most of the pupils in grades 1-4 of the Wood Dale community spent their leisure time “playing”. She classified her students by a combination of her own judgment, student marks/grades, and test results, though her grading system was based on exams. She had minimum grade standards for promotion to the next grade and reported that most non-promoted students failed to sufficiently master those standards in arithmetic, speller, writing and reader (in that order). She reported providing much remedial instruction in arithmetic, using “different levels of material” and “enrichment and variety in extra practice for slow learners”. Ms. Anna Lou’s Daily Schedule of Work follows.

8:30- 8:45 Bible Reading/Attendance Checked
8:45- 9:45 1st, 2nd, 3rd Readers and Writing
9:45-10:00 3rd Grade English
10:00-10:15 Rest Period (time taken for water and toilet)
10:15-11:00 1st, 2nd, 3rd Speller
11:00-11:30 1st, 2nd Readers
11:30-12:30 Lunch Period
12:30- 1:00 2nd, 3rd Arithmetic
1:00- 2:00 5th History, 3rd Health
2:00- 2:15 Rest Period (time taken for water and toilet)
2:15- 3:15 3rd Geography, 1st, 2nd Readers
3:15- 3:30 Stories or Unfinished Work

Ms. Anna Lou listed the following as her instructional plans and objectives for the school year:

I plan to raise money to buy books and a teachers desk. I also plan to
clean all rubbish from play ground (total value of playground equipment $5.00 for
1949-50) and set out shrubbery.

Her summary of the achievements during the school year:

We had a pie supper and raised money to buy a teachers desk, window shades, two chairs, and some library books.
We have cleaned play ground and set out shade trees and flowers.
We also got S C F (or T?) for the school.

Ms. Anna Lou’s register for the following school year had neither instructional plans and objectives nor achievements during the school year listed. Her daily schedule of work for the second year did not have the depth of detail as her first. Her second 1st through 3rd grade class was composed of nineteen boys and ten girls. Eight of these students, five male and two female, were not promoted to the next grade and were almost evenly divided by grade, retained for the sole stated reason of irregular attendance. Ms. Anna listed the following as her record of year’s work for 1950-51:

Speller: 1st day meeting new words in story or letter
2nd day spell new words.
3rd day take a pretest
4th Studying most difficult words
5th day taking a test of the unit
Arithmetic: Home work: working some of the difficult problems on board
Reading. Silent and oral reading.
Geography: making charts, studying maps, class discussion.
English: Class discussion, written lessons and test

Ms. Chesney’s registers were more detailed than Ms. Anna Lou’s, in part I’m sure because Ms. Chesney was principal. Her daily schedule of work for 1949-50 was similar to Ms. Anna Lou’s, though Ms. Chesney included “recognition of special days” as part of her opening exercises. The entire school had the same one hour lunch period, back-to-back morning and common afternoon rest periods. Ms. Chesney taught civics for the last fifteen minutes of each school day. At the end of her daily work schedule, Ms. Chesney wrote: “Some of these I alternate with science, art, hand writing, physical activity music appreciation or singing”.
For her instructional plans and objectives for the school year, she included:

“ . . . To teach by the block system . . . I hope to get the toilets repaired . . . I am planning on having a new flag pole erected. I also plan to raise money to buy bookshelves . . . I plan to have school programs during the school yr.”

As part of Ms. Chesney’s summary of achievements during the school year, she listed:

. . . We also bought wash basins and soap. We have had hand washing since we got our hand washing facilities. We bought refills for the first aid cabinit (sic). We bought new books and started a library center. [Ms. Chesney’s Annual Property Report for 1949-50 reports one fifteen volume set of encyclopedias and one dictionary valued at $60. During the year 25 library books and two dictionaries were added, total value $14, and 125 library books were secured during the year.] We joined the S. C. F. and got a sponcer (sic) shortly after we joined. We have accomplished much through her contributions for the school such as maps, crayons, puzzels (sic), books, pictures and etc. We have worked on the play ground and tried to remedy some of the most eroded soil . . .

Ms. Chesney taught grades 4, 5, 6, and 8 (there were no 7th graders in 1949-50). Her class was composed of eleven boys and eleven girls (including daughter Carolyn). Among her students in 1949-50 were my two half-brothers Billy [Howard—pronounced “Haired”] and J. C. Both were 4th graders, though J. C. was promoted to 5th grade at the end of the year and Billy Howard was retained.

I was thrilled when I discovered that J. C. also had Ms. Chesney as a teacher. He remembered her as a big, tall woman. On the first day of school, J. C. said that she introduced herself: “My name is Ms. Chesney. I’m here to teach, and you’re here to learn, and if you don’t learn it, I’ll beat it into you!” J. C. liked her tough approach, and said he decided he’d best get on her good side. J. C. says he became her “pet”. If so, it must have kept him in school, for of 177 days in the school year, J. C. was present 145. Brother Billy Howard missed forty days more than J. C., and their cousin John Henry Thomas was only present 69. Both Billy [Howard] and John Henry were retained that year.
There might not have been many days that J. C. and Cousin John Henry were present on the same day, but on at least one of them Ms. Chesney sent them to the spring to get a bucket of water. J. C. said they slipped and “peed” in the bucket. J. C. said the first person to take a drink was none other than Ms. Chesney herself!

J. C. also told me that Ms. Chesney had one boy in her class that was a constant problem. Ms. Chesney would send him home, and his daddy would send him right back. One day J. C. said that Ms. Chesney picked that boy up and set him down inside a heating stove jacket!

Nine of 22 of Ms. Chesney’s students were retained in 1949-50, seven boys and two girls, irregular attendance being the principal cause. Other contributing factors listed by Ms. Chesney included speech defects, inefficient work and study habits, lack of interest, and lack of study. Ms. Chesney said most all students spent their leisure time playing, while boys also fished and girls sewed. Ms. Chesney reported her grading system as “exams & curve system”.

Ms. Chesney’s record of year’s work 1949-50 follows.

In Arithmetics (sic) we used the text and solved the problem in it then we took the same type problem and applied them to practical things in the schoolroom for example when we were studying areas and perimeter we measured tabletops areas of floors of the different rooms and found area and perimeter
In Readers we studied for thought more than Just to Keep from missing a word. I find that makes a better reader, because they become interested in their stories and will read on and be more particular about mispronouncing the word. They soon realize they don’t get the full meaning if they miss lot of words. We did silent reading, defined all new words. In our Spellers We became acquainted with a new lesson every Monday morning We spelled the words off the book pronounced them. Then on Tuesday we spelled the words. Wednesday we wrote the words Thursday we looked them up in the dictionary and made sentences. Friday we had a test. In Geographies (sic) we drew maps, studied each continent separate and a cross country imaginary flight across the U. S. learned each state, its Capital, and large cities and what each state grew, what each mfg. In Histories (sic) and Grammers (sic). We dealt pretty close to the texts.

In her Record of the Year’s Work for the following term, Ms. Chesney would also include themes, essays and current events for history and grammar.

Both Ms. Chesney and Ms. Anna Lou returned to Wood Dale for the 1950-51 school term. Like Ms. Anna Lou, Ms. Chesney’s daily schedule of work was more simplified in her register than in the prior year. For her second year as principal/teacher at Wood Dale, Ms. Chesney recorded in her instructional plans and objectives for the school year, she included:

We plan to have a safer water supply installed. We plan to get the house repaired. We also plan to get some new basket ball goals put up . . . We would like to buy a new basketball and other play ground equipment. We would like to buy some school room furniture such as book, filing cabinet and desk and chair. We plan to add new books to the library we have started.

As part of Ms. Chesney’s summary of achievements during the school year, she listed:

A new well was dug.
The basket ball goals were put up.
We got a new basket ball.
We added some new books to our library. [16 at a total cost of $18, plus 125 secured from regional library]
We worked some on soil erosion by filling up some gullies.
We had two new window sashes put in. We oiled the floors . . . We had regular 4-H club meetings and programs. We had ball games with other schools.

This second year Ms. Chesney taught eleven boys and fourteen girls in all grades 4-8. She retained fourteen of her total 25 students, all due to irregular attendance, the bane of educational progress in small country schools. Interestingly, for all of the retained 8th grade girls, Ms. Chesney listed H. S. (High School) for the grade in which they should be placed the following year. Possibly this was because of age, for two of the three would turn sixteen, the other fifteen, during the summer or next school year. On her Report of Pupil Progress, Ms. Chesney added “laziness” and “over-age” as probable causes of pupil failure. She also listed “playing” and “working” for the ways most pupils in the Wood Dale community spent their leisure time.

For school year 1951-52, Ms. Chesney taught at Nave Hill. In 1952-53 she returned to Hubbs Grove for one year, where she taught all eight grades. Then she taught from 1953-57 at Bull Run. At Bull Run she taught grades 1-2 in 1953-54 and combinations of grades 5-8 until 1956-58. For the next two terms, 1958-60, Ms. Chesney returned to Raccoon Valley, teaching grades 1-4 both years.

It was in the fall of 1960 that Ms. Chesney began her last assignment, teaching third grade at Maynardville Elementary. This is where Ms. Chesney had me as a student in 1973-74. I knew her well even before she was my teacher. We both attended Maynardville Baptist Church. One of the best memories I have is Ms. Chesney’s reading class. She was adept at grouping students for effective instruction. When we would begin a new story, she would read it to us on the first day, with the exact diction she wished us to imitate when we read orally the next day. This was her method of teaching reading expression. To encourage us to greater levels of expression, she staged friendly competitions. Her discussions of the stories always tied into morals and values. We always said grace every day before we went to lunch: God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food. Amen (pronounced “Ah-men”). In her class we memorized the multiplication tables through the sixes. Ms. Chesney used cooperative grouping as a teaching strategy long before it became a modern “catch phrase”. It was nothing unusual for her to let us get a “study buddy” and get under tables or the coat rack to study our lessons. Noise was good at this time—it showed that we were working together. Long time Union County Schools Supervisor of Instruction Ms. Patricia McKelvey told me once that Ms. Chesney’s room sometimes looked and sounded like chaos, but she could call everybody to their seats in order with just a word. Every student excelled at something, and Ms. Chesney made sure to write each pupil’s accomplishments on a section of a paper earthworm that she posted around the room. She gave each pupil his/her section at the close of the school year.

When I was in her class, Ms. Chesney motivated me to memorize an entire story from our reading book about an aardvark named Arthur. She coached me into using effective vocal inflection and body expression, and encouraged me to enter the school talent show. I think I won second place (I’ll have to consult my earthworm section) and was given the opportunity to perform at the county talent show at Horace Maynard High School. That was no problem, for our class and perhaps the rest of the school walked to the high school for the show. The problem came when the opportunity arose to go to Big Ridge Elementary to perform there. My father was not approachable about such things, and Ms. Chesney took the initiative and put me on the bus without parental consent to go to Big Ridge. She told me in later years that she prayed that nothing would happen to me, for she didn’t want to face Frank Mincey’s wrath!

Ms. Chesney would teach only two more classes after mine. She retired in spring 1976. In a visit with her many years afterward, Ms. Chesney told me she felt she had been practically pushed into retirement. She said that an administrator asked her, “Florence, why don’t you just retire? I know you’re tired.”

But Ms. Chesney did not sit at home doing nothing. She signed up to be a substitute teacher. Unlike most substitutes, Ms. Chesney actually taught. She also continued to be a motivator. She substituted in our 7th grade homeroom on a day instructions had been left to practice our 4-H meeting between lunch and our next class. Our singing wasn’t “up to snuff”, in her opinion, so she did what she did so often in 3rd grade, she led by example. She demonstrated for us how we should put feeling into the song. She had every one of us 7th graders, even the boys, singing at the top of our lungs. We left for our first class of that afternoon with a song in our heart and a spring in our step, for sure! During retirement, Ms. Chesney also became active in the senior citizens center and ceramics.

Ms. Chesney genuinely loved teaching, and she loved her students and respected their parents. That was the key to her success. When we visited, she would recall students that it would not seem possible she would remember. She was once ill, and she told me afterward that her husband Sam said that during her delirium she must have retaught every class she ever had. I visited Ms. Chesney frequently from the time I began teaching until she passed away. We talked about many things, but there were always two constants—school and church, the two solid foundations to which she devoted her entire life.

One of the greatest obstacles in life is the lack of ability or opportunity to express to others how much they have meant to us. I have liked every teacher I’ve had all throughout the Union County Public Schools and the equivalent of ten years of college work at Lincoln Memorial University, with one exception. I had one other teacher that I liked but personally but did not respect his teaching ability.

But Florence Chesney was special to me. When I learned to drive and had the means to visit her, I visited her home at least once per year, more often in later years. Not only was she my hero, she let me know I was special to her. On one of my visits, she asked me to read a poem to her, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life”. When I finished, she told me that she felt that poem summed up what she had tried to aspire to during her life. She told me that she felt that I more than any of her other students had risen to the potential she saw in me as a child in her class. She asked me if I would read that poem at her funeral, but at the same time told me not to even consider it if it would cause me “one moment of dread”. I wouldn’t say I’ve had a lot of recognition heaped upon me during life thus far, nor do I seek it, but Ms. Chesney’s request was without doubt the greatest honor of my life. I don’t expect it to be surpassed.

My last visit with Ms. Chesney was when she was in her final sickness. I don’t remember much about the visit, except an overwhelming sadness that this was to be the last time I’d see my dear friend and mentor alive on this earth. She passed away on September 30, 2002, age 89.

In this article I have shared information about Wood Dale School from August 8, 1949 through May 4, 1951 as related in available school registers and personnel records on file at the Union County Board of Education, from Ms. Anna Lou Nicely Dyer’s obituary printed in the Knoxville News Sentinel on May 23, 2016, and from Ailor Mortuary Records 2000-July 13, 2009: Compiled and typed by Martha Jean Atkins Carter (© 2010).