Editor’s note: This is the final portion of a column submitted by the Green River Historic Preservation Commission.
In my eyes Green River school policies were fair, the teachers were knowledgeable and supportive. They were leaders, not only teachers. It seems the system worked well, you don’t get superlative graduates unless you have a superlative system with superlative teachers and administrators. The Green River schools and its graduates have always been top tier. The people demanded it.
We have all had special teachers who stood out and were a deep and lasting influence on us. Green River had many of that quality. For me the list of significant teachers would include, Miss Helen Haines, Mr. Ed Proctor, Miss Eunice Hutton, Tony Katana, Mrs. Fromm, and a Miss Tottam who taught geology one year. Along with the special school teachers I listed, I’d like to add Donette Butters Peterson, who taught me of the power of homemade 100 percent rhubarb pie, especially the ones she gave me as a birthday cake. They were supreme, but she would never share the secret thing that made them “super pie.”
I would also be remiss if I did not mention the invaluable knowledge, skills, values and experience that Boy Scouting gave me in growing up in Green River. Green River had two scout troops, the old original Troop #1, and the newer Troop #20, if I remember correctly. They were both good troops with the same goals but with completely different approaches. I was in Troop #1 with friends. Our Scout master was Abe Beckstead, who had been an infantry sergeant in WWII and Korea. In sum, he taught us the skills and knowledge of the real world, both inside and out, that would ensure our survival in many ways. To him, self confidence and team work was what it was all about. Reality and action, real things not abstractions. Get down and get with it, that was Abe.
One very important aspect of his teaching was the teaching of the absolute importance of trust. The knowledge that you can definitely trust yourself and your buddy, and vice versa, then you have real strength. Trust is all and it must be built one increment at a time. Proof is in the pudding.
As an example, Troop #1 and Troop #20 and others were attending a jamboree. The contest this day was fire starting and building one that would burn apart a taut string about 18-20” above ground level. The winning team got a very nice double pit falling axe. We wanted it badly, they wanted it just as bad.
The troop scattered to get wood, twigs, etc., and stockpile it for handy retrieval while others made the fire pit, set up the sticks supporting the string. Troop #20 wore complete clean, pressed uniforms, pants, shirt, shoes, all shined and pressed. None of us save one had a complete uniform, maybe a shirt and probably just a kerchief. We just hung around the fire pit getting ready. Troop 20 built a beautiful fire in the tepee/square batten fire structure, beautiful textbook quality, engineering correct. We made a fairly high tepee structure, packed with thistle cotton, and dried pine pitch. The secret is focus on the string’s destruction, that came first.
The signal was given, both sides using flint and steel quickly got a spark and ignited the fires.
Theirs burned beautifully. Ours literally exploded, plus the bunch of dried grass we had quickly placed on it after the contest began and the fires lit flashed with a fireball and the string just vaporized – poof. Without a smile on our lips but in our heart, Troop #1 had struck again.
Abe worked us through future plans and problems we were supposed to solve. Many do’s and don’ts sounded like fortune cookie inserts.
Keep focus, maintain a low profile, stay out of the skyline, avoid being back lit, beware the water hole, always remain balanced, etc. Many hikes were survival skills. We had some cold, cold outings with him, tracking, exploring. I think scouting was needed and cool. Common perhaps, but helpful wood skills galore were offered to us, and most stuck. We got really good at what we did. Capture the flags became an art, how to see at night, when to freeze and listen, how to really see or hear. He taught us self reliance, buddy reliance, self trust and trust in a group. It doesn’t sound like much to be taught but its importance cannot be over stated. But above all he taught us awareness, usually underrated. Both Abe and Dick Bennett were big on awareness, whatever that is.
As the south side of town grew, so did the importance of Uinta Drive and the strip malls, draining the importance from downtown Green River. But Green River retained a small town atmosphere, a frontier spirit, still with neighbors looking out for their neighbors.
I believe that growing up in Green River was basic training for life’s struggles, tangles, conflicts, triumphs and defeats – well, let’s just say, life.
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