We have been learning about Ivanhoe’s Lois Paine Widmark and her early life in western South Dakota; her WWII service with the WAVES; her college, marriage, farm, and family life; and her short career as an educator at the Arco Public School. She was working to complete her degree in the summer of 1967 when another school fulfilled her dream of being a kindergarten teacher.

“I got my job at Lake Benton when Arco closed. Miss Donahue (the kindergarten teacher) was coming back, but she found out she had cancer and at the last minute they needed a teacher. So, Arnold took me down [to Lake Benton] and I saw Superintendent Lunn. He asked me about school, so I told him I was still going to school; had taught in Arco; that I was the oldest of eight kids; and that I had raised three kids.”

Lois reflected on that late summer interview and chuckled.

“I must have left an impression because he took credit for hiring me. He later said hiring me was the best thing he ever did.”

Her new school was not new, but her classroom was new. She described the school’s layout and key facilities.

“The classroom was brand new, but we didn’t have any new devices. They had built the kindergarten room onto the [existing] school. [Students] came in from the west side of the school and part of it [extended] around the corner. The other classes were built onto the hallway. The rest of the school and the big gym were upstairs. They added a kitchen and the new gym before I got there, but they were still new. The other gym was a little one with cement floors and the kitchen was off that. I took the kids there for gym. When they decided that the coach or somebody should do some of the kindergarten fun time, I got so upset.”

The kindergarten enrollment was robust during Lois’ first year at Lake Benton, but it changed over her tenure.

“I had an aide all the time I was there. When I started there were 45 kids divided into two classes. They sent half of them in the morning and half in the afternoon, but we didn’t have time for any fun things. I still see two of the students I had in that first kindergarten class. After several years the classes got so small the class would come every other day. Then the class size dropped so I got pre-school with the kindergarten class during my last years. You had to shift where you were needed.”

Lois smiled as she recalled her kindergarten years.

“I taught at Lake Benton from 1967 to 1988 and every day was great! All those happy little kids were so eager to learn!”

But the kids were not the only ones learning in that classroom.

“Today [schools] are so much more advanced. When I first went there, there was a book in pamphlet form from the state on my desk that said what I should teach kids. That was my first idea of the courses.”

Lois described some of their key, kindergarten learning objectives at Lake Benton.

“Of course, the alphabet was up there and there were numbers on the blackboards. They learned their letters and the color words. They learned to read some sight words like ‘love,’ ‘mom,’ ‘dad,’ ‘stop,’ ‘wait,’ and ‘go.’ I could then make Rebus sentences where I could use these words and draw a picture of something else that they didn’t know. Like if they wanted to go on a picnic, I could use the words they knew. But it wasn’t reading books.”

Lois remembered working with a special needs student.

“This little girl was home with brain cancer and I went to her. The principal told me what I had to do. I asked, ‘When do I eat lunch?’ Well, I ate it on my way out to [her home] before they let her come into the kindergarten. We didn’t have a TV until this little girl came. They thought that if she could see something on television her eyes would [develop]. She had an aide who helped her with coloring or whatever else she could do.”

Lois commuted to work from their farm west of Ivanhoe, a route that could become dicey during Southwest Minnesota winters.

“I was going around Ash Lake one time and turned to go east. The wind blew and I went over into the snowbank. I didn’t know what to do, so I trudged across Ash Lake toward where the Colpen’s lived. She thought I was going to die, saying, ‘I don’t know how you got here.’ I didn’t have a phone, so I had to walk. Anyway, they got me out and I was late for school that day. (Lois laughed) That was one of the worst times. Once I got stuck going up the big hill south of our place and had to walk home. Then I had to go chase cattle. (Lois laughed) No wonder I was thin in those days! I also missed going home from school three times because of winter storms.”

Lois taught at Lake Benton for 21 years, retiring in 1988. But retiring often simply means reallocating one’s time and skills. Lois continued contributing to her community by taking leadership positions in her church women’s group; the Hospital Auxiliary; and the local Republican Party. She has grown, learned, traveled, and lived a lot of life since her beginnings on January 1, 1922 on a homestead in western South Dakota.

2025 William D. Palmer.