Submitted photo Pictured is the District 75 student body outside their school, circa 1946.  Karen (Drury) Rafson is at the far right in the front row.

We have begun learning about Karen (Drury) Rafson, who was born to Bertha (Weidauer) and Edwin A. Drury as the youngest of five children. Karen did not have the usual farm chores responsibilities growing up, as her older siblings were already heavily involved in the farm and house work.

Karen began attending a country school when she was 5 years old. She described its location from a local landmark, the former Alex’s Store at the intersection of Highway 19 east of Marshall and Lyon County 11.

“You’d go north a mile and on the west side of that corner was District School 75. Then you have to go another mile west at that corner and (our) farm was on the south side of the road.”

She explained how she got to school from their farm. It reflected her special relationship with her brother George, who was 20 years her senior.

“Most likely George took me all the time. I remember George once came and got me from school with one of the horses because it was snowing badly. He wanted to get on the horse with me, but I was scared. So, I rode the horse and he walked me home. I was basically just like his kid and he was more like my dad than my dad.”

Karen described what she remembered of the District 75 schoolyard.

“It didn’t have a lot. They had outhouses in the back — one for the boys and one for the girls. I think they had some (playground equipment), but I couldn’t tell you for sure.”

She described the school itself.

“You’d come in where you’d hang your coats and all your stuff. Then you’d go in and it was just one, big room. There were rows and I was in the first seat and Marian was way over here (indicating the opposite side of the room and in the back) because she was in 7th grade. Bernie Matthys was behind me and he was the same age as I. So, they put (the students) according to age. The teacher had a desk up front.”

Karen had two teachers during her three years at District 75.

“Mrs. Welu was a really nice teacher. But I didn’t have Mrs. Welu the whole time, so I (likely) had her just two years. I [(also) had a Mrs. Poppick. The boys were kind of mean to Mrs. Poppick.”

The boys at District 75 could be a handful, but on at least one occasion, Karen distinctly recalled one who met his match in Mrs. Welu.

“I know Mrs. Welu — (a boy) smarted off, I guess. She took him by the hair and pounded him (she slapped her hand on the table) right on the desk and told him what he should be doing. Of course, you wouldn’t get away with that now, but he listened.”

The kids brought their lunches to school. In Karen’s case her lunch was courtesy of her eldest sister.

“We’d bring our lunch. It was most likely a sandwich. But I’m sure whatever I wanted, Grace would have made it for me. (Karen chuckled) Because that’s what she did. There would also be a milk or something like that.”

Sadly, country school at District 75 turned out to be rather lonely and, sometimes, even scary for Karen.

“Maryann Coudron was the only (girl in the lower grades), but she was older than me, too. There wasn’t anybody that I could hang out with at all because most of the students were boys and the other girls were all older. The only one I could count on was my sister, Marian.” (Karen chuckled)

She explained how even using the outhouse could be a challenging experience for the youngest girl student in the school.

“We had a blackboard where, if you had to go to the bathroom, you’d go up and sign your name that you were going out. Then you’d go out. Of course, I was scared to death (to do this) when I was little. In 1st grade I was 5 years old. I know one time I didn’t make it. (Karen laughed ruefully) We’d go out after lunch and a lot of times the boys in the wintertime would harass you and throw snowballs, so you couldn’t get out of the toilets until it was time to come back in for school.” (Karen laughed)

Karen explained that her education also involved Sunday School at Wesley Methodist Church in Marshall.

“I had Mrs. Muriel Caldwell, Miss Norwood, as my Sunday School teacher. My parents always told me that she was ‘My Norwood.’ That would have been in the early years. My dad quit and then we didn’t go to church, but I was confirmed in the Methodist Church. Mother decided to go back to her roots, Evangelical United Bretheren. That was that little church that used to be by 7th Street on Main Street. Then they built new on High Street. I started back there. It’s Agape now.”

During Karen’s early years the family lived on and farmed a rented farm. That arrangement came to an end.

“My dad rented all those years from when they were married to when they had to move off when the Herring son wanted to move back on. He got out of the service. It was Roy and Jeanette Herring. They moved on the Herring farm and George bought the farm on Highway 19.”

This led to a different home, a different school, and more responsibilities for Karen at their new farm.

©2026 William D. Palmer.