The Class of 1942 at the Oneonta State Teachers College was a unique group compared to all others who had passed through its academic halls since 1889.
This graduating class consisted of 90 people, 84 of whom were women.
One of the male graduates was named George D. Pataki of Peekskill.
As it turns out, he was a relative of New York's former governor from the same town. One woman graduate was from Otego and had perfect attendance in her four years of study to become a teacher.
Also unique to the class was that it was the first to earn degrees from the State Teachers College, having been renamed recently from the Oneonta Normal School. Although the name change wasn't official until the next year, the school began the transition during the academic year.
Graduation was held on Sunday, June 7.
Women far outnumbered the men in this class because the men had enlisted or were already fighting overseas in World War II.
"This is a great day for you and a great day for me," said Dr. Ernest E. Cole, president of what was then called the University of the State of New York, and Commissioner of Education. "For four years you have been working and struggling for this day. For 16 years I have been working and struggling for this day … I confer on you the degree of bachelor of education, with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto."
The graduation speaker was the Rev. Dr. Frank Halliday Ferris, pastor of the Fairmount Presbyterian Church, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Ferris spoke of education as, "What you have left when you have lost everything that can be taken away."
"In the first place," Ferris said, "education includes the ability to adjust oneself to any situation in a helpful way. The finest of all fine arts is the art of getting along with people."
After the exercises, the teachers remained in the lower hall to greet the parents of the graduates.
Eight Oneonta women were shown in Monday's Oneonta Star as receiving their degrees, including: Ellen Edmunds, Charla Felter, Anna Frederick, Betty Friery, Helen Hallenbeck, Barbara Higgs, Alba (Cope) Hubbell and Margaret George. An Otego woman, Frances V. Dieball, was among four graduates given credit for perfect attendance at classes since their freshman year.
Dr. Charles Hunt also presided over the graduation ceremony, his last as principal of the Oneonta State Normal School. His title became president, and the school became officially known as Oneonta State Teachers College just days after graduation, July 1, 1942.
To mark that official change, the college held a celebration at the first assembly of students for the summer session at 10:45 a.m. that day in Alumni Hall. That was the auditorium of Old Main, which once stood at the top of Maple Street, where the Maple Arms Apartments are today.
The Hon. Chester A. Miller, a 1903 graduate of the Oneonta Normal School, told faculty and students that the continuity and success of the school could be largely credited to the long service of its faculty members.
Miller recalled that three retired teachers, Miss Florence Matteson, Dr. Charles A. Schumacher and Arthur M. Curtis, had taught more than 40 years each, and that the late Dr. Percy I. Bugbee, principal, had served the school for almost as long.
Faculty, students and friends gathered again that afternoon at the college's social hall, to make sewing kits for the men who were set to leave Oneonta on July 7 for Army service. A social hour with refreshments followed at 4:30 p.m.
On Monday: A kidnapping and subsequent killing rocked Greene in June 1977.
City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or email him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www. oneontahistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/marksimonson.
Mark Simonson
First education degrees given at Oneonta State Teachers College in 1942
- Mark Simonson
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General Clinton Canoe Regatta got a new home in 1972
Ever since 1963, when Charles Hinkley and a group of Tri-Town businessmen came up with the idea for what we know today as the General Clinton Canoe Regatta, people lined the shores of the Susquehanna to watch the canoeists as they made their 70-mile trek from Cooperstown to Bainbridge.
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Sunday movies in Oneonta finally shown in 1934
You know an issue is divisive when a vote to resolve it is quite close. In Oneonta during the early 1930s there were probably plenty of discussions or arguments at the family dinner table or sermons from the pulpits on Sunday mornings, regarding whether or should be able to see a movie in Oneonta on Sunday.
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Politics, fitness and landmarks dominated local news in May 1968
Area residents mulled over the idea of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller as their next President of the United States. New fitness opportunities emerged for all ages. One area landmark was saved while another was razed. It was only a part of our life and times in May 1968.
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Local people sought income in many ways in 1933
In the economy that was the Great Depression, there were times people would do what it took to try to earn some money.
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Local windstorm in 1983 caused tense moments
I realize I've got the wrong month in mind when I say "May came in like a lion." However, that's what happened in 1983 as a number of twisters moved through our region, leaving plenty of damage behind in their trails. Add some melting snow and heavy rain, and scenes of cleanups were widespread 30 years ago this month.
- Saturday, May 4, 2013
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Disaster, expansions put people to work in May 1913
- Monday, April 29, 2013
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Job opportunities abounded in area 45 years ago
If you were looking for a job in April 1968 in our area, or perhaps looking to change your employment situation in the near future, opportunities were pointing in your favor.
- Saturday, April 27, 2013
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Oneonta greeted an aviation giant in 1928
An early aviation superstar came to Oneonta in 1928.
- Monday, April 22, 2013
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Area saw its own armed standoffs 30 years ago
This past Friday, we watched how the Boston area went into a lockdown during a tense search for the last suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. Had I still been living and working in that area, as I was in the early 1990s, I would have had a day off from work Friday, as police scoured the city of Waltham.
- Saturday, April 20, 2013
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U.S.S. Maine explosion, war drew much local sentiment
For most people in our area in early 1898, a growing conflict between two distant nations probably didn't get much attention, other than some glances at the newspaper. When a young Oneonta man was one of many injured or killed in an explosion of a battleship he was aboard, the local attention increased markedly to what was soon to become the Spanish-American War.
- Monday, April 15, 2013
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Oneonta river walking path came from a surveyor's daydream
Leon Kalmus of Oneonta spent a lot of time surveying land near the Susquehanna River in the early 1970s around the time Interstate 88 was being planned and built in this area. What he saw along the shores of the river, he called “pristine,� and soon had an idea for some kind of walking or hiking pathway along the shores of the river in the town of Oneonta.
- Saturday, April 13, 2013
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Decline of Prohibition led to return of beer in April 1933
“I think this would be a good time for a beer,� remarked President Franklin D. Roosevelt, when he signed the Cullen-Harrison Act on March 22, 1933. This marked the beginning of the end for Prohibition that year.
- Monday, April 8, 2013
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Dietz Street shifted from residential to commercial through the years
By taking a walk along Dietz Street today, heading north to Walnut Street, one can see a lot of businesses and the recently refurbished parking lot on the east side of the street. It would take some imagination to see this street lined with houses and a church, but prior to the late 1940s, that’s what was there.
- Saturday, April 6, 2013
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Oneontans voted for a 'dry' city in 1918
- Monday, April 1, 2013
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Future city historian kept family busy for Easter and April 1958
- Saturday, March 30, 2013
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Colliscroft became new Oneonta landmark in 1902
If the Oneonta building trade sector of the economy could have awarded a plaque to a most valuable individual customer of 1902, it would have nearly been a shoo-in. That was Edward H. Pardee, who was listed in the Oneonta Directory around that time as a farmer, on Southside.
- Wednesday, March 27, 2013
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Historic Cooperstown cottage got a new address in 1988
To unknowing tourists seeking information from the tourism information center at 31 Chestnut St. in Cooperstown, they would probably believe that the mid-19th century cottage had always been on that site. It blends in well with some of the grand old houses along that street, and the same tourists might think it has an interesting history behind it.
- Saturday, March 23, 2013
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Free mail delivery began in Oneonta 125 years ago
- Monday, March 18, 2013
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Oneonta enacted first building code 60 years ago
There will be no parade, fireworks display or commemorative coins minted for the occasion.
- Saturday, March 16, 2013
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Area isolated during historic March 1888 snowstorm
Earlier in the week, we recalled the "Blizzard of 1993," which was one containing historic snowfall that fell on our region on Saturday, March 13. It was the largest recorded in a single local snowfall in the 20th century, and ever since another storm dating back 105 years. The latter snowfall was worse than the 1993 storm, falling overnight into Tuesday, March 13, 1888. It was commonly referred to as the "Blizzard of 1888."
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