dchs1955.org - Martha Millen Froseth

     Carl Hays called me recently about a project that he is planning for our DCHS 60th year Class Reunion. He was asking several folks to write a brief summary of aspects of the educational experience that we all received at Dallas Center High School. This is the title he suggested for me.

      Our music education consisted of Band and Vocal Music. The Band met in a separate wooden building, not the brick H. S. I'm not sure how the instruments were taught in the elementary grades (I arrived as a seventh grader), but we had a good ensemble with fairly even instrumentation. The two band directors during our years were Raymond Rutt, followed by Marvin Kraus. Both men were fine musicians and teachers, Dallas Center was lucky to have them.

      I came to town as a violinist, but really wanted to be in the Band. Mr. Rutt assigned me to the percussion section, of which Carl Hays was the leader. I played the timpani and any keyboard parts when called for. A few times, I played snare drum in the marching band, watching what Carl was doing and faking the rudiments. We met VERY early in the morning before regular classes began. In the fall, we were a marching band and learned shows for the football half times. My senior year, Mr. Kraus asked me to be the Drum Major (Wanda Killinger had graduated).

      After each football season, we became a concert band and learned classical band repertoire. The ensemble included Jr. and Sr. High students. My brother John was four years behind me in school and played trumpet. Our parents had their work cut out for them to get us up, dressed, fed and off to Band practice.

      Vocal Music was taught by Joyce Dougherty, a Drake U. grad and powerhouse teacher who attracted many students to the Mixed Chorus, the two Glee Clubs, and various small vocal ensembles. She ran a tight ship and we learned to sing in tune with good musicianship. She married a local farmer and became an active citizen in the community.

      I don't remember that any Art classes were offered. I ransacked my boxes of memorabilia before starting this assignment to find my year books for research. No luck. I would have enjoyed an art class or two.

      As to theatrical productions, Beulah Fredericks was our amazing teacher of English. Besides grammar, writing skills, and literature, she produced our plays and helped us with memorized readings that some of us took to a district contest (I chose "Mary, Queen of Scots").

      When we put on plays, a portable stage, complete with lighting and curtains that pulled, was set up at one end of the gym. If we weren't on stage as actors, we learned how to make sets including props and learned to run the lights and sound system. I was lucky to win the part of Elizabeth in "Pride and Prejudice" -- SO many lines to learn. On the strength of that experience, I had the guts to stage a musical with the Jr. High students during my first year of teaching in Harvey, Illinois -- complete with a pit orchestra made up of local adults who played instruments well enough to read and play the parts!

      The class of 1955 was fortunate to have a Board of Education that believed in the Arts and sought out highly qualified teachers at good salaries that were competitive with Des Moines and beyond. We "Mustangs" reaped the benefits, having great choices in the standard classes, but also a fine arts education. As one of my past Superintendent of Schools remarked at a meeting, "We in education aren't responsible for only teaching our students how to make a living, but also how to live".