Colorado State College of Education - Fall, 1949

I graduated in June of 1948 [from Pueblo Junior College] with an Associate of Education Degree, and we decided to stop [attending] school and teach a year before trying to go to the Colorado State College of Education at Greeley.

When the summer was over [1949], I entered Colorado State College of Education in Greeley as a junior to continue my education for the fall quarter. I had planned to coach, and Pres. Knudsen of the Pueblo Junior College had assured me of a coaching position at the college if I would get my degree. But after a year’s experience in the elementary school and some experience helping Coach Simmons that year, I knew that I wanted to work with the elementary age group of kids.

Lou with boys in Greeley - early 1950
Eddy (Lou, Jr.) and Jim
twins (Don and Tom) in stroller

We moved into Married Student Housing which was a two bedroom Quonset hut down in the old sports complex between the football field and the baseball field. It was called Jackson Field and was ideal for our kids to play on the grass. The Quonset hut had been divided to make two apartments, one at each end. The front half of ours was with the kitchen on one side and the living room on the other side. Then there was a dividing wall down the middle of the back half with two bedrooms. The twins were just two months old when we moved to Greeley. We took one bedroom with them and Eddy and Jimmy had the other bedroom. It was really quite comfortable and was located just three blocks east of the campus.

Of course when school started, so did the football season. We took the boys and went to the first game of the season. It was with Wyoming, who was a powerhouse that year and had some really good players. Wyoming beat CSCE with a score of 103-0!

I went out for basketball, but the coach, Butch Butler, said he already had his team selected. He told me, “It looks like Coach Simmons kept you eligible, and the fact that your name is Butler will get you nowhere on this team.” He really didn’t like to take on transfers who would only be with him for two years instead of four years, so I took the hint and dropped out of the basketball program. I changed my major to Elementary Education and have never regretted it for a minute.

We had an old 1936 Plymouth in which we made many trips to Pueblo on the weekends. We would often go to get food from the folks’ storage and meat from the locker. The car had “knee-action” springs on the front, and if we maintained an even speed on the concrete highway to Pueblo, it would get into a rhythm and bounce higher and higher! I would have to apply the brakes to break the rhythm so it would stop.

I'll bet they wished their Plymouth looked like this:

photo courtesy of flickr

but it probably looked more like this!

photo courtesy of flickr

Tom Stanton enrolled at the same time, but he did not bring his wife and baby with him. He lived in the dormitory which was just across the street and up a block closer to the campus. Tom and I had played ball together at the Junior College, and we were close friends. He didn’t like to eat at the dormitory as they had to wear a coat and tie for the evening meal, so he would stay around at our house until we ate, and he ate with us much of the time.

Since we were trying to live on the GI Bill and it was difficult, we finally told him that if he wanted to eat with us all of the time, he should move in with the two boys and give us the money for the dorm to help with the food. He wanted to do that, and so he spent the winter quarter living with us. He got along fine with the boys and didn’t mind having to get up with them sometimes at night. However, we went back to Pueblo for the spring quarter as I was registered to do my student teaching at Minnequa, so he had to move back into the dorm.

Grandma Toodie - Lorene Carpenter
twins - Don and Tom

Fortunately for us, Grandma “Toodie” Carpenter was still working at Crews Beggs in the children’s department, and spent a good part of her salary buying clothes for our four boys. They were the best-dressed boys around! She also bought the twin stroller for Tom and Don.

These entries make it very clear that Lou and Leona truly valued education and were willing to do whatever they needed to do in order to receive their degrees. What a great example!