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I hose little school houses." Alder ;aid. "It was a regular school as ~ood as tovm's, 111e citv was verv proud, and it is still good," . • IN 1925. PRINCIPAL Vernon Worthen had his office under the school's bell tower and Stan Schmutz. 80. a retired music teacher. started first grade. Students stood with classmates in lines outside and marched in with teachers, In sixth grade, Schmutz learned the clarinet. which he still plays. and played marches in a small band as the classes came inside, "You just didn't come strolling in like sheep." SchmulZ said. Then Enterprise School Principal N,R Frei convinced SchmulZ to earn a teaching cerUncate, Frei later moved to Woodward and hired SchmulZ, For an annual salary of 8935, Schmutz resumed teachin,g in 1942 after serving in World War 11. It was 811.000 at his retire' ment, -At the time, that was pretty good pay: he said, "It was one of the better paying jobs in St. George." Schmutz taught in the north· wesU.:orner room_of tbe, __ ! _ " . Woodward building's llrst floor, He eventuallv moved across 100 West to the Annex building which was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, Nowadays, Jim Brickey teaches music there, In his first year, Schmutz had 60 kids and 30 chairs, Students sat in the open windows, Clark Laub was perched th ere, "I turned around, and he was gone, " Schmutz said , Schmutz alwavs kept a tennis ball or chalk piece handy, "If a kid in the back was not paying attention, it was a good way to get his anention," Schmutz said, "That wasn't proper teaching. I guess, It was effecUve," In Schmutz's dav, about 400 students walked from home to school. In recent years, the three buildings have held more than 1,000 students on a year- round schedule, . "We didn't have kids late for class like kids are now: Schmutz said, Grades were lowered, and a few teachers locked their doors forcing kids to spend the class in Fret's office, Once when Arthur Paxman, science teacher, asked for an explanaUon, John Wade blamed' the rain, Schmutz said, "It's raining outside and it is so s lick for everv step vou take. vou slide two back," Wade said, .. "Then how did you get to classT Paxman asked, "Well, I came in backwards." Wade said. • WOODWARD.J::.RU"U:D a need for the high school. which became Dixie College, Alder said . Before 1901. cOUIlty residents were educated to the fourth grade, he said . "When thal thing opened. some of the people who came to school were adults." he said • FROM 1948-52, each morning Karl Brooks. 62. a ttended Woodward, a trumpet played reveille a s the L.S. ILlg was raised, Student police ~officers wrote tickets for nmning inside, litterinQ or walbnL( on the wronQ side of Ihe sta irs, Teachers ied field trips to Pine Va lley Mountain. "Not manv 01 us had been exposed to sno\\'," said Brooks. who was his 10th -grade class president. Brooks remem bers hidinQ his lunch sandwich because he \\'as embaITassed to have homemade bread, But someone told Brooks he was Iud,.. ' his mom made it. Brooks had -two pairs of pants: one for school and the other for work and play, "Nobody had very much." Brooks said. "Mom look pride in how good her patches were." • PRINCIPAL NEWELL R. Frei was a tough. fcii r -minded. no-nonsense man lO\l ncl of intercom annal! ncC' ments. '1'he \'ili ue of books was such ,ill im portant part of N,H. Frei"s school life," Brooks said. Although Brooks said he never knew amone hit by Frei. Brooks respected the power of corporeal punishment. ~l was corl'Yinced if I ever bad to go to tl1s amce fd tlf!Ver come out alive," Brooks said : • IN ALAN BOYACK 'S DAY, boys snuck one-at-a-time from Paxman's first noor classroom to Judd's Store. The tall bushes hid the truants, said the 57·year-old SL George attorney who graduated from 10th grade in 1956. Boys in class would shield each other from "Old Man" Paxman's view. he said, To return. they came through the door as if coming from the restroom, Bovack said he drank "a man's drink," Pepsi Cola, It was 7 cents if you left the bottle. he said. "We were the mighty seniors." he said of his 10th-grade year. "We had been there since the seventh grade." • IN 1969-71. MARIE Smith. 42. Woodward's head custodian, was the second generation in her fam· ilv to attended Woodward, She followed her mother who attended first grade in 1934. and her three children followed her. Smith said h er respect for the past and the building comes from her ancestors who settled Dixie and built the school. 'Tve always been taught to respect buildings," Smith said. 'That's the sad thing about kids today. they don't respect it." • IN THE EARLY 19805, Woodward was the overllow for West Elementary School. said Don Powell. Powell was Woodward's prinCipal from 1985-97 and became Coral Cliffs Sixth-Grade Center prinCipal this falL Woodward became a sixth-grade center in 1985, Swamp coolers were installed and the plumbing upgraded that year. he said. A year later. school board members made Judd's Store part of the Woodward campus. Modem parents had questioned the appropt1ateness of kids visiting a candy store, Powell said, Those who wanted to preserve traditional trips to Judd's swayed the board. For Utah·s Centennial statehood celebration. Powell pulled the Woodward bell 100 times Jan. 4, 1996. We'd go up and ring that thing on the first day of schoot or on special events: he said. An abundance of pigeon poop has kept the bell silent this year, Part of the classroom ceiling must be pulled down to ring It. and the messes left by roosting birds falls from the open ceiling Wes, current Prtncipal Barbara Garrett said. Other noises abound. "It Is squeaky. but It's got-character," Garrett $lid. ,M6dd14~.~1 ~.i......t~~un in the bathroom when he attendee three years ago, Students walking on old hardwood Hoors add to regular class changing soUnds. Creaks from beneath the varnished wood surface caught Woodward student Brooke OWens' l.l-year-old imagination. "When you walk on the floor, It'~ weird: she said. "It's squeaky. aI1l I'm afraid I Will fall through." Owens said she also was afraid of falling down the staircases in the Woodward and Annex buildings. which are twice as wide as modem stairwells. Teachers tell students tales of broken limbs to prevent running, said Angela Rogers, a 12-year-old Woodward student. Woodward was the best year, said Liz Brown, 14, She attended Woodward two years ago. It's nice to have a school made just for your grade, Brown said. "I like not always being in the same building," Brown said. "It makes you feel important. like you're in college or something." Jim Brickey, 49, is not as old a: the Annex building where he teaches. But he said he wouldn't mind having the wisdom from experiencing the 96 years the Woodward building has seen. In honor of Schmutz. Brickey uses a tennis ball to teach. But rather than thrmving it, he tells his clarinet players they need lips as ftrm as a tennis ball. not soft a a marshmallow.