The Broomcorn Express, Quarterly Publication of the Broomfield Historical Society
Vol. 4, No. 4, Oct–Dec 2024
By Edward Smith
Used with permission of the author and edited for length by Roberta Depp, Broomfield Historical Society.
Note: Mr. Smith’s elementary school memories were published in the Broomcorn Express, Vol. 2, Issue 3, Fall 2022. This piece continues his recollections during his junior high and high school years in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
I began seventh grade in the new school on Elmhurst Place between Garnet Street and Emerald Street. It was called Emerald Street Elementary School, as it was designed eventually to be an elementary school. At this point, it housed seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. The students in the ninth grade were to be the first graduating class of Broomfield High School in 1962. It was nice to be in a “real school.” It even had a gymnasium where we had gym classes, student assemblies, and programs. The out of bounds part of the basketball court was about three feet from the wall of the gym. One time, when I was chasing a loose ball, I could not stop myself and accidentally kicked the wall with my foot. I broke my big toe. It sure did hurt for a long time, and I didn’t play basketball for the rest of the season. At one assembly, there was a person who came in and did a demonstration with liquid oxygen. I was impressed when he froze a hot dog and then shattered it with a hammer. The school has since been torn down and replaced with new facilities.
Mr. Bealer was the science teacher. That’s where I got my introduction to the scientific method. We also learned about the scientific classification of plants and animals. Many of my classmates could not have been less interested in plant classification, but I thought it was fascinating. During science class, there was an educational movie called “Hemo the Magnificent,” which we got to watch every year for several years. It was about the circulatory system and had pictures of blood flowing through veins. It was pretty cool but got boring after seeing it so many times.
Mrs. Clark was the math teacher. She made math fun and was my favorite teacher. There are two things I remember about her class. With a gleam in her eye, she would say that if we didn’t behave, she would take the offending student over her red checkered apron and give him/her a good swat. It was a good-humored joke, and we all knew it. The other thing was that at the end of each class she would pass out a sheet of math problems to each student and then give us a minute to do all the problems. Each sheet would either be simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division problems. If I remember right, there were one hundred problems on a sheet. It may sound like a lot of problems to solve in a minute, but by doing it every day, we became proficient and quick with the answers. The exercise turned into a race to see who would be the first one to finish with the most correct answers. We exchanged papers and graded them to find out who was best that particular day. It was a good way to get us to memorize addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division tables to twelve.
There was a detached building which was used as a shop class on the lower level and a music room on the upper level. It was on a hillside, so the lower level was a walkout basement. The shop teacher was Mr. Ralston. All I remember about that class was learning to draft and then using some hand tools. We had to draw the plans for a sanding block from the top, side, and end and then take a block of wood and manufacture what we drew with hand tools. The sanding block was a rectangular block with beveled edges on four edges of one face. Sounds easy, but using a hand plane to make the bevels was hard. Mr. Ralston was insistent that the bevels be at forty-five degrees and would come by and check with his square on our progress.
Eighth through twelfth grade was at the new Broomfield High School at 1 Eagle Way, which opened in the fall of 1959. Sometime during either fifth or sixth grade, we got to pick the school colors and mascot for the [planned] Broomfield High School. The winning colors were blue and white and with an eagle [mascot]. It seems to me that was a little early to be choosing colors and a mascot for a non-existent high school. The classrooms have been demolished and replaced, but I think the original gym is still being used. It was a flat-roofed, single-story building typical of the type of school being built in the late fifties and early sixties. It was rectangular in shape with classrooms around the perimeter and the lockers, restrooms, library, counselor’s office shop, home economics room and a teachers’ lounge in the middle, with a hallway between the classrooms and the interior facilities. The administrative office was right by the front entrance, along with a small lounge area used as a lunchroom for the students who brought lunches. The gym was a detached building southeast of the school.
At some point after eighth grade, the school district went on split sessions due to the influx of new students being more than what the school could handle. After the school split sessions, the lounge was not used as a lunch area. The morning high school classes were over at noon, and junior high classes were taught in the afternoon, eliminating the need for a lunch area.
The high school needed to become accredited, so everyone in the school went through the process. I guess it was quite stressful for the staff, as they were on edge throughout the whole process. The process didn’t affect me other than the teachers stressed that students had to be on our good behavior in and out of class. The classes were observed, and accreditation was received.
In order to graduate, students had to take several years of science, English, math, social studies, and physical education. One could pick from the following classes, which I extracted from my school’s annual book, to meet the requirements: biology, algebra, trigonometry, physics, chemistry, social studies, American history, Western history, American problems, English, Spanish, French, Latin, shop, drafting, music, band, art, speech & drama, typing, home economics, business, office practice, reading, and journalism. My favorite subjects were anything science- or math-related, such as biology, chemistry, algebra, and physics. I didn’t take trigonometry as a lot of the students who had taken the class said it was very hard. I took it in college and found it an easy class.
I also took driver’s education class. I’m not sure of its affiliation with the school as it is not listed as a subject in my 1964 school annual. My dad had told me not to harass him about getting a license when I was sixteen and that he would decide when I was ready to get one. When driver’s education class was available in the spring of 1963, I was sixteen and one-half years old. He let me take it. I was probably the last one in my class to get a driver’s license, as most kids got one as soon as they were eligible. Classroom instruction was about learning the rules of the road in order to get a driver’s license, but what I remember most is having to watch black-and-white movies of car wrecks with the police, ambulances, injured people, and blood—lots of blood. I’m sure the intent was to scare us into driving responsibly. I know it got my attention. Of course, we had to learn to drive in addition to classroom studies. I had been driving pickups and plowing with tractors in my uncle’s dryland wheat fields around Broomfield and pretty much knew how to drive. The car used in the class was a clutch-operated standard three-speed transmission. When it was my turn to drive, the instructor asked me if I had ever driven a car. I told him no, which was the truth, as I had only driven tractors and pickups. He knew immediately when I started out without stalling the car and shifting gears with ease that I had driven something. After that, he asked the other students who hadn’t driven yet if they had driven anything. Well, he didn’t kick me out of the class for being a smart ass [and I] passed the class and immediately got my license.
There was one time that we were given a test taught by Mr. Keefer or Mr. Schott, who taught history and geography. We were told to read the directions at the top of the first page of the test. The directions at the top of the page said to read the multiple-choice test completely before answering any questions. I started to read the questions and realized I would not have time to go back and answer all the questions during the class period. I looked around the room and saw many students answering questions. I was tempted to do the same but ended up following the directions. The last question was something like this: “If you haven’t answered any questions on the test, bring it up to the front desk to receive your perfect score.” There were not many students that got a perfect score. I was one.
The Rocky Flats facility was nearby. It was a secret at the time what was done there, but we had safety drills on occasion in case there was a nuclear attack on the plant, Denver, or Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs. All a drill involved was taking cover on the floor. If Rocky Flats was the target and was hit, I doubt anything we did would have been enough to save us.
Times have changed over the years, and one example I have is that when the high school was on split sessions, one of my friends would bring his shotgun to school and store it in his locker so he could go hunting right after school. The Principal, Mr. Lewis, was usually outside the administration office greeting students and would say to my friend, “Going hunting after school today?” There was no concern about anyone’s safety or something bad happening. Can you see that happening in today’s world?
I was in gym class November 22, 1963, when I found out that President Kennedy had been assassinated. Our gym teacher, Mr. Harper, called us together, had us sit on the floor of the gym, and told us what had happened. It was a pretty somber group after that. We were on split sessions and gym class was the last class of the day. After class I went home and spent the rest of the day watching events unfold on the television. There was no school on Monday, so I watched the funeral. I think the most moving part was when John Jr. saluted his father’s casket. It was his third birthday.
One spring day in May 1963, an outhouse mysteriously appeared on the roof of the entryway of the high school. I don’t know who the perpetrators were, and it disappeared by the next day. My guess is that the Senior class had something to do with it.
For a new high school, we had fairly good sports teams. When I was a senior, the football team went to state and lost in the first round with a score of 2 to 0. The basketball team won the Broomfield Invitational Tournament. The wrestling team placed seventh in state out of fifty-five schools, with two wrestlers finishing third place in their weight divisions. The baseball team won the single A state championship in 1963 by beating Palisade 7-3 and lost to Fruita in the semi-finals in 1964. In track, one of the weight men set a record for the shot put, which I learned at our classes of the ‘60s reunion in 2001, hadn’t yet been broken.
I wanted to play football and wrestle, but my dad said no. In those days, I did what my dad said. He was concerned I might get hurt. I can understand his thoughts about football, since I doubt I weighed one-hundred pounds until my junior year. It made no sense to me that I couldn’t wrestle since I would be wrestling someone my size. We had to wrestle in gym class and there was a wrestler on the wrestling team that wrestled 103 pounds. I had to wrestle him in gym class, and he could not beat me. I was tall and skinny and had leverage that he could not overcome. I think we tied, or I beat him because he was really angry when we were through wrestling.
Baseball was my sport. I played summer ball with the local Lions Club sponsoring Old Timers’ Baseball. When it came to playing ball in school, I felt like I didn’t belong with the other jocks and didn’t try out at first. Eventually I tried out as a junior and made the team. I didn’t play in every game but did get on the field on occasion. I played left field. At one point during my senior year, I hadn’t hit a home run like the center fielder and right fielder had done. Well, when we would go to the outfield and loosen up by throwing a ball around between innings, they would give me a hard time about warming up with them since I had not hit a home run. There were no outfield fences at most of the fields we played on, and they both had home runs due to the fact that they hit the ball between the outfielders and the ball rolled forever. By the time the outfielder chased the ball down and threw it to the infield, they had their home runs. I did finally get a home run and one upped them when we were playing Evergreen. There was a fence around the outfield in Evergreen, and I hit the ball over the centerfield fence. I thought that more than made up for any home run they hit. They didn’t give me a hard time after that.
I didn’t play as much as I would have liked as a senior since my dad found a job for me on weekends, and he required that I work on Saturdays. Some games were scheduled for Saturdays, and I wasn’t able to attend. My coaches thought that baseball was more important than working, as did I, but it made no difference to my dad. As a result, I didn’t play as much in games scheduled during the week as a punishment. Coaches wanted players who were 100% committed. As I look back on it now, I only had a few Saturdays of baseball left in my life and a whole lifetime of work. I doubt that argument would have held much weight with my father. He grew up during the Depression and felt that a person should take any job offered. One never knew when another opportunity would present itself. As it turned out, the job he found for me paid my way through college. I returned to work the same job every summer until I graduated from college.
We went to Grand Junction in 1963 for the state championship baseball game. We did not use buses going to Grand Junction for the game. The coaches and a few teachers drove their cars. The car I was in had one of the players who was originally from back East. He called shotgun, which meant he got to ride in the front passenger seat. Interstate 70 hadn’t been built yet, so we had to go over Loveland Pass, which was his first time in the mountains, let alone going over a pass. He did fine until we got on the pass. He was certain we were going to go off the road and be killed. I thought he was going to get in the driver’s seat. I’m sure he didn’t call for the shotgun position on the way home.
The Junior Senior prom in 1964 was held May 2nd at the Capri Motel on 104th and I-25. I wanted to go, but that would involve inviting a girl. I was shy and it took all I had to ask a gal out. Well, I asked Roberta Pitts and to my surprise, she said yes. We had a good time. The theme was “Can-can,” and the menu included baron of beef, potato au gratin, red bean vinaigrette, macaroni salad, and iced relishes.
There were eighty-one graduates in my class on the graduation program in 1964. Our sponsors were Mr. and Mrs. Defler, Mr. Keefer, and Miss Martin. Senior class officers were President Dave Buckley, Vice President Brent Sutherland, Treasurer Bob Woodard, and Sergeant at Arms Mike Speedie. Class colors were Royal Blue and Silver. Class flower was light blue carnation, and the class motto was “Before we followed; now we lead.” For Denver Bronco fans, Mike Speedie was the son of one of the coaches for the Denver Broncos at that time.
When we graduated, Roberta’s parents to us to Taylor’s Supper Club on Colfax. I think they were concerned that we might go out drinking otherwise. I had no desire to do such a thing. We dated until the end of summer when I went off to college.
My mother died of cancer in January of 1963. My father remarried the following fall and purchased a home close to his work in Denver. Directly after I graduated, we moved to Denver, and I have had little contact with anyone in Broomfield since then.
Did I receive a good education? I believe the school did good considering it was a new school with new teachers, which had to go through the accreditation procedures and had no traditions to tie the students to the school. In the end it was good enough for me to be able to go on to college and graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Wood Science in 1969.
