Betty Polley (Leathers)

I was born July 25, 1925, in Oblong, Illinois.

 

Betty and Mary Lou, Oblong, Illinois (1920's)

 

 

I lived there until college where I attended Eastern Illinois State Teacher's College (now Eastern Illinois University) in Charleston, Illinois.  I graduated in 1946.  I received my teaching degree and also taught at the Eastern school afterwards for one year.  A program was in place where we would do our student teaching at the school (a high school was attached to the college).  After my student teaching, I had my first teaching position in Sparta, Illinois (southeast of St. Louis).

Sparta Township High School, Sparta, Illinois

 

After Sparta, I had to move to Hartsburg, Illinois.  The school season was fast-approaching, and I didn’t have a job yet, so I had to take a teaching position in Hartsburg.  I didn’t like the town at all!  I went from a town with plumbing to a place where I had to use an outdoor toilet.  The house also had no running water, and we had to use wells and pumps!  I lived with George Rademaker while in Hartsburg.  His wife ran a restaurant in town.  We also ate no food on the weekends, so I didn't like that, either.



Hartsburg-Emden High School, Hartsburg, Illinois

 

Miss Betty Leathers

 

While in Hartsburg, I met a young gentleman named Bob.  Our first date was January 31, 1948.  He would later ask me to marry him!  We were engaged in August of 1948, and we married in June of 1949.



Betty and Bob, date unknown

After Hartsburg, I taught at Unity East in Sidney, Illinois.  I then taught at Atlanta High School for four years.  After Atlanta, I taught at Lincoln Elementary for 18 years.  Seventeen of those were at Old Central and then one at Jefferson.  After Jefferson, I was able to go back to Old Central where I retired in 1986, one year after Bob retired in 1985.

I can remember celebrating Mother's Day at church every year, and the members just couldn't believe that I was not a typical housewife.  It was very rare to not be a housewife, and I was one of just two that decided to work out of the home.  I was one of the first women to work outside home!

 

Central Elementary School, Lincoln, Illinois

 

Jefferson Elementary School, Lincoln, Illinois