Old Missoula

Problems Facing P-TA Council Stay About Same

The Central Council of the Parent-Teacher Association was organized in September 1928 when there were nine P-TA units working in Missoula. A council organization meeting in December 1927 resulted in the first regular meeting of the council in September of 1928.

The first chairman was W. P. Hillman. Other officers were Mrs. John Forkenbrock, vice chairman; C. D. Haynes, secretary-treasurer; Mrs. F. C. Gormley, J. H. Peterson, Mrs. R. R. Wilbur and Superintendent of Schools Ira B. Gee, members of the executive board.

No Specific Project

Mrs. R. H. Jesse promoted the organization of P-TA units into a central council after attending a national P-TA convention in Chicago in her capacity as state P-TA president. According to Mrs. Jesse, no specific project was intended when the council was formed.

Many of the early meetings sponsored educational speakers on school problems. Representatives from the parochial schools were included in the early councils. P-TA problems at that time, according to Mrs. Jesse, consisted of dealing with wide spaces with wide scattered populations and very little money.

Problems Similar

Minutes of council meetings were not kept until 1946, but a brief glance produces a similarity of education problems throughout the years. These include crowded classrooms and subsequent bond drives, pre-school roundups, concern for decent reading material and movies for adolescents, qualifications of persons running for office, current legislation, city recreation for children and health programs.

Inflation caught up with the P-TA Council as well as with just about everything. The first council had no dues. During the ‘40s dues were $2 per unit and a proposed budget for 1949-50 totaled $55. It was shortly after this that P-TA units were assessed five cents per member and later 10 cents per member.

Mrs. Dallas J. Reed was active through all phases of P-TA work, including serving as state president. Several projects stand out in her memory, especially the bundles for Britain project which the P-TA undertook.

Clothing was collected and much of it had to be taken home by the women to be laundered. Missoula laundries cooperated in the project and Supt. Fee allowed the women to use the sewing room in order to pack the clothing. More than 40 boxes, each the size of an office desk, held the clothing.

One day Mrs. J. E. Miller was unable to find her fur coat in the small and crowded quarters. After turning the room upside down, the women decided to unpack the two cartons filled that morning. Sure enough, there was the fur coat – on its way to Britain.

Not So Humorous

Another not so humorous event was the burning of the high school building which had been occupied only briefly. The new building was the result of a concentrated P-TA drive.

Mrs. Reed recalls being thanked by a young Marine for books which the P-TA Council had sent during the war. The council had sponsored a victory book drive through which 8,000 books were collected. The books were sent to Salt Lake City to be forwarded overseas.

Some of these had reached the Marine’s outfit at Guadalcanal and the men were so thankful to get some reading material that they had promised whichever of them came closest to Missoula would stop. The Marine said the books were green with mold, but the boys scraped them off and even tore the books apart to enable everyone to have a portion.