HARRIET SCHROEDER

My Progression from Shyness to Family Genealogist and Reunion Planner

Harriet Schroeder

I was a very shy child, so how did I grow up to be a teacher, family genealogist, and reunion planner? As a small child, I cried when left in the church nursery. On the first days of elementary school, I was the child who was too bashful to make eye contact with the other children. I sat across the kindergarten table, hiding behind a book, from another little girl from my neighborhood who later became my best friend. I was the responsible child later selected to walk each day from the elementary school wing of the building to the high school to pick up the elementary school mail, but I got lost the first day of my new duty and was afraid to ask any of the high school students for directions. Fortunately, a high school girl rescued me and led me kindly to the high school office. This older girl asked me for my name. In my bashfulness, I could not speak loudly enough to be heard correctly so that every day after that when I encountered the same high schooler, I was greeted with a friendly, "Hi there, Carrie!", and I was too shy to say, "My name is not Carrie but Harriet!"

Soon I grew to love school and make many friends with my classmates, but I was still for quite some time reluctant to contribute to class discussions at Eastern Elementary. By the time I had begun to leave my timidity behind, our family decided to move from northeast Washington, DC, to West Hyattsville, Maryland, where I had to go through meeting all new classmates and teachers. I was mortified when at registration the stern Principal demanded to know the name of the reading book I had completed at Eastern, and I could not remember the name of the book, making me fear I would be placed in the lowest rather than the highest reading book section. After two years at Ager Road making new friends again and doing well academically, it was time for me to undergo the many changes of acclimatizing to Hyattsville Junior High School.

At Hyattsville I attempted to sign up for a new club, the Future Teachers of America. Miss Florence Spicknall, the guidance counselor, called me into her office and told me I was too quiet and shy to ever be a good teacher, but I remembered a special talk with my teacher for both second and fourth grades at Eastern Elementary, Mrs. Angela Lipscomb, when our family was about to leave northeast Washington, DC, for our new home in West Hyattsville, Maryland. Mrs. Lipscomb encouraged me to continue to do well in my new school and as I grew older to consider studying to become a teacher. With such confidence expressed in my ability, I was convinced I could be a good teacher in spite of Miss Spicknall's being unable to see my potential. As it turned out, I did that year become a member of the F.T.A. based upon my current teachers' recommendations.

I was class valedictorian of my 1959 graduating class at Northwestern High School. By that time, I had gained confidence, determination, and the ability to interact frequently in class discussions, especially challenged and encouraged by both my tenth grade English teacher, Mr. Moran, and my 12^th grade English and Speech teacher, Mrs. Dawson. I was convinced of my desire to teach high school English and enrolled at the nearby University of Maryland with an English major and Social Studies and Secondary Education minors, graduating with honors. I was able through my summer employment at the Navy Department in DC to pay for my college education with the assistance from my parents of a used car necessary for commuting.

In my college senior year, I did my student teaching at Northwood Senior High in adjacent Montgomery County under the supervision of Mr. Forst who had previously taught at my alma mater, Northwestern, in Prince George's County. The truth was that as he was always available if there were any problems, I rarely saw him except briefly each morning before school because he was a good friend of Mr. Moran, Mrs. Dawson, and my high school algebra teacher, Mr. McNelis, all of whom assured Mr. Forst that I was responsible and knew what I was doing. By this time my confidence in being a good teacher was unshakable in spite of the negative prediction of Miss Florence Spicknall. My stubbornness and tenacity were paying off.

Desiring the opportunity to spend a year living on campus and grow another year older than my future high school students, after graduation from Maryland I applied and was accepted as a graduate student at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Doing well in my graduate studies, I applied for a teaching position for the following autumn to the school systems of both Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland. I received contract offers from both counties, but I immediately rejected the one from Montgomery County because it did not specify the specific school I would be assigned to. My parents had already suggested that I return home to live until my finances were more stable with the one caveat that I take over payment of my five year younger brother Tom's allowance as he was still an unemployed college student. Some of the high schools in Montgomery County to which I could have been assigned were a substantial drive from home.

Having conditionally been accepted by the Prince George's County school system, I was informed that I should make an appointment with the Personnel Director over the Christmas holiday break when I would be home in Maryland. The Personnel Director's name was Miss Florence Spicknall! With slight trepidation I arranged a meeting over dinner at a local Hyattsville restaurant all the while wondering if Miss Spicknall had any memory of me since we had had very little contact other than the unfortunate F.T.A. evaluation. However, I really had no strong apprehension about the meeting since I felt my records now spoke for themselves, and I was by now no longer very shy and was confident in my abilities to teach even on the high school level. Interestingly, the interview never took place because of a severe snow storm. All Miss Spicknall had to say when she called to cancel was, "We really don't need to meet because I already know you from your records and affirmations from your former teachers here in Prince George's County"!

I had been assigned to teach at High Point Senior High, along with Northwestern one of the two best high schools in Prince George's County. At the end of the second semester at UNC-CH, I came home for a few days and then returned for a summer session and the final comprehensive exam. During that period, I received a letter from Dr. Alan Chotiner, principal of High Point, requesting that I come to the school for an interview with him. Explaining that I could not leave Chapel Hill until mid-August, he agreed that he would finalize my contract, waive the interview, and approve my employment without it. I wondered how many other new teachers in Prince George's County ever were hired without having even one interview!

Fully expecting to be assigned to teach 11^th grade English because most of my graduate English courses were in American Literature – the area covered in the 11^th grade—I was very surprised at the August meeting with Dr. Chotiner that he had arranged for me to teach four sections of 12^th grade English, the emphasis in that grade being British Literature. Additionally, he assigned me one course in Honors Advanced Expository Writing, a class for which there was no syllabus, no text book, and no former teacher of the class still on the staff! It was my responsibility to design the class and find a suitable text book! This was a small class of around fifteen outstanding students as compared to the normal class size of around thirty to thirty-five students. The irony of the situation was that I had never actually taken a composition course myself in that I had been opted out of that basic course in the English program at Maryland because of my high placement scores. The other surprise I experienced at High Point was being assigned a student teacher during my own second year of teaching before the normal rule of assigning student teachers only to tenured (third year and above) teachers. That young lady was the best student teacher I ever had.

Thus, I, the shy, quiet, and reserved young child through my stubbornness, tenacity, and ambition to be a good teacher overcame the initial rejection of an unperceptive junior high guidance teacher.

Around 1970 I decided that having acquired advanced research skills through my education and teaching, I was once again attracted to the idea of genealogy and trying to learn the origins and stories of several of my families such as the Lippards, Rumples, and Morrisons. As in Gary's case, I found myself feeling more like a Lippard than the others although I loved all of my grandparents dearly. Perhaps having Lippard cousins Gary and Margaret with whom I had important shared interests led me in that direction. But I wasn't willing to give up my continued interest in teaching. In 1988 when the Philadelphia cousins contacted me to inquire if I would do a Lippard family history presentation in conjunction with Seth and Gary (if he was interested) at a national Lippard Reunion they were planning, I was excited about the opportunity and very much enjoyed being part of the presentation. Soon it was 2000, and Lippard cousins were requesting another Lippard reunion but this time in North Carolina where so many of our family have and still do live. I had never really aspired to be a family reunion planner, but with the help of Gary, Margaret, Buddy Lippard, and Lynda Cock, I felt my life had evolved again, now into a field embracing researching, genealogy, writing, teaching, and arranging programs and accommodations.

After working with these and other Lippard cousins in the very successful, educational, and enjoyable multiple day reunions in 2001, 2006, 2014, and the one day reunion in 2019, my only regret is that hosting reunions has not left me enough time just to socialize and get to know all the wonderful cousins who have joined us for these events.