History of Iberia Academy Continued....

 

 

One year, while Mrs. Smith was living, his friends gave him $1,000.00 to take a trip to Europe. Traveling second and perhaps third class, and with unusual thrift which taught him how to use funds, the Smith’s made the trip on $500.00 and then went back the second year. We hope that your award might be bestowed on President Smith. His character, and love for his neighbors make him an ideal man for the award.”…after which they gave him the coveted Letter Teaching Award. Earlier in 1918, Knox College had recognized Professor Smith for his outstanding contribution to education and they presented him an honorary doctorate in Science.

The school was converted to an agricultural “Conservation College” in the late 1940’s, but it was a big failure. This plan to change Iberia Academy was deeply opposed by Professor Smith, but a new Board of Directors was chosen and they proceeded on with plans to make the school a “new kind” of college. They emphasized conservation and it was taught in the curriculum and they stated that the time was coming when there would be a great need for such knowledge and practices. It was a good idea, but it did not work in those years. Today, we know only too well how important conservation is needed in our country. Preservation of our natural resources has become a major need in our society. There was a wonderful, full page story printed in the St. Louis Post Dispatch dated September 21, 1948 concerning the Old Iberia Academy Conservation College. A former student of the school gave me her copy of this newspaper article and I learned much as I read this old story.

The last Commencement at the old Academy was held on June 1, 1951. It was the only one in the history of the school that Professor Smith had not attended and only death prevented his presence at this graduation service. On June 15, 1950, eight days after his 85th birthday and almost 18 years to the day after the death of Mrs. Smith, death claimed him at his home in Princeton. Thus ended a life of Christian unselfishness and dedication to the needs of the children of our Iberia community. We owe so much to Professor and Mrs. Smith and their memory should ever be in our hearts.

As I bring this history to an end, I want to print something I found in an old magazine article printed by a journalist named Bruce Barton for a national magazine called “American Magazine.” Mr. Barton captioned his story with these words…“You never heard of him….the earth does not tremble where he steps, but he is the ‘real thing.’” He continued on in his interview with Professor Smith and these wonderful words were written of him….“We walked across the campus, Smith and I, one Sunday morning, and I noticed that he stooped a little as he walked.” “You’ve been buried here 25 years,” I said. He nodded. “Some of the fellows who were graduated from Knox when you did are rich and famous,” I continued. “Some are bankers, lawyers, some editors, politicians…and nobody ever heard of you. You’re poorer than when you came, and you might have been a college president if you had stayed in the world outside.” We were standing by this time under the goal posts on the athletic field. “Do you think that the game has been worth the candle?”

“Did you ever see a backwoods town with so few unpainted houses as Iberia?” asked Smith. “Did you ever see so many vines trained over porches, or so many flower gardens, or so many people who looked as though they really enjoy the business of living? I wish that you could drive out into the hills for a hundred miles or so in either direction. There are two thousand rude mountain homes around here…as the Bible says…there was no vision, and so the people perished. We’ve taken a boy or girl out of each of those homes. I wish you could have seen them…before and after.”

It was a long speech for Smith! As we picked our way back through the wild flowers, he pointed suddenly at two men, one young, one old, standing together. “That’s the valedictorian of our graduating class, and the fine featured old gentle man with him is his father, one of the most respected farmers in this part of the state.” I noticed he was smiling as though greatly amused and his smile, by the way, is wonderfully rich and tender. “You remember the story I told you about our first night in Iberia, the night when someone broke up the service by throwing a rock through the window of the church? Well, the respected old gentleman whom you see before you is the man who threw the rock!”

As we were jolting back across the twelve miles that separate Iberia from Crocker, there sounded over the hills the shrill whistle of a locomotive. It seemed a sort of challenge to the members of Iberia’s little graduating class with whom I shared the rude stage coach, and I like the way their shoulders set back and stiffened at the sound. Any school in the country might have been proud of them as they stood on the platform, clean limbered, fresh faced, with the light of a sturdy idealism in their eyes. There was only a moment farewell, while Smith pressed the hand of each one of them again and spoke his last “God bless you.” Then with one more, almost defiant shriek, the engine started. It was taking away another graduating class to spread the spirit of Smith and Mrs. Smith of Iberia beyond the hills.

When I read that beautiful passage, written by an American journalist over sixty four years ago (1917), I knew that Professor Smith’s story had to be told. It is my desire that all you former students of Iberia Academy, who read this small history, will once again recapture your days of youth in unforgettable memory. How I envy each and every one of you because I did not have the privilege of walking in those old halls; attending the many interesting classes offered; experiencing Academy life; nor knowing the very capable teachers who taught you from the classics. It would have been a joy to have seen this small rough mountain village converted into a peaceful little college town. What a miracle!

The structures are still standing today…the Administration building is empty, just begging to be recognized once again. If her walls could speak, I am sure they would say…“As you pass by, please don’t ignore me. Did I not teach your children the values of their heritage? I took your untaught, unlearned Ozark children and produced teachers, bankers, lawyers, state senators, professors, aviators, Supreme Court advisors, and even a Special Investigator for one of our country’s Presidents. These students have left an indelible mark on our country and in our community.”

Iberia Academy will always be a part of the history of this land. Her story has been told in the days past in various newspaper articles, national magazines, in fact, the school was given mention in the National Geographic Magazine in 1943….Schultz’s “History of Miller County” gives her recognition and William Freeman Jones wrote two wonderful booklets before his death devoting many pages of both to this grand old school.

There is no way on earth I can completely thank everyone who have so graciously assisted me in my research of Iberia Academy. So many former students have given me their time and have talked at length with me and it was only through their eyes that I was able to write this history. Everyone was so cooperative and so willing to share their old pictures, pamphlets, bulletins, articles, school diaries, but most importantly their precious memories of those years when Iberia Academy was a thriving, bustling little school which sat upon one of those thousand hills. Thank you, one and all, without your help this would have only been an impossible dream.

Iberia Academy Postscript
By Earl Brown

The New Iberian newspaper has been privileged in its latter issues to print in serial form Peggy Smith Warman Hake’s copyrighted story of a history of the Iberia Academy and Junior College. The newspaper concluded the final installment of that researched article just recently. This reporter, since he was active on the campus of this outstanding school from 1926 to 1930, and later from 1942 to 1944 was on the college faculty where he taught German and Religion, is often asked questions such as: When did the Academy begin? When did the school finally close its doors? When did Mrs. Smith die? And, when did Professor Smith pass away and where? Of course, the answers to these questions have been excellently answered in Ms. Hake’s historical contribution.

During the time Ms. Hake’s articles were being run in this paper this reporter received a letter containing two pictures which it was thought might be of further interest to our readers. The author of the letter and photographer of the pictures was Richard (Dick) Eckhoff who presently resides with his wife, Doris, in Dover, Illinois. Richard (Dick) Eckhoff is well remembered by many Iberia people as having lived in Iberia when a youngster and his father was minister of the Iberia Congregational Church and was an instructor in the Junior College. Dick’s residence at Dover puts him in the midst of the G. Byron Smith country. Professor Smith was born at Princeton, an hour’s drive from Dover; attended Knox College at Galesburg, not too far distant; and finally after his leaving Iberia died at the ancestral home in Princeton and lies buried in the Princeton Cemetery. Dick’s letter is herewith being reproduced with his permission. Besides being informative about the Smiths’ burial place, the letter touches upon other items that will be of interest to many New Iberian readers scattered over a wide area.

When word reached Iberia in 1950 that Professor Smith was found dead in his sleep in Princeton and that his funeral would be held in the Congregational Church of that city, Clay Perkins, Clifford Clark, and Frank Dickerson and maybe another Iberian or two drove to Princeton for the services. When they arrived, the funeral and interment had just ended, unfortunately.

According to the pictures the date on the stones indicates Mrs. Mabel White Smith was a year older than her husband but died some 18 years before he died. She died at age 68; he passed away at age 85.

Post Script
By Peggy Hake

On October 13, 1990, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Iberia Academy was held with many former students and teachers in attendance. More memories were made that day and it helped me to record more information for the future. I was so happy to be in attendance that day even though I had never attended the school. There was an overflow crowd of more than 250 people who were there for the Academy’s centennial year. The oldest graduate attending was Mattie Ferguson Mace, who was over 100 years old, and other early graduates included Elmer Karr, 99, and Edna Williams Irwin, 96. The former students came from near and far and represented many states across America.

The following is a quote from that interview in April of 2007:

“After High school Jack attended the Iberia Junior College under the leadership of Professor George Byron Smith. Jack said he worked his way through the two years of junior college milking and caring for two cows owned by the school as well as cutting wood. Over those entire two years, his only fee owed to the school was ten dollars. He mentioned he was in school there the same time as David Bear, an uncle of mine, as well as Don Pemberton, a cousin of my wife. Jack also remembered Dean (Umstead) Dowling who recently moved back to Eldon after a long career of teaching in some of the western states. Dean, who now is ninety seven year of age, is another distant cousin of mine. Jack and I agreed that the Iberia Academy had been a very important influence on the lives of Miller County residents during its existence in the last part of the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century. The reason for this success more than any other was because school director, Professor George Byron Smith, with the help of his wife Mabel, was so adept at directing the school. Many Miller County residents went on to other higher institutions of learning well prepared because of the efforts of Professor Smith. Jack remembered one anecdote about Professor Smith which indicated a mischievous aspect to his personality: Jack recounted that a couple of boys had been sneaking out the school horse and buggy for a ride once in a while. One night, the professor, forewarned, suspected they were about to repeat their trick so he hid in the back of the buggy under some blankets and once under way scared the daylights out of the boys as he rose up covered head to toe by the blankets to yell some unearthly epithet which quickly caused a sudden exit from the carriage by the boys as well as scared the horses such that the professor had to turn his attention to controlling them. But the boys never knew what it was that came up from nowhere behind them because they had hightailed it back to the dormitory without ever looking back.”

Parnell (“Gus”) Kallenbach M.D. is another Miller Countian who benefited by his education at Iberia Academy.

Dr. Kallenbach, born in 1913, is a graduate of Tuscumbia High School who went to Junior College at the Academy followed by two years at the University of Missouri Medical School when it had a two year program and finally earning his M.D. from Washington University Medical School in St. Louis. Most of his practice career occurred in Mexico, Missouri where he delivered more than 3,500 babies. He is now retired. In his autobiography, “It Can Be done: The Life and Times of Dr. Glen Parnell (Gus) Kallenbach,” a copy of which we have in the museum library, he describes his experience at the Iberia Academy:

I went to Iberia Junior College and met Mr. G. Byron Smith, President of the college and the man who had started the school when he was 22 or 23 years old. He attended Knox College in Illinois, and the day after he graduated, he got married. He and his bride decided to go across country to find a place to start a school. They landed in Iberia, Missouri and started this private school. They were interested in seeing that kids who otherwise would not get an education would have a chance to get one. When I went to school, he was in his eighties, he was a very wiry, active man…he practically ran across the campus instead of walking but was still a very mellow type of person. He never seemed to cause consternation of any kind. He stayed there until the school closed. He never had anybody to take his place in the school; therefore it closed shortly after he retired.

At our first meeting Professor Smith asked me if I knew how to split wood. I said, “Yes, I do.” Then he said, “We can’t get anybody here to split wood fast enough to keep the stoves going in the girls’ dormitory, so I would like you to split some wood.”

I went at it tooth and tong and by afternoon had a big pile. I split the rest of the wood by sundown. Later, during an assembly, Professor Smith told the student body, “Abe Lincoln, the wood splitter is enrolled in the school here!”

They didn’t have a men’s dormitory at the school, so I had to find a place to stay. I found a room in a house just off campus, and it was just what I needed. I had a bed, a table and as I recall a pitcher with some water for the washbasin. I don’t believe I had a desk or anything else. It cost $3.50 per month for the room. I don’t remember what the tuition at the school was, but I paid $90.00 per year for meals, which we ate at the girl’s dormitory. That came to about ten cents per meal or thirty cents a day. It was permissible, if you could do it, to bring hams or canned goods from home and apply that to your tuition. I never did that…I just paid the $90.00. The meals were quite adequate. They weren’t anything to write home about, but they were good. On weekends, we usually had crackers and peanut butter and that was all.

I enjoyed one of the “seven sins” of Iberia Junior College, I had money and nobody else had any. After I taught school for three years, I had saved approximately $600-$700 dollars. A lot of kids knew that I had taught school before coming there and had some money, and when they needed a little handout; they would borrow money from me. They always paid it back. I had no problems that way. My money was in the Tuscumbia Bank!

I had some wonderful teachers at Iberia Junior College. My Science, Math and Chemistry teacher was one of the finest teachers I ever had and that would include my experience in Medical School at the University of Missouri, and Washington University. Her name was Mrs. Crawford. She was a large woman, quite a bit overweight. She had a big raspberry colored birthmark on one side of her face. It included half of her nose and all of the left side of her face, as if she had been painted with raspberry juice or something, but she was an excellent teacher. She was always in the laboratory and if I needed any help, with a problem, I could always go to her. Being a real eager beaver when I started out, I was really beginning to do well, so much so that people thought I was a genius. It didn’t take this teacher many weeks until she decided I wasn’t a genius. She put me where I belonged. I was just a hard worker. She was very good about helping me with everything. I once had a Chemistry problem that took an hour to work…truly it took an hour to go through this problem and get it right. I was able to do that. When I went to the University of Missouri, I had another Chemistry course, and at the end of the course, the teacher gave us exactly that same problem. I worked the problem, because I knew what I was doing and I was happy with what I had done before at Iberia. After the papers were graded, the Professor said, “Everybody in this class, except two people failed this problem….what’s going on here?”

Naturally, I felt very proud and had Mrs. Crawford to thank for it.

Another good teacher was Mrs. Anderson, who taught English. I don’t have anything to say, except that I think she gave us the basics in English and did a very good job at teaching. I never had the personal contact with her that I did with Mrs. Crawford; however that was because my main concern was getting my courses in Science out of the way.

I don’t recall any testing on vocabulary except the meeting I had with the people who decided I was a fit subject for Medical School. I had a German professor, whose name was Gerard Schultz. He was a very fine teacher and a very astute person. He didn’t stay at Iberia very long, because the University of Missouri picked him up. He taught German, and I took it primarily to make a grade, never thinking I would be talking to the people of Germany as I was during and after World War II. From the time I entered college, I zeroed in on the required courses that I would need to get into Medical School. At Iberia I told them what I was going to do, and they directed me to the courses I needed. I took general Chemistry, Physics, Trigonometry, Analytical Geometry and German as I stated.

I had courses in English, but I don’t remember ever having a History course. I also had a Bible course. The Congregational Church supported the school. There are not very many of them anymore, but there were quite a few of them during those days in the eastern part of the United States. During the early days they backed colleges when the States were just getting into the field of higher education.

I didn’t have a real close relationship with President Smith because he was in and out, and never taught a class that I attended; however, he did teach Latin and Greek. He didn’t have enough money to pay his teachers so he would leave the college to see benefactors about money. He would always go to William H. Danforth first and tell him that he couldn’t pay his teachers until he got some more money. William H. Danforth always told him, “You go out and get half of it somewhere else and come back and I will give you the other half.”

The President would come back with half the money and the teachers would be paid. The school had been in existence 20 or 30 years, maybe 40 years before I went there.

Two men in the faculty that had a significant influence on my future, I probably owe them more credit that I am even aware of. They were Schultz and Anderson.

I admired Gerard Schultz, the German teacher immensely. The Dean of students, Mr. Anderson was also very good to me, and helped me get through the financial problems as well as the others.

There was very little social life at Iberia. We didn’t have any parties. I was in a play one time and I worked at that pretty hard, but as far as parties, there were only a few. Gerard Schultz would have his German class down to his house where we had parties a time or two. Otherwise, there was no social life in Iberia.

At the end of the first year of Junior College, the Danforth Foundation gave me a new scholarship to go to the American Youth Foundation Camp in Shelby, Michigan, called Camp Minnewanka. I went up there as a camper for two weeks all expenses paid. The next year I returned as assistant chef and had the opportunity to work with Earl Brown, who besides being a minister, was the chief chef there too. After becoming a doctor I returned to the camp many times to be camp physician.

I left Iberia Junior Academy in 1935 after which I went to the University of Missouri in Columbia to finish my pre med studies before going to the University of Washington Medical School to earn my Medical Degree (at that time M.U. had only a two year preparatory school; one had to go to another institution for the last two years). I was well prepared for that next stage of seeking a Medical Degree.

So this ends the story about the Iberia Academy which for well over half a century was a bright and shining star of education providing many Miller County young people a head start on life and career. And to think that it would never have occurred were it not for chance and fate that Professor G. Byron Smith happened to take a certain train on a certain day long ago and just happened to talk to a “drummer” who told him about that place called “Iberia, Mizoury!”

Before finishing this week’s narrative I thought I might follow up on what has happened to the campus of the Iberia Academy since no school has been held there since 1951. The property has been bought and sold a couple or more times and I understand it is again for sale. Several of the buildings are still standing but are in disrepair. The situation of the deterioration of these once fine old buildings had been a cause of much discomfort and sorrow among many who remember the Academy when it was once a thriving educational institution under the guidance of the Smiths’. Many have hoped that someone or some business enterprise would purchase the campus and restore it. Although at times one or more of the buildings have been used for commercial enterprises none has succeeded for long. I asked Peggy Hake, author of the above history of the Academy to comment about some of the structures still present:

Joe,

The girls dormitory is sitting behind the Smith's home and is a huge 2-story building. (I believe it may have 3 floors) and is in a terrible condition---about ready to fall down and is soooo rotten! I remember when it was a fine looking old building where the girl students lived. The state highway department wants to demolish the old Smith home because of its dangerous condition, but don't know if they will do it or not. I am told the highway dept. claims part of the property is sitting on the highway right-of-way and is not legal!

It is still standing today and in a horrible condition! There was another 6-room house on campus used by the girl students and it was called “The Girls Cottage”.....I don't know if I have seen a picture of it or not. I suspect it was a house that Professor and Mrs Smith may have lived in temporarily but I am not sure of that possibility!

It has been used as a school gym and a factory. The owners once set up a flea market inside the building but it has deteriorated so badly, too.

There is an old log cabin which sat on the grounds for many years and was used as a weaving cabin, laundry house, and perhaps other uses as well. It was built and lived in by Bythia Schell and her family who were an African American family. All that remains of the old log house today is the rock chimney which is attached to another house built on the same site.

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UPDATE: As of 2022 the only building that remains standing is the Academic Building. The rest of the campus buildings were torn down to make room for the Dollar General Store that was built in 2015. (KWS)