04/27/2026
It's when something unexpected brings back memories and a surprise or two as well. That is what happened to me just recently.
My wife Linda just lost her favorite aunt. Aunt Sheryll died from cancer. She was an Iowa native and had grown up in a large family, always living in small Midwest farm towns and attending small local schools. They were dirt poor relying on hunting, gardens and raising critters to feed themselves. the girls wore feed sacks for dresses.
The service was held in the small town of Steamboat Rock, population about 300 in north central Iowa. A small cemetery that would be shaded in the summer with many trees and the grounds were green with lush grass. This service was held with bare trees, brown grass and a cold wind blowing as spring and summer are still just hinted at. Fortunately it was short.
A get-together was to be at the local school in the gym. Several of the memorial crowd attended school there and were able to tell some of the history of the school. The school no longer is operating as a school but is available for gatherings. Like many small town schools they have shut the doors and consolidated with surrounding towns.
In many ways this school reminded me of our school in Cascade Locks. Maybe you will also see some similarities.
Enter the gym through a set of double doors with glass panes. There are also some glass panes to each side of the entrance doors. Once inside you have a choice of going left or right to enter the gym proper. One side was for visitors and one side was for the home folks. Entering the gym proper you are immediately struck by the big open area with exposed roof beams. No ceiling. The gym has a hardwood floor shining with who knows how many coats of lacquer and floor polish. Listen closely and you can hear tennis shoes squeaking as kids are playing basketball or maybe a PE class. These old wooden floors always seemed to have some spring to them and made for jumping higher if you were playing basketball. Only two baskets, one on each end. They had glass backboards only rounded on top unlike the square ones in Cascade Locks. Behind the basket on the entrance side of the gym hung a gray wrestling mat so you wouldn't run into a concrete wall. These mats weren't all that thick so it still was an impact if you collided. On the sides are wooden benches. Steamboat had 5 rows, Cascade Locks 3. Up in the corner is a big square electronic scoreboard. I was just waiting for the horn to sound indicating either the start of an activity or the end. At the far end of the gym was a stage about 3 feet higher than the gym floor and a big heavy curtain that fronted the stage area.
This stage had swinging panels in front that when opened a metal rack on wheels could be pulled out that stored both folding metal chairs and folding tables. Did cascade locks have something under the stage? I don't know and if it did where was the access.
How many other activities occurred in these community gyms? Graduations with pomp and circumstance playing, proms and sock hops, school plays, band concerts, pep rally's, all the different athletic events, etc. What else have I missed? The atmosphere was always a drone of voices and the heat of a few hundred people packed together. No air conditioning so in summer and early fall it was always stuffy and hot.
Off the end of the gym was a small set of stairs that led down to the lunchroom. Across the narrow aisle from the lunchroom were two doors. One was the entrance to the kitchen and one the exit. In for your tray of food and then out the other and to the tables for lunch. Grab your tray and walk in line while getting bread and butter sandwiches on white bread, a bowl of chili, a small bowl of fruit and then some milk out of the dispenser. The cooks always busy preparing more food and making sure the serving table was stocked. Out to the tables for lunch and visiting with your schoolmates. Finish up and take your tray back to the window so everything can be cleaned and washed for the next day. When I was an underclassman there was always some junior or senior that had you for their servant to dispose of their lunch tray. Boy does this seem like I have been here before.
Also on this level was a small room that I was told was the teachers lounge. The folks who I was accompanying informed me that when the door to the teachers lounge opened you needed to hold your breath as a large cloud of blue cigarette smoke came rolling out. Where have I experienced that before?
The hallway in this area also held framed photos of all the graduating classes. These frames could hold all the photos of the graduating class as the classes probably never numbered more than 20. The first was from 1900 but was from a previous school that had burned down. The last was from 1986. That class was 7 girls and 1 boy. After that the school closed and the kids were consolidated with kids from other local areas.
It was interesting to note that all the graduating photos were studio settings. Boys in suit and tie and girls in a dress with hair done nicely. No photos of kids casually dressed sitting on the back of a pickup or in front of some big downtown venue. Finding my own graduating year it was as if these kids could have been my classmates or my photo could have been added and would have blended in just right.
After some time, downstairs talking with these former students who were giving the guided tour and also reliving some of their memories we headed back up into the gym for some food and visiting. Always the punch and coffee, standard salads, a few hot trays, and some deserts to choose from.
This is when I got the biggest surprise of the gathering. How I didn't see this when I walked in, I will never know. On the wall of the gym on the home side was painted blue and gold, and a rendering of their mascot nickname. Maybe you have now guessed it, a PIRATE!! Yes this is the home of the Steamboat Rock Pirates. What an experience!
Written by
Ric Carlson (CLHS Class of 1963)
