By Diane (Tenney) Timothy

(As told by Boyd Tenney to Diane (Tenney) Timothy in August 2003)

My family, which consisted of my parents and their ten children, moved to Prescott in June 1925, just after I turned ten years old. We had been living on a ranch in the area of Sunset, in southern Arizona between Wilcox and Thatcher. My father bought a goat ranch on Senator Highway, just south of the Odd Fellows Cemetery. This is still my home. My parents' six youngest children attended Washington School: Opal, Nina Belle, Lyman, Eudora, Edythe, Pearl, and myself.

I attended Washington School from fifth through eighth grades, and then went across the street to the high school. For the first two years, schoolwork was challenging for me. When living in Sunset, I had attended a one-room country school and was one of only two students in the fourth grade. I found the work in the "big city" Washington School to be much more difficult. Then, in seventh grade, I had a teacher, Mrs. Stevens, who had a profound effect on my life. Even though I was struggling, she recognized in me some potential. She told me that if I would stay after school she would help me. She taught me how to study effectively. In her class, I went from being a poor student to being a top student. I was on the honor roll the remainder of my elementary and high school years. I am grateful to her. 

The subjects I liked best were math, geography, and reading. I did not feel that I was good at writing. During recess in the morning and afternoon, the boys played softball and basketball. I wasn't especially skilled at those games, although I did enjoy shooting baskets. I liked playing football more, and was on the football team in high school. Sometimes, during recess or after school, boys would get into fistfights, which always drew a crowd of students. I never got into fights. Washington School put on plays. When I was in eighth grade, I tried out for the Christmas play, the lead part which was the role of the uncle. To my surprise, I got the part. Participating in that play helped me have a positive attitude about school. My parents came to the program and I was glad they could see me perform. 

Most of the time, my brothers, sisters, and I brought our lunch from home. They usually were goat meat sandwiches and vegetables, or, if we were lucky, fruit. My mother was a schoolteacher before her marriage, but when we moved to Prescott, in addition to caring for her family, she worked as a cook at Fort Whipple. Often she was allowed to bring home extra food, and that helped in feeding our large family. Occasionally we had some of that food in our lunches. Cafeteria lunches were available, and they cost ten cents. Sometimes, if my mother had the money, she gave us ten cents for lunch. On occasion, if I were saving for something, I would keep the ten cents and not eat lunch. 

Working was an important part of my life in my Washington School years. Our family was poorer than others, because other kids didn't have to work after school. At the age of ten, I knocked on the doors of the nice houses on Mount. Vernon Street, offering my services for any jobs they might have that I could do. One lady, Mrs. Hazeltine, had me rake the leaves in her yard, and she paid me. Then she invited me into her house and gave me something to eat. She told me if I wanted to earn money that delivering newspapers was a good way, and she told me where to go to apply to get a route. I did, and at age eleven I got, not one, but two newspaper routes. My brothers, Delbert and Lyman, also had newspaper routes. In those days, there were two daily (Monday through Friday) newspapers. The Journal-Miner was the morning newspaper and the Prescott Evening Courier was the afternoon newspaper. 

My day began by 6:00 a.m. when I got up and rode my bicycle to town. I picked up my Journal-Miner newspapers, about fifty of them, from the office across from the Courthouse. My route was on the east side of town, not far from where we lived. After I delivered my newspapers, I went home, fed the cows and horses in the corral, and ate breakfast, which was oatmeal. Then I rode my bicycle, or sometimes I ran to school, which began at 9:00 a.m. After school, I picked up my Courier newspapers and delivered them. Finally, I went home, fed the animals again, ate supper, did whatever homework I had, and went to bed. 

In addition, three days a week, another boy from Washington School and I sold newspapers during our school lunch period. I raced to the Courier office on north Cortez Street. There I bought, wholesale, six or eight newspapers, as many as I thought I could sell. I stood on a street corner and asked people walking by if they wanted to buy a newspaper, which for them was a few cents more than I had paid. This was the 1920's version of the newspaper vending machines we have today. Then I ran back to school for my afternoon classes, which ended at 4:00 p.m. Sometimes on those days that I sold newspapers, I didn't have time to eat my lunch. 

While I was selling newspapers on street corners in Prescott, I witnessed two historic events. In 1927, when I was twelve years old, I saw the ground breaking of the Hassayampa Hotel. A group of businessmen decided that Prescott needed a nice hotel, and they financed it. There were about half a dozen men, each with a ceremonial shovel, turning over a little dirt. Another event that I remember well was when the Prescott State Bank closed. The president of the bank walked out and locked the door behind him. Outside was a crowd of angry people, and some of the women were crying. Banks all over the country were failing at that time, and it happened in Prescott too. 

From the time I was eleven years old I bought all of my clothes and paid for all of my personal expenses. I saved any money that was left. I wanted to have enough money to go on a mission for my church, and I did. Just after I graduated from high school, I was called to the Spanish American Mission. 

I loved to read, but during the school year didn't have time to read anything except school work. However, I read during the summer. From the time I was eleven years old until I graduated from high school, the day after the school term ended in the spring I went to my father's ranch in Skull Valley to herd goats. (I gave up my paper route for the summer.) I stayed there until the day before school began; only coming into Prescott one day during the summer...on the fourth of July. While I was herding goats, I read books I had checked out from the Carnegie Library (Prescott's old library building which still stands at the corner of Gurley and Marina Streets). Most of the time, however, I read the scriptures in preparation for my church mission. 

Fast forward to the 1950's, when my eight children were attending Washington School. The PTA had proposed something that I disagreed with. I went to a meeting and spoke up. They were nice to me and agreed with me. The next month they asked me to run for president of the PTA. I did and was elected. I went on to serve as president of the PTA at the junior high and high school. While I was the president of the high school PTA, the Republican Party was looking for someone to run for the legislature. Bruce Evans and another man talked to me and asked me to run. I said I wanted to think about it for a week. I did, and then said, "Let's go for it." In 1963, I was elected and served twenty years: one term in the House of Representatives and nine terms in the Senate. So, my political career began by serving as Washington School PTA president. Those are my most vivid memories of my Washington School years, as a student and as an adult. 

I'm grateful for the good education I received at Washington School. 

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(pb081f6i7)
Reuse only by permission.
This is a picture of a Washington School 5th Grade Class, c1920s. It represents a typical class size during Tenny's time at Washington, though he is not pictured here.