Focus reader Dan Long thought it was time to do something about an old picture in his home. When he took it out of the frame there was a surprise waiting.
Long ago, someone put a cardboard backing behind the picture. When Dan turned the cardboard over, he found himself looking at the diploma of a 1912 Fostoria High School graduate.
It reads: “This Certifies That Marie Whiteman having completed the Classical Course of Study prescribed by the Board of Education is hereby declared a graduate of The Fostoria High School, a high school of the first grade and is entitled to this diploma, given at Fostoria, Ohio this Twenty-fourth day of May A.D. 1912.”
Diplomas today are not what they were 94 years ago. This one measures 20 inches wide and 16 inches high.
It has an American eagle clutching arrows and a pair of crossed flags in its talons. A floral scroll across the top reads “Fostoria High School.”
A gold-colored seal is affixed at the bottom. It has a globe on it and reads: “Class of 1912.”
Two small ribbons, one gold and the other either black or navy blue, are attached to the seal. These were probably the class colors.
It’s appropriate that this diploma, so long hidden, should belong to Marie Whiteman because for four decades she helped many, many Fostoria school students earn diplomas of their own.
Marie was born March 13, 1894, in Garrett, Ind. The following year, she came to Fostoria with her parents, Martin and Lena. She lived here most of the rest of her life.
Immediately after graduation, Marie began teaching elementary school here as a “cadet teacher,” a substitute, and was paid $1 a day. Then she taught regularly at Field and Whittier Schools.
After four years, Marie went to Montgomery, Ala., in 1917 to supervise the music program there. However, she longed to return home and in 1922 she was back at Field.
After three years at Field, Marie became principal at Bryant in 1925, a position she held for the next 32 years. She continued her own education along the way. Years of summer classes culminated in her graduation from Bowling Green State University in 1934.
Marie’s diploma carries four signatures — R.W. Solomon, Ida McDermott, George Hoege and Judd D. Asire.
Ida McDermott was FHS principal from 1895 to 1928. As teacher and principal, Ida was part of the Fostoria Schools from 1890 to 1934.
A Toledo Times article from Nov. 30, 1930, pointed out that by that time she was teaching the grandchildren of pupils she taught in the 1890s.
George Hoege, clerk of the Fostoria Board of Education, was a longtime physician in Fostoria, practicing here for 45 years. He was born in 1847. He died at 83 in Sarasota, Fla.
He was devoted to Fostoria’s schools, serving on the board of education for 25 years.
R.W. (Rollan) Solomon was born near Fostoria, in Kansas Station, in 1873. He attended Ohio Northern University.
He was superintendent of schools in West Mansfield and Cuyahoga Falls before tackling the same job here in 1908. He left Fostoria in 1915 to become superintendent in Middletown and remained in that post for 26 years.
Judd Asire was the president of the board of education. Born in 1881, he was only 31 years old, the youngest member of the board, when he was named board president.
He operated Asire Undertaking Co. The Asire family had been in the mortuary business in Fostoria since the 1860s.
Asire was one of the organizers of the Fostoria YMCA and also started Fostoria’s first Boy Scout troop. Asire died prematurely at 34 in October 1915 of ptomaine poisoning.
Now, Marie had a sister, Oneita, and they were peas in a pod. Neither ever married. Both were born on March 13.
And, like Marie, Oneita was a teacher in Fostoria. In fact, between the pair of them, they taught here a total of 77 years. What’s more they both retired at the end of the 1956-57 school year.
Upon retirement, Marie’s teaching career spanned 44 years, 40 of them in Fostoria.
Marie attended the Methodist Church and was a member of the Westminster Circle of King’s Daughters and a charter member of the Methodist Woman’s Society of Christian Service.
She belonged to the Fostoria Woman’s Club and Delta Kappa Gamma, an honorary sorority of women teachers.
When the Whitemans retired, they had plans for years of gardening, needlework, reading and traveling. Sad to say, the sisters’ plans were never realized.
Marie developed heart problems in 1957, prompting her retirement. Oneita and Marie thought they could travel when Marie felt better.
They had an Ohio River trip to Pittsburgh and a Hawaiian vacation planned. But Marie never did regain her health. She died less than three years after her retirement, on Feb. 12, 1960, in Fostoria City Hospital at age 66.
On Nov. 4, 1957, the Whitemans were honored at a meeting of the Alpha Sigma chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma at Tiffin University.
They received corsages and certificates of appreciation as well as a basket of congratulatory cards from friends, fellow teachers and former students.
But the Whitemans also heard special tributes read by two teachers they’d worked with for many years. The tributes were read by Edythe and Louise Louys.
Like the Whiteman sisters, the Louys sisters never married and were longtime Fostoria teachers.
It was a fitting cap on Marie and Oneita’s careers, decades-long careers that were monuments to the love they had for their pupils and their profession and the dedication and hard work they applied to prepare those pupils to meet the world.
The Focus thanks Dan for bringing his discovery by the office. He would like to give Marie’s diploma to a member of her family if one can be located.
As of her death in 1960, Marie was outlived by two brothers, Floyd of Homewood, Ill., and William of Fostoria. She was also survived by two nieces, Rosemary Whiteman of Fostoria and Mrs. Glover Webb of Bluffton.
If you are related to Marie or know of someone who is, please contact the Focus at 419-435-6397.