By Eva Hallam Solberg
Published in the PCN on
“My first year’s wages would have been enough to pay for this hospital
room for only five days. And that with no extras!” Sarah Oscarson, hospitalized
in Malta for a heart condition in 1982, lay back and reminisced about the early
days.
“It’s a wonder that I ever went to high school, let alone graduate from
teacher’s training and teach for over 20 years,” she said. “I received a total
of less than $5,000 for eight years of teaching.”
Because the family lived 29 miles from the city of Thief River Falls,
Minnesota, and couldn’t afford to pay for room and board, she and her sister
washed dishes, scrubbed floors and served as built-in babysitters in exchange
for the opportunity to have a place to eat and sleep while attending school.
Sarah milked four cows twice a day, did housework and cared for four
preschool children for $1.50 a week, the summer before she attended high
school. During her freshman year, her
parents spent $35 on her schooling. It went for pencils, books, shoes and
material for her Christmas dress.
Her eighth grade teacher treated her to her first—and last—football
game. “It cost a quarter. Since I’ve never gone to another one, I guess you
know how much it meant to me,” she smiled.
She recalls that a week later the school’s best football paler, who had
played in slush and mud at the game, died of pneumonia.