Looking Back: Another Hometown Girl

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society

​     Last week I told you about Delma Webb, a Grain Valley resident that was (at least for one year) the Superintendent at Grain Valley in 1921. Goldie Russell is another hometown girl who grew up, went to college, and returned home to teacher here for many years.
     I knew her as Goldie Montgomery. In the 1950s she and her husband, Dow Montgomery, owned a large apple and peach orchard on 7 Highway, south of Blue Springs. But I mostly knew her because when my mother talked about her school years, she always talked about Miss Russell.
     Goldie Mae Russell was born on May 21, 1901 to Ida and Andrew “Bud” Russell. Ida was a Shippy, the only daughter with seven brothers. According to several U. S. Census reports, both Ida and Bud grew up in Tarsney, Missouri and lived there after their marriage in 1897. When Goldie was only 5 years old her father died. She and her mother must have remained in the area as I found a photograph of Goldie’s class at Oak Hill School, circa 1912.
     She attended high school in Grain Valley. Over the next few years she attended classes at the Normal School in Warrensburg, eventually completing three years. Many of her photographs were given to the Grain Valley Historical Society. From them, I learned she taught at Oak Hill and Round Prairie rural schools before teaching in the elementary grades at Grain Valley. At that time she and her mother moved into town and had a house on Walnut Street. Sometime during the late 1920s she married Dow J. Montgomery, also a Grain Valley graduate.
     My mother thought Miss Russell was a good teacher, but the girls remembered her best for her beautiful dresses and shoes! And mom talked about the dinners and tea parties she would have at her house. She would frequently take a group of four or five girls home with her and she and her mother would treat them to tea or a fancy dinner with a beautiful table setting. My mother said they (the young girls) were always on their best behavior. This was before Home Economics was a subject in school, so she was ahead of her time, teaching the girls etiquette and the art of conversation!

Left to right: Creigh Ashcroft, Ona Stephenson, Ruby Patterson, Mabel Gregg
Seated: Mabel Shippy, Goldie Russell
Photo credit: Grain Valley Historical Society

1938-39 Faculty & Staff, Grain Valley School
Back row: Tom Johnson, custodian; Noel Wilkerson, Principal & Coach; Mr. Paul Farley, Superintendent
Middle row: Eva Burhans, Lela Guthrey, Mrs. Scott
Front row: Goldie Montgomery, unknown, Mary McQuerry
Photo credit: Grain Valley Historical Society

Note the beautiful shoes!  

Visit the Grain Valley Historical Society to see more photographs that tell the history of Grain Valley! We are opened on Wednesday from 10 AM to 3 PM, or by appointment.
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