Sutter-Yuba County Biographies

SUTTER UNION HIGH SCHOOL

Transcribed by: Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


 
            Prominent among the institutions of learning in Sutter County is the 
Sutter Union High School, which was organized in 1893, erected its building in 
1913, and now has an approximate enrollment of 140 pupils.  Too much praise 
cannot be given to the board of trustees of this institution; namely E. S. 
Wadsworth, F. W. Graves, Louis Tarke, G. C. Galbraith, and C. E. Reische, 
several of whom have served on school boards for upwards of a quarter of a 
century.  It is largely through their untiring and intelligent efforts, that the 
Sutter Union High School ranks among the very best in California.
            Three courses of study are offered:  A two- or three-year business 
college course, which prepares for office work; a high school course, which fits 
the student for work on the farm or in the trades; and an academic course, which 
enables one to enter the university.  Either of the four-year courses may be 
varied, but students anticipating going to college are kept closely to the 
prescribed studies.  A branch high school is located at East Nicolaus, which 
offers the regular academic course.  Students living at a distance of five or 
more miles from the school are refunded transportation money amounting to one 
cent for every mile traveled in going to and from high school, or are entitled 
to free transportation by busses specially provided for this purpose.  During 
the school season, community programs, including moving pictures, are given on 
Thursday evenings in the Sutter Union High School and on Friday evenings in the 
branch high school.  The program also consists of community singing and lectures 
on general topics of interest, such as history, literature, science, geography, 
biography, art, music, etc.  Two publications serve to keep up a live interest 
in the affairs of the institution, namely:  The Sutter Union, a bright 
four-page, four-column weekly, and the annual Gold and White, now in its 
nineteenth volume.
            Another matter of unusual interest is the fact that the Sutter Union 
High School excels in athletics, having won over Sacramento, Stockton, 
Marysville, Oroville and every other high school in Northern California, in 
track events. This fact speaks volumes for the moral and physical standing of 
this community, and for its healthful climate, factors which combine to give 
unusual strength and virility to its youth.
            Mention must be made of the worthy principal of this institution of 
learning, Gardiner Whittier Spring. Born at Burbank, on August 29, 1892, he is a 
son of Louis and Bertha (Fisher) Spring. His father was a native of Illinois and 
one of the frontiersmen of Nebraska, going there with his parents when he was a 
child.  He was also a minister of the Methodist Church; and when he came to 
California, in the early eighties, he had charge of a Methodist Episcopal Church 
in Los Angeles, Cal., in which city he still resides.  Gardiner Whittier Spring 
attended the schools of the Golden State, and in 1915 was graduated from the 
University of California.  While in the university, he majored in English 
literature, with minors in chemistry and education; and in 1916, when he came to 
Sutter City, he was appointed as a teacher in the Sutter Union High School, of 
which he later became principal.
            On December 27, 1916, Gardiner Whittier Spring was united in 
marriage with Miss Gertrude Miller, a native of Ohio.  Mr. and Mrs. Spring are 
the parents of one daughter, Elizabeth.  Mr. Spring is a strong advocate of the 
Republican party.  Fraternally he is a Mason.
 
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p  921-922