The Teacher Was Supreme - Mildred (Somero) Kuusisto
New Ipswich Historical Society
FINNS: An Oral History of Finnish-Americans in New Hampshire’s Monadnock Region
Excerpted from FINNS: An Oral History... by Patricia Kangas Ktistes, 1997, all rights reserved.
Mildred (Somero) Kuusisto
One thing puzzled me when I moved to this area. Some of the Finnish people were against education. There was sarcasm about certain people going to school: “You don’t need school.” That was the tone here in New Ipswich. But I’m sure glad that I went to school because when I had to fill out employment applications and they asked what schooling I’d had, I could put ‘Associate in Arts.’ Bang—I got in. I was already aware of that attitude when I moved here. One of my cousins said, “Take your kids out of school. Put them to work.” I didn’t listen. And it was a booming economy in New Ipswich. Teenagers earned money: too much. They were buying cars, racing the roads, and burning up tires. And the parents would pay the accident insurance. And driving tickets—parents paid them. A really lavish, peculiar behavior.
Actually, one evening after my first few days on the job at Seppala & Aho, I was at our apartment washing dishes in the kitchen. I was tired after adjusting to all the new typewriters and systems and things at the office. My 16-year-old son called from the other room, “Ma! I’m going to quit school.” I said, “That’s good. You can quit. I’m done supporting you.” And here I’m washing the dishes, real crabby and smashing them around. I shouted, “Yeah, that’s fine! You can pay the rent and heat and everything else! And I can stay home.” After awhile he hollered back, “Ma!” I said, “What?” He said, “I’m finishing school.” I said, “That’s up to you.” He told me later, “You know, I thought you meant it.” I said, “I did.” I wanted him to graduate, but I wasn’t about to support any 16-year-old kid who could work or go to school. And so he graduated from high school. If I had said to him, “Oh, Honey, don’t; don’t quit, Darling,” that would have just made him worse.
I'm assuming that Mildred was the sister of Reino Somero. I think she was married to Ben Henault prior to a Kuusisto, not sure which Kuusisto. Walter and Aila were close friends of my parents. The earliest picture I have of myself is a baby being held by Aili with my mother next to her in front of our house in Highbridge. I had just come home from the hospital. Aili's son John was my sister's first boyfriend. He took my sister to the Appleton prom in 1966. His older brother David and I went to the Monadnock Community Hospital on the same day to have our tonsils out. We were told that we couldn't eat anything the day of the surgery since ether frequently causes nausea upon coming out of the anesthesia. I failed the bleeding test (my ear was pricked and wouldn't stop bleeding). I was sent home. I still have my tonsils. I felt sorry for David. On the subject of education every community seems to have some residents who consider education not a high priority. My wife was on the school board here in upstate NY in the 80s and some of the farmers complained of excessive homework which kept their kids from doing chores in the evening.