Found Memories: A Story of an IPS School 43 Teacher

Back in March, my wife and I took advantage of a day off on Good Friday to visit some antique shops and malls on the far southside of Indianapolis. One of our stops was the Southport Antique Mall, one of the old standbys for antique and second-hand shopping in the Indianapolis area.

Generally, when at an antique mall, I look for historical items, such as photos, postcards, and documents with a connection to Indianapolis or Indiana history. On this day, I had come up short, until near the end of the lap around the building when I spotted a large book, with a wooden cover. Carved on it was “Memories,” and the date of May 23, 1956. I opened it, and the first page contained a letter from the executive secretary of the Indianapolis Education Association that congratulated a Lucille Gant on her retirement.

To my surprise, the address for Mrs. Gant was in Butler-Tarkington, specifically at 4852 Kenwood Avenue, not far from my home. She was retiring after a long career as an educator of students from 1919 until 1956, all at James Whitcomb Riley School 43 at 40th Street and Capitol Ave. How this scrapbook ended up in a small booth at an antique mall on the south side I cannot say, but in exploring Lucille’s career, I found a long life dedicated to education, and to her school.

Lucille Gant was born Lucille Little in Danville, Indiana, in 1889 (or 1888 or 1892, depending on the source). She graduated high school from Danville’s Central Normal School in 1913. She then attended the Teachers College of Indianapolis, more often known as “Madam Blaker’s School” after its founder, Eliza Ann Blaker. (The Teachers College was established by Blaker in 1883 as the Kindergarten Normal Training School. In 1905, the school became the Teachers College of Indianapolis. All students and faculty were women, and the school would later become part of Butler University in the 1920s.) In 1919, Miss Lucille Little received her first teaching job at School 43, which at the time was considered to be on the far northern edge of Indianapolis, in a neighborhood which was still in the process of being developed for residential construction.

School 43 as it appeared in the 1930s. Credit: Digital Indy, Indianapolis Public Library

In 1922, Lucille married Guy L. Gant, a clerk with the post office and a World War I veteran. Three years later, the couple purchased Lot 515 in Carter’s Fifth Addition in Washington Township, on the corner of Kenwood and what was then 48th Street (later renumbered to 49th). It does not appear that they had any children, although Guy had a son, James, from a previous marriage.

Lucille Gant pictured in an article about her career and retirement in the Indianapolis Star, May 16, 1956.

Lucille Gant began teaching at James Whitcomb Riley School 43 in 1919 and mostly taught first grade. She would teach at School 43 for 37 years, finally retiring at the end of the 1955/56 school year. Her retirement garnered much attention in the local press, thanks to the combination of her long career and that she spent her entire career at the same school. She was featured in an article in the May 16, 1956, Indianapolis Star, which wryly noted that “[s]hackles will be used next September to restrain Mrs. Lucille Gant from taking that morning trek down the street to her cold stomping grounds of School 43, a trip she has made each school day since the fall of 1919.” Mrs. Gant agreed, stating that “[t]hey’ll have to tie me down to keep me from walking right into that school door.” Unfortunately, Mrs. Gant would not have her husband, Guy, to enjoy her retirement with, as he had passed in 1942.

A retirement party in the school’s auditorium was planned for Mrs. Gant, where, per the Star, “[h]er pupils of a generation ago, and their children who have also been Mrs. Gant’s proteges, will fete their first teacher...”. And this party reveals the origins of the scrapbook I found at the Southport Antique Market. What I had assumed was a scrapbook gathered by Mrs. Gant, was actually assembled for her. “She will be presented with a scrapbook filled with notes from former pupils all over the United States and some foreign countries,” reported the Indianapolis News on May 23, 1956.

And that is exactly what is in this scrapbook: notes, cards, as well as letters of congratulations and thanks from Mrs. Gant’s colleagues, past and present students, and people from the neighborhood. The scrapbook is a record of how a teacher impacted the lives of her students, their parents, and the community. Its contents include a Certificate of Recognition from the city’s Board of School Commissioners and a letter of congratulations from the executive secretary of the Indiana State Teachers Association. Also included are numerous Western Union telegrams from families and individuals outside Indianapolis expressing their thanks and wishing their congratulations.

There are also notes from students, some of which include small black and white photos of the students, along with notes of thanks from the students and their parents. The envelope for one letter, sent via Air Mail, bears several stamps from France, while another is postmarked the US Army Air Force Mail Service.

Unfortunately, the scrapbook is incomplete. Many pages are blank, except for scraps of adhesive, evidence of where cards were removed. As it turns out, at the antique mall—near where I found the scrapbook—was a box full of the removed cards. The owner of the booth had marked many of the more artistic cards for individual sale, disregarding their value as part of the complete scrapbook. I purchased several of these loose cards and notes but left many behind.

Following the retirement party, Mrs. Gant continued to live in Butler-Tarkington at 49th and Kenwood for several more years. Her home was placed on the market in March of 1964 and after this, she mostly drops from local records. Mrs. Gant passed away due to a heart attack in 1983. She was living at the Indiana Christian Retirement Home in Zionsville at the time. The informant on her death certificate was her stepson, James Gant. Lucille Gant was 94 years old.