My grandmother - a student at Prescott School in the early 1900's

 

Nellie Ellen Tiffany McAlear

Prescott School Missoula thought it would be fun to add a picture on this blog of my grandmother, Nellie "Ellen" Tiffany McAlear.

She was born in Missoula on June 7th, 1908 during Missoula's big flood.  The river provided quite an obstacle in getting the doctor (or midwife?) to her birth.

She and her family lived on Missoula Street in the lower Rattlesnake. Her uncle lived on Van Buren Street for many years.

 Later the family would move to Rollins near Flathead Lake and then to Polson where she met my grandfather, Murl McAlear.

She loved living in the Rattlesnake area.  She and her three brothers would play games at the kitchen table. She liked to go to Finnegans Restaurant later in life because she loved watching Rattlesnake Creek as it brought back memories of her childhood.

She told me that she went to Prescott School to take sewing classes.  I'm not sure what school she attended for the other classes, perhaps, Lincoln School, or maybe Central School?

One story I remember my grandma telling us is when her father went to Lincoln School one morning he was greeted by a mountain lion on the front porch. 

There are other mountain lion stories at Lincoln School including the story of many mountain lions in the big pine tree on the corner of Lolo and Gilbert Streets which was recently cut down.

She died at the age of 79 in 1987.

It's too bad that I don't know more of her school history and more about the Prescott School she knew. It would be fun doing some research into her early years in Missoula.  Money was tight for the family, therefore, there were few pictures of her early years.