Howard Claggett

Photo provided courtesy ArtsyBee from Needpix.com

School has started up again and it is time to highlight another Medina educator.

Howard Claggett 1898-1986

Medina City residents and students are familiar with Claggett Middle School. But how many know anything about the man the school was named for??

The school's website has a brief one paragraph description of Howard Claggett's life:

Howard Claggett was born in 1898 in Newton (sic), Ohio. He moved to Medina in 1928, after serving in WWI. Claggett served as a teacher, then assistant principal before becoming the principal of the new high school. Claggett also coached basketball, football and track. Later in life, Claggett would serve as a school board member as well. Mr. Claggett died in 1986.

Claggett Middle School
Photo by Kathy Petras

There is so much more to his story!

Howard Claggett was born into a farming family in Licking County, Ohio. He was the third child (out of five) born to Mivard and Hattie (Bibler) Claggett. Besides running the farm, his father boarded horses during the winter months.

Howard was a very able farmer according to a Johnstown Independent article in 1913. As a 15 year old, Howard was among 7 boys from Licking County who won a trip to Washington D.C. for their exceptional corn crop yields.

But it was in school that Howard excelled. He graduated top of his class of 100 students in 1917. He gave a commencement  address titled " The Need For Scientific Farming" and won praise for his delivery. As top student he also won a scholarship to Denison University.

It was 1917 and World War I was raging in Europe. The United States entered the war in April of that year. The U.S. government organized the Student Army Training Corps across college campuses to prepare young men for leadership roles in the military. Students were paid a monthly stipend, wore uniforms, drilled, and took classes in map making and war issues.

Howard Claggett joined in October of 1918. The War ended that November and Howard was "Honorably Discharged" in December without ever leaving campus. In Ohio Soldiers, Sailors and Marines, World War, 1917-18, he is listed as 10% disabled, but the disability is not described. 

1921 Denison University Yearbook
photo of Howard E. Claggett

Description of Howard from the 1921 Denison University Yearbook

Whatever the "disability" was, it did not affect Howard's ability to run track all four years at college!

1929 MHS Yearbook

"Mary" was Mary Hite who he married in May of 1923, after both of them had been teaching for several years; she in Findlay Ohio, and he in the local Newark schools. After their marriage they continued to live in the Newark area and are listed in the 1929 city directory. But he is also listed among the staff at Medina High School in 1929. By the 1930 Census, they are both listed as teachers in the Medina City Schools.

 Over the years, Howard was very involved in local clubs and organizations. In 1938, he was the principle speaker at the Alumni Association reunion. His style was deemed "inimitable" and he quipped that he was hired only "because the association either could not afford to pay a regular speaker or because nobody else would take the job."

He was also very involved in the local Courtney Lawrence American Legion Post and in 1939 was elected "Vice-Commander".

Claggett is listed as the high school
principal in this 1948 yearbook photo.

In October of 1939, the high school hosted a "kid party" and the most spectacular sight was "Faculty Member Howard Glaggett cavorting about in a kid outfit -- and lipstick!"  Oh, how I wish there was a a photo of that! 

In the 1940 census, both Claggetts are again listed as teachers; he as a math instructor and she as a elementary teacher - which explains why her photo is not in the high school yearbooks.

In 1948, Claggett took over being principal from Sydney Fenn who became the school superintendant. And when the new high school was built in 1956, Claggett was the principal.

Sidney Fenn standing in front of the new high school in the 1957
Medina High School Yearbook

When the school first opened their doors, much of the classroom equipment had not yet arrived and the teachers had to make-do for months.

November 1956. I imagine it was a cold blustery evening when Howard got a call from Eugene Haas, faculty member. "I can't get the safe open. You will have to come down to the school." Putting on his coat Howard trudged back to the school. Upon entering the building dozens of voices broke out into a chorus of "Happy Birthday to You"! His wife and all the faculty members had conspired to surprise him. Just a small measure of the esteem in which he was held.

Several years before he retired in 1962, this tribute appeared in the 1960 Medinian Yearbook.

In the 1950's and 60's Howard penned a column for The Medina Gazette called "On the Other Hand" by H.E.C. (his initials). It was well received and sometimes funny...

20 June 1968 Medina Gazette, page 2.
UNMOOTABLE? Love it! (BTW, it is not a word)

A very relaxed Howard Claggett appears in this 17 June 1971
Medina Gazette article about the concert in the square.

in 1972, The Kiwanis honored him for his forty years as an teacher and principal. They mentioned that he was the coach of the football, track, and girls basketball team and taught seven different classes!

When the new high school was built in 1974, the school building where he served as the first principal became the junior high and was named Claggett Junior High.

In May of 1983, the Chamber of Commerce elected him the Medina Hall of Fame, citing his work for the Medina County Fair Board, the Masonic Lodge, the Kiwanis, the State Highway patrol, the Medina City school board and as the Medina Village Clerk.

In Gloria Brown's book, The Story of Medina's Schools 1817-2017, she quotes Jeannette Neptune, who taught with Howard, as saying, "He had a very dry sense of humor. Sometimes he would say the most outrageous things. But he kept a straight face. His expression never changed so you couldn't be sure if he was joking or not."  And Robert Fenn remembered that as a student he could always turn to Claggett if something was bothering him. "He would pull out the chess board... It was his way of getting you to talk...".

Howard passed away in 1986 at the age of 87. He wife had died years before him. They never had any children of their own, but they each in their own way, impacted thousands of Medina school kids.

Thank you Howard and Mary!

This post is generating some very heart warming comments on Facebook. I am going to post them here so everyone can see. I will keep the posters' names anonymous:

• Thank you for this as there is so much about the man I never knew. I was a student at MHS under Mr.Claggett from 58-61. He was always available and visible. The high school at that time was sophomore through seniors. The junior high at the present administration building was 7-9th grade. Loved my years as a Medina student. It was a progressive farm community.
• One time I was having trouble with algebra. I don't know if my father contacted him (like he might have done) but Mr. Claggett invited me to his office to try to help my with my math. And I have a complimentary letter that he wrote to my parents about me.
• The Claggetts lived two houses south of us on S. Broadway, directly across from Garfield School. What I remember most about them was Mr. Claggett’s calm demeanor (and bemused expression) as his wife railed on us for throwing sticks into the big tree in their front yard/tree lawn, trying to knock down buckeyes (actually horse chestnuts) before they fell on their own accord. I think she was afraid we’d damage her tree. 
• Both were quite happy to let my brother and I, by ourselves, pick up the naturally fallen ones, I guess because we were their lneighbors. But when we had friends with us they occasionally chased the unfamiliar kids out of their yard, asking all of us to please stay off the lawn.. (I don’t know, but maybe Howard could have served as the prototype of the “get off my lawn” curmudgeon we all venerate today. That’s another way I remember him.)
  The Claggett’s tree was always a much better source for us young buckeye hoarders, as the other buckeye tree (another horse chestnut) in front of the Franklin Sylvester Library was too well known, and we always faced too much collector competition there.
  Mary also was known for her annual irate phone calls to my father, complaining that our cat was digging in her flowerbeds again, and using them for a litter box. I remember on at least one occasion dad took her a box of mothballs as a cat deterrent, but I have no idea if they actually worked there. (They did not work in the sand box my folks briefly had in our back yard for my brother and I to play in. That’s why the sand box’s existence was brief indeed! Maybe that’s why the cat again went back to “gifting” Mrs. Claggett...)
  Today, their house, our house, and the home owned by Thurston Berry between us, have all been interconnected by skybridges, and are used as law offices. They and the Nichols house on the north end, are the only homes left on both sides of the entire block, of the dozen family residences that once stood there, and that I can remember from my youth.
• Mr. Claggett was always there for us. I also attended MHS from 58-61 and remember his open door policy. We also shared a birthdate so we made certain to give each other good wishes every year! Wonderful memories
•  M/M Claggett always welcomed me to pick up Buckeys as I was doing my route. Remember the Berry's and some of the other neighbors. great people along that stretch. Even remember the house where the Nichols Building stands now. They had a slot mailbox in the door and the dog always ripped the paper to shreds when I pushed it through.
• That was the high school when I graduated

SOURCES:

• "1921 Newark City Directory", Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Accessed on Ancestry Library Edition, 22 Aug 2019.
• "1929 Newark City Directory", Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. 
• ArtsyBee, "Back To School"  from NeedPix.com, accessed online 26 August, 2019,  https://www.needpix.com/photo/download/480473/back-to-school-poster-blackboard-school-back-education-back-to-school-background-design-template
• Brown, Gloria, The Story of Medina's Schools 1817-2017  Medina City Schools Foundation, Medina, Ohio, 2017.
• CENSUS RECORDS:
• Year: 1900; Census Place: Newton, Licking, Ohio; Page: 8; Enumeration District: 0156; FHL microfilm: 1241293 Accessed on Ancestry Library Edition 22 Aug 2019.
• Year: 1910; Census Place: Union, Licking, Ohio; Roll: T624_1203; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 0099; FHL microfilm: 1375216 Accessed on Ancestry Library Edition 22 Aug 2019. 
• Year: 1920; Census Place: Newark Ward 4, Licking, Ohio; Roll: T625_1404; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 158. Accessed on Ancestry Library Edition 22 Aug 2019. 
• Year: 1930; Census Place: Medina, Medina, Ohio; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0015; FHL microfilm: 2341582. Accessed on Ancestry Library Edition 22 Aug 2019.  
• Year: 1940; Census Place: Medina, Medina, Ohio; Roll: m-t0627-03112; Page: 12B; Enumeration District: 52-14. Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
  T627, 4,643 rolls. Accessed on Ancestry Library Edition on 22 Aug 2019.
• "History of Claggett Middle School" Claggett Middle School Home Page, medinabees.org/Page/352
• "Illinois College in World War I, 1917-1918 - Student Army Training Corps" Illinois College. Accessed 22 August 2019, https://sites.google.com/a/mail.ic.edu/icinworldwari/home/student-army-training-corps
• NEWSPAPERS:
• Findlay Morning Republican:
• "Mt. Blanchard News" Findlay Morning Republican, 22 May 1923, page 7. Accessed on NewspaperArchive on 22 August 2019. 
• "Mt. Blanchard News", Findlay Morning Republican, 19 June 1924, page 5. Accessed on Newspaper Archive 22 August 2019.
• Johnstown Independent:
• "Seven Licking Boys in Corn Contest Win Free Trip to Washington", Johnstown Independent, 20 November 1913, page 7. Accessed on the Digital Archives of the Mary E. Babcock Library, 1http://johnstown.advantage-preservation.com/
• Medina County Gazette: 
• "Concert Goer" Medina County Gazette, 17 June 1971, page 4. Accessed on Newspaper Archive 22 August 2019.
• "Courtney Lawrence Post Elects New Officers", Medina County Gazette, 22 September 1939, page 1. Accessed on Newspaper Archive 22 August 2019.
• "Educators, Cook, Columnists Honored by Medina Kiwanis", Medina County Gazette,  29 Sep 1972,page 3.
• "Medina Isn't a Rural Town", Medina County Gazette,  31 October 1939, page 2. 
• "Obituary Howard Claggett", Medina County Gazette, 14 Oct 1986, page A-2.
• "Obituary Mary Claggett", Medina County Gazette, 7 Nov 1970, page 1.
• "Proving That One School Teacher Can't Trust Another", Medina County Gazette,  30 Nov. 1956, page 1. Accessed on NewspaperArchive, 27 August 2019.
• "The Question is Moot" On the Other Hand Column Medina County Gazette, 20 June 1968, page 2. 
• "September 1956 a Date to Remember" Medina County Gazette 18 April 1974, page 2.
• "Ryan Was Toastmaster", Medina County Gazette,  7 June 1938, page 1. Accessed on Newspaper Archive 22 August 2019.
• Medina County Sentinel:
• "Hall of Fame Third Chamber of Commerce Honors Will Go To Six Individuals, One Organization", Medina County Sentinel, 19 May 1983, page A9. From Medina LandMark Files, Book 40, pages 30-31.
• Newark Advocate:
• "Diplomas to 100 Graduates from the High School", Newark Advocate,  6 June 1917, page 6. Accessed on NewspaperArchive on 22 August 2019. 
• "Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RK1-S3HH?cc=1932106&wc=Q633-97X%3A227589501%2C227619301 : 22 December 2016), Licking > Birth registers 1891-1901 vol 3 > image 36 of 227; county courthouses, Ohio. 
• "Ohio Soldiers in WWI, 1917-1918" [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: The Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the World War, 1917-18. Columbus, OH, USA: The F.J. Heer Printing Co., 1926. Accessed on Ancestry Library Edition, 22 Aug 2019.       
• Shapiro, Eleanor Iler, ed. Historical Highlights of Medina,  Alfred Meyers Lithographers, Inc., Medina, Ohio, 1966.
• "U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012"; School Name: Denison University; Year: 1921. Accessed on Ancestry Library Edition, 22 Aug 2019. 
• "U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012"; School Name: Medina High School; Year: 1933. Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Accessed on Ancestry Library Edition, 22 Aug 2019.