photo

Marysville School District

Before a school was established in Marysville, Elizabeth Shoultes and her husband moved from New York to Marysville in 1825. They claimed land north of Marysville for farming and raised ten children. Three generations later, Shoultes Elementary School was named after the farming family. The first school in Marysville was built two miles east of town in the Sunnyside area in 1880. Prior to the building of the school, children were taught in the home of Maria Comeford, the wife of Marysville’s founder and city namesake. 

The first Shoultes one-room schoolhouse was built in 1891. Lucille Wilson, or “Ma Wilson” as she was affectionately known, ran the first one-room schoolhouse built in the Kellogg Marsh area in 1902. Ma Wilson taught at the school for 42 years.

In 1987, Marysville School District employee and community member, Pat Olsen, wrote a book titled 100 Years of Excellence - A Glance Back to our Roots in Marysville. Pat was a freelance journalist who had a special interest in helping young people learn how to write creatively. 

In the 1990s, Laura Wild, Debbie Vincellete and Sally Ongaro were known as the “Founding Mothers” for the Marysville Cooperative Education Program.

Although heavily dominated by men in the early years, the school board did see its share of women serving. The school board was founded in 1888. The first woman to serve was Sarah Smith (1909), followed by Gladys Smith (1923), Alice Stanton (1928), Gail Marshall (1934), Margaret Pearson (1954), Patricia Glein (1965), Marie Nelson (1976), Joann Delazarri (1983), Pennie Bare (1977), Marion Davis (1983), Victoria Graves (1989), Pat McGhee (1991), Frances Coverson (1995), Cary Peterson (1999), Vicki Gates (2003), Sherri Crenshaw (2001), Cindy Erickson (2005), Darci Becker (2006), Wendy Fryberg (2010) and Mariana Maksimos (2013). Out of 33 district superintendents, Linda Whitehead (2001) and Becky Berg (2013) were the only two women to serve in the role to date.

Read more at https://www.northcountyoutlook.com/opinion/celebrating-women-s-history-month-in-marysville/article_f20cbcc2-5d74-11ea-a3a5-4b612c224630.html