Late teacher lives in students' memories

Dorothy McGlenn spent just one year in Dorothy Schoknecht's classroom but she never forgot the much-beloved biology teacher.

"She made every student feel so special," McGlenn recalled. "You would want to learn in her class. All of my friends felt the same way."

Schoknecht, who died in March at 101, remembered McGlenn as she did all of her students. McGlenn still has a card that Schoknecht wrote to her about nine years ago.

"She remembered exactly where I sat in her biology class," McGlenn said. "Think how long ago that was - in the early '40s."

Schoknecht, a member of a prominent family in Kalispell, taught at Bigfork High School from 1934 to 1936 and then for 20 years at Flathead High School. Between the two, she spent a year teaching at Kalispell's Central School, which now houses a museum.

Because of Schoknecht's history at the school and dedication to education, the Northwest Montana Historical Society has kicked off a campaign to raise $100,000 to name her former classroom the Schoknecht Gallery at the Museum at Central School.

"We're pretty positive that her classroom was where the U.S. Forest Service display is - in the northwest corner of the museum on the second floor," said Gil Jordan, executive director of the historical society.

It's appropriate that the museum has begun converting the proposed Schoknecht gallery to house a new Flathead Valley history exhibition. According to Rosalie Heinecke, a friend and former student, the Schoknechts were early movers and shakers in the valley.

"Her family was very prominent - they were early pioneers," she said. "They were all timber people - the Neils were Dorothy's mother's heritage."

By virtue of living to 101, Schoknecht recalled a very different Flathead Valley from the golf courses and resorts of today. Nancy Morast, Schoknecht's caretaker for 17 years, enjoyed hearing some of the stories.

"She would talk about Buffalo Hill when buffalo were roaming around," she said. "There were also Indians up there with tepees."

Morast said Schoknecht had a personal relationship with the founding families of Kalispell.

"She talked about playing with the Conrad children, with one of their daughters," she said.

Later in life, she served on the board of directors of Conrad National Bank in Kalispell as well as Valparaiso University, an international Lutheran university where she earned her bachelor's degree.

Schoknecht's niece Paula Sandman said her aunt defied convention by earning a master's degree at the University of Washington in the male-dominated fields of chemistry and microbiology.

"She grew up feeling strongly that education was the key to success," Sandman said.

According to her niece, Schoknecht was planning to attend medical school when her brother's death from spinal meningitis brought her back to the valley. While home, she agreed to fill in for a teacher at Bigfork High School.

It was a life-changing experience.

"She just found that she loved teaching," Sandman said.

Heinecke remembered that Schoknecht served as the sponsor of her 1940 class at Flathead High School. She described her teaching style as very precise and not the least bit flamboyant.

"She was a classic teacher of that era," she said. "She just had a presence."

McGlenn said that Schoknecht had the ability to make her students want to excel. She said she was no fan of biology (cutting up frogs in particular) but she worked hard because she didn't want to disappoint her teacher.

"She was the kind of teacher who could change your entire life," she said. "You just wanted to be like her."

Heinecke agreed that Schoknecht was an important role model for young people. She said she was the woman that mothers would point out to their daughters.

"She was a very poised, charming woman," Heinecke said. "She was what my mother would call a lady."

Reminiscing with Morast, Schoknecht said her years teaching were the happiest of her life. Schoknecht shared one of her secrets, which was to pinpoint the top potential troublemaker early and get "on his good side," then the others would fall in line.

After making the difficult decision to retire, she volunteered for years as a German teacher at Trinity Lutheran School while also serving as her mother's caretaker.

Her former students continued to seek her out to make sure she knew the impression she made on their lives.

Morast said every time she took Schoknecht to the grocery store or out to lunch they ran into former students who inevitably said she was their favorite teacher.

Because Schoknecht never married or had children, her students became like her children. Promising young men and women received more than quality instruction from Schoknecht.

Sandman said that her aunt and her father, Mark, set up a fund when her grandmother died. They awarded five to 10 scholarships each year.

Schoknecht continued to contribute much of her personal money to educate deserving students.

"She was the sweetest and most giving person," Sandman said.

She remembered in particular a young man who came each year with his family from Texas to pick cherries at the orchard the Schoknecht family operated on Flathead Lake. Schoknecht told Sandman that he always came up to the house looking for additional duties.

"She recognized what a bright young man he was," she said.

Schoknecht helped him get scholarships to go to college, then contributed to send him to medical school.

"After medical school, he went to Africa to work as a medical missionary," Sandman said. "He was there for most of his career."

She said he was one of many.

After her aunt's death, Sandman said cards came from all over from people she had helped attend the seminary for the Lutheran Church.

"There were a lot of lives that she touched," Sandman said.

It was so until the end of her life. She was fortunate to have constant reminders of the impact she made on her students.

Morast recalled a poignant incident when Schoknecht moved into Brendan House where she lived for the last two years of her life.

"One lady, who had hardly spoke at all, looked into her eyes and said 'Dorothy Schoknecht, my teacher.'"

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.