Mamie Louise Anderzohn grew up on a small farm in the Midwest. How she ever landed at the small state school in western Pennsylvania which I attended is beyond me. She taught a “methods” course in the geography department. This was, at that time, a program designed to help students prepare for entering the teaching profession, lesson plans, use of visual presentations, classroom organization, etc. Part of the certification process.

The college I attended started out as what was called a “Normal” school. In the early years of the institution,  mostly young women could become certified to teach in what I believe was a relatively short two-year training program. Dr. Anderzohn was the only woman instructor in the geography department and the only woman professor I had during my four-year college “career.” In my elementary school years, all my teachers were women, mostly unmarried. I believe there was method in this strategy in that it was somewhat intended for these individuals to devote their lives to the young students who, in a sense, were to become their family. I never really gave this a thought at the time. It seemed quite “normal.”

The Normal Schools throughout the state of Pennsylvania eventually became state teacher colleges and then, ultimately, universities. Schools like Slippery Rock, Loch Haven, Bloomsburg, Edinboro, Kutztown, East Stroudsburg – you get the picture. Slippery Rock University always made me chuckle a little. The name implied perplexing status. I only knew it as a small college with whom we had sports’ competition. But these were all good schools for teacher training. It was also affordable for people like me who had to pay to play. More prestigious schools were well above my pay grade!

Dr. Anderzohn was a pretty neat lady. She was a cartographer and wrote articles and a book about the process of map reading. During World War II, she and a stealth group of women worked reviewing, analyzing and advising for the military. They would receive photographs from aerial recognizance and using stereo viewing equipment, provided valuable information regarding installations, troop movement and terrain. Her experience made the sometimes rather humdrum study of geography way more interesting. She was a big help to me as I embarked, somewhat reluctantly, upon my future teaching experiences.

During classes with Dr. Anderzohn we covered a lot of territory. One subject area I found most interesting was meteorology. Clouds, for some reason, always fascinated me. I think the motion and gathering of clouds and their subsequent weather implications, though somewhat mysterious, was intriguing. By watching the sky, especially since I spent a fair amount of time outside working with my father’s explosives business, it provided valuable information which was critical. Not a good idea to be working atop tons of explosives with thunder and lightning approaching.

Cumulonimbus. Stratus. Cirrus. Stratocumulus. Dr. Anderzohn helped us learn what these weather signals meant. My guess is the photo I’ve shared today would be cumulonimbus clouds which, during the warmer weather we’ve been having, would be indication of upper air instability with a possible storm developing. Not the kind of clues you want to be flying around and through in a small plane, or even a large one! They can cause real bumpiness and fuzzy photos!

I’m still a cloud watcher and I do know when to get the earmuffs out for the dog and dial down the computer and TV.