FAMILIES Q-U: TECKMAN ~ Charles Edward Teckman
The following memories of Charles Teckman were gleaned from a series of interviews that extended over several hours, between April 28 through May 7, 2020.
Charles also provided some recollections of growing up in Darrtown; see "Recollections of Charles Teckman."
FAMILY BACKGROUND
My full name is Charles Edward Teckman; Charles Loudon being my maternal grandfather and Edward Teckman being my paternal grandfather.
Charles Loudon owned and operated 200 acres of land near Georgetown, in Brown county Ohio. His wife, my maternal grandmother inherited the land from the Martin family. A Martin ancestor had acquired the land for his service in the Revolutionary War. The Loudon family was well know in the Ohio river valley; as evidenced by the fact that Loudon is the name of the county seat in Laurel county, Kentucky.
Edward Teckman, my paternal grandfather was born in New York city, as his parents immigrated to America from Prussia. There were five or so brothers and they eventually moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. Around 1850, they made their way north, by way of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and landed in the Cincinnati area. Some of the brothers, Edward being one of them, eventually arrived in Butler County.
My grandfather settled in Darrtown, which had other families with a German heritage. Edward became active in the Darrtown Lutheran church; Teckman family members are listed among the earliest Lutheran church congregants.
Edward Teckman worked as day laborer for farmers in the area. He and my grandmother, Anna (Yeakle) Teckman had three sons, Louis, Arthur, and Harry (unfortunately, Arthur died at age three). The Teckman family lived in a two-story house directly across the street from the main entrance to the Darrtown High School. Edward, who was nicknamed “Swack,” worked for many years as the janitor of the Darrtown High School.
My paternal grandmother, Anna (Yeakle) Teckman died in 1926. Her surviving husband (Edward) and the two sons (Louis and Harry) continued living together, until my father and my mother married. For a time, they lived in a Darrtown rental and then moved into a new house that my father built at Main and North Streets, in Darrtown.
Both of my parents, Harry Wells Teckman and Virginia (Loudon) Teckman were born in 1895.
As a young teenager, Harry helped his father, Edward, haul milk from Darrtown to Hamilton, Ohio with a wagon pulled by a team of horses - a distance of about ten miles.
Around 1916, my father began driving a truck for Charles Meeks of Seven Mile, Ohio. While working for Mr. Meeks, my father hauled milk, livestock, and groceries for Kroger. While working for Mr. Meeks, my father stayed in a Seven Mile boarding house.
Having acquired a two-year teaching certificate from Miami University, my mother began teaching school in Seven Mile around 1918-1919. She became a boarder at the same house where my father was staying. Eventually, my father and mother began dating.
In 1920, my father left the Meeks job and returned to Darrtown to begin his own trucking business. My mother went on to teach at Lima, Ohio and Lakewood, Ohio.
In 1923, an incident occurred that led to my father acquiring six acres of land located in the northeast corner of Main Street and North Street, at the north edge of Darrtown. His acquisition of this property resulted from the death of John Darr, the last member of the Darr family to live in Darrtown. John Darr was struck by an auto, while he was crossing Main Street, in Darrtown. My father drove John Darr to the hospital and John told my father that he wanted my father to have the six acres. When the Darr estate was settled, my father held the title.
Webmaster Note: In the recollections of Kirk Mee II, there is a reference to Kirk serving as the administrator of the Darr estate and Kirk mentions that Harry Teckman purchased the John Darr’s property. See: Recollections of Kirk Mee II.*
Since the time that my parents had met in Seven Mile, my parents stayed in touch and in 1928, they decided to get married. My father suggested that they marry and live with my grandfather and my uncle Louis, until my father had completed the construction of a house on the former Darr property.
My mother balked; she was not interested in being a housekeeper for three men. My father countered by telling my mother that he would not a spade of dirt for the new house, until she was in Darrtown. They reached a compromise; they would marry and live in a rental property in Darrtown, while my father completed the construction of their new home. So, they rented a house across the street from the former McVicker garage, on Main Street, in Darrtown.
My father and mother married at Christmas in 1928 in Youngstown, Ohio - at the home of my mother’s sister. The new house was finished in 1928-1929.
LOVE OF MY LIFE
By the time I finished the sixth grade at Collinsville school (1941), the Darrtown High School no longer existed (the Ohio Board of Education had condemned it, in part because the Darrtown school building did not have running water; the restroom consisted of two outdoor privies; one for males and one for females).
So, we Collinsville classmates parted ways. Students who lived in the eastern part of Milford township went to Seven Mile for grades 7-12. Students on the western side went to Oxford Stewart. My mother had a different idea. She wanted me to attend the McGuffey laboratory school - which Miami University operated, as part of its teacher-training program.
My mother’s decision had a lasting effect upon my life; not only in terms of my education and eventual career choice; but, also in terms of finding the person who would become my life partner - my wife, Joan.
As fate would have it, Joan McNelly sat in front of me, in my eighth grade English class and that’s how we became acquainted.
Wilbur “Weeb” Ewbank of college and professional football coaching fame, was the physical education teacher at McGuffey and part of the PE curriculum in the spring term of the eighth grade year included social dancing. The school held a spring dance, on a Friday night, with music supplied by a record player.
I asked Joan to be my date and, thankfully, she accepted my invitation. I went to her house, met her parents, and gave her a corsage; then, away we walked to the dance at the school. Afterward, some of our classmates said they were going for refreshments at The Victory - an uptown confectionary shop. Joan and I walked to her home to ask her parents, if Joan could accompany me for a soft drink. Her mother said no, Joan had had enough for one day.
Joan and I dated exclusively through our high school years. Then, at high school graduation, as Joan and I looked toward enrolling at Miami University, Joan’s father, Dr. Walter McNelly, a physiology professor at Miami, informed her that he wanted his daughter to date others. So, Joan and I split up … for a period of time.
From May to Christmas, we both reluctantly dated others. In our adult years, Joan confided that she had a total of 30 dates with other fellows during those seven months. I had about five.
As we approached the Christmas vacation, I received a letter in the mail from Joan. She wondered if I would like to get together. I wrote back that I would. And, so we did. We dated and eventually married in June 17, 1951.
WORK EXPERIENCES
My father ran a trucking business and I began driving a truck for him, when I was 14 years old.
The year was 1943 and America was engaged in a world war on two fronts; we were fighting Nazi Germany in Europe and Japan in the Far East. Thousands of young men entered the American armed forces right out of high school. Some quit before graduation to “join up.” As a result, the American labor force was significantly depleted.
Consequently, it fell upon men - beyond draft age – women, and teen-agers to help on the home front. I did my part by going to work for my father at age 14. I hauled milk, gravel, livestock, farm produce, and on occasion, I pulled a tar wagon for the Butler County Engineer’s office, repairing roads.
I secured my driving license in an unexpected manner. One day, as I often did, I accompanied my father to Hamilton for some purpose that I no longer recall. Around noon, we went to lunch at Hyde’s restaurant, on South Erie Highway. While in the restaurant, my father became engaged in a conversation with a Hamilton police office that he knew. To my surprise, the policeman turned to me and said words to the effect, “Charles, I understand that you’ve passed the written portion of the driving test. Why don’t you take me for a ride and I will test you on your driving skills?”
So, I did. The policeman and I went out to the car and I drove him around for a bit and when we returned to Hyde’s parking lot, he pronounced that I had passed the driving test. Soon thereafter, someone wrote to the authorities in Columbus and explained that I was needed to assist my father in his trucking business - which included essential work, such as hauling milk seven days a week.
When my driver’s license arrived it was marked “For business only.” My father said to me, “If you are ever pulled over by the police, you are always driving for some business purpose.”
One livestock-hauling job stands out in my memory. As a 14 year-old, I loaded and drove a double-deck load of hogs from a farm located on St. Rt. 73, west of Davis Corner to the Cincinnati stock yards. I also recall loading and hauling ten-gallon milk cans on a double-deck load; a full load totaled 140 milk cans.
I was drafted for military service, in 1950. Joan McNelly and I were married that year and five weeks after the wedding, I was in Europe with the United States Army. My primary work with the army was in the field of crypto-intelligence.
After I was discharged from the army, I began my teaching career at the Miami University McGuffey Laboratory School, in Oxford, Ohio. During the 1953-54 school year, I taught math to seventh graders and history to tenth graders.
I decided to try the trucking life of my father and grandfather. I possessed a PUCO permit and took that to the Southern Ohio Truck Line in Hamilton, which resulted in my owning one-fourth of the business. After two years, I decided to go back to teaching.
It was late summer, when I walked into the Teacher Placement office in McGuffey Hall on the Miami University campus in Oxford and told Dr. Herbert I. Von Haden that I was out of the trucking business and looking for a teaching job. Dr. Von Haden called the Superintendent of the recently created Princeton School District and arranged an interview. I was offered a job that entailed the supervision of four study halls. I passed on that opportunity.
I wound up teaching at Trenton, Ohio - starting at $3,700 per year, plus another $700 as a school bus driver. I was employed at Trenton for four years (1956-1960). In the middle of my second year, the Trenton HS principal moved on to a job with the Middletown district and I became the Trenton High School principal. I served in that capacity for 2.5 years.
In 1960, Gene Raddant, a supervisor for the Butler county schools encouraged me to enroll in the Doctoral program at Ohio State University. He even drove me to Columbus, whereupon I initiated the enrollment process.
While working toward my PhD, I served as an instructor in the OSU School of Education. Ohio State accepted some of my academic work at Miami University, which accelerated my progress. Consequently, I was able to take and pass my final exam and complete my doctoral dissertation in 1962.
I was prepared to become the Superintendent of Schools at Marysville, Ohio, when Herbert I. Von Haden, Director of Teacher Placement at Miami University offered me a position back in Oxford. I started as an associate professor and within eight years, I had acquired a full professorship. My tenure at Miami extended from 1962 to 1997.
In 1963, the Ohio Department of Education issued a call for all state universities, with teacher training programs, to study and report on the teacher certification process. Robert I. Gobel and I were asked to review all the required teacher education courses at Miami University and develop a report/analysis of the same for the Ohio Department of Education.
About the same time, the Department of Education in the state of Washington received a grant from the Ford Foundation that sought to identify 300 people who showed promise as university administrators. I was invited to an interview in Washington DC for the opportunity to participate. Fortunately, I was selected. It appeared that I might be assigned to Stanford University; however, circumstances changed and I was eventually assigned to the University of Oregon.
After three months at Oregon, I received a call from Miami University President, Phil Shriver. He wanted me to return to Miami University. Miami was engaged in the opening of the newly created Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio. The directorship of Wright State University was available and Dr. Shriver said he would recommend me for that position or I could come to work for him.
I decided to work for Phil Shriver; returned to Oxford in 1966. I worked for Phil Shriver for five years.
As the assistant to the university president, I received his mail. At the end of each day, I reported the incoming missives and Dr. Shriver told me how he wanted to respond to each. Then, I drafted responses, lots of responses. I presented the drafts to Phil and, when satisfied, he signed off. I had a wonderful relationship with Phil.
During my time as an assistant to the President, I became involved in a student exchange program that Miami University established with the University of Luxembourg. I am proud to say that I had a part in establishing the Miami University John E. Dolibois European Center in Luxembourg.
Eventually, I convinced the decision-makers at Miami University to offer a three credit-hour graduate-level, comparative studies course for teachers that was centered around an immersion experience at Luxemburg. I became the instructor of that course, which included two sessions on the Oxford campus (one pre-tour and the other post-tour) that bracketed the two-week tour in Europe.
By the time I retired from Miami University, I had taught and/or led 64 tours to Luxemburg. In the process, I became a licensed tour guide, under the auspices of the American Automobile Association and, for liability purposes, I created Teckman Enterprises, Inc.
During my years at Miami, I received offers and inquiries from other universities. Northern Kentucky University invited me to interview for the position of president. I also talked with Marshall University - just prior to the horrific incident when the entire Marshall football team and university personnel and boosters perished in a November 1970 airplane crash. Western Michigan University offered a deanship; however, I decided to stay at Miami of Ohio.
In 1970, I decided to return to teaching and I became the Chair of the Education Department at Miami. Throughout those years, Herbert I. Von Haden retired, along with several other stalwarts. That was a time to reconfigure the organization of various departments. I suggested and convinced Dean Bogner to combine some and transition from Educational Administration to Educational Leadership.
In 1983, Dr. John Dolobois asked me to take on the leadership of the Luxemburg program for a year. That one year became 21 years. Between 1983 and my retirement in 2004, I guided and/or directed 64 tour groups to Luxemburg. As previously explained, the Luxemburg workshop was a comparative study of the US and European school experience.
The 2004 tour was particularly memorable, as three people in the group had participated in the WWII invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge.
In the early 1980s, I began urging the Miami faculty to engage their students in learning more about the culture of foreign countries and to acquire a greater appreciation of citizenship. I felt our teacher training courses needed to give our students a view of the world and promote international understanding.
It became a distinct honor, privilege, and pleasure to serve as a University Marshal, which I did for nine years. All told, I led the procession of faculty into a total of 27 commencements (three per year for seven years).
I retired from Miami University in 1993; however, Miami re-hired me as a coordinator of several summer workshops.
In addition to the 3 credit-hour course for teachers, I developed a 5 credit-hour course for school administrators that was similar to the teacher model.
Charles Teckman