The community area for the Koftans' Brick House and the Luckert farm was Morrillville, the school and cemetery six miles east of Center and a mile south of the present State 84 between Center and Bloomfield, the vanished hall and store (?) another half mile north from that highway, where I slept on coats spread on chairs while my parents danced. All three Koftan children--Velma, Audree, Larry--went to District 15, as did several generations of the Luckert family down through my second cousin, Patti Stocking Wright, Clark's oldest, when she lived with her grandmother, Lizzie (Elizabeth) Luckert Stocking. I think I've run this photo before but will do so again. Audree is in the center with a distinctive dark sweater on, Larry in the front wringing his hands.
The school stood here on this corner, south a half mile or so from the Brick House, east a short distance from the Luckert farm. I took these photos when Jim and Sue and I were exploring Luckert family sites after being Up West for Koftan family sites over the Labor Day weekend.
I was excited to discover that the old storm cellar was still there, away from the school, steps down to a cement-vault haven from storms.
Dad/Jack Luckert rescued the schoolhouse, setting it in our back yard where he restored it, having to install a completely new floor, and earned a sound scolding when he went auction hunting and came home with a $150 bell. He even found maps and familiar pictures of Washington and Lincoln, old desks and textbooks, my old globe, a handbell for ending recess or restoring order, all the paraphernalia to re-create the country school he and Mom had grown up with, of the sort she later taught in.
After his death, my sisters and I signed an agreement whereby the schoolhouse was moved to the Knox County Fairgrounds on the east side of Bloomfield where I photographed District 15 the day after Thanksgiving as it sits for future generations. In the large Knox County Fair 125th anniversary book this year, Dad was given an excellent write-up for his restoration, which we were grateful for. As shown, Morrillville School sits right next to the football field where Sue's sons played on Bloomfield's then powerful regional teams, all three selected for the annual all-state game in Hastings.
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