Industrial Arts Instructors

I worked on Industrial Arts courses for four years and was comfortable with the department and instructors.  Dr. E. I, Dales, or “Daddy Dales” as most of the students referred to him (not to his face) was one of the older faculty members and had helped the department grow with his consistent dedication, and standard of excellence.  I took a series of drafting classes from him over my four years on campus.  The students got a kick out of his testing procedure.  He would pull yellowing copies of his mechanical drawing tests from the file and hand them out.  Answers were put on a separate paper and all tests were collected at the end of the period, to be used by the next mechanical drawing class.  Many of the students most likely copied this technique when teaching their own I.A. classes.  Dr. Dales retired several years after I graduated.  His leadership as head of the department will be remembered well by those who knew him.

                                     Dales

The other senior member of the I. A. instructors was Dr. James S. Lane who specialized in woodworking.  I took his classes in woodturning, wood and metal finishing, and furniture construction to name a few.  He retired shortly before I graduated.  I learned many things about wood and wood working techniques from him.














            Lane
In his wood and metal finishing class he had each student finish panels of various kinds of wood with various finishes.  These panels fit in a box made by the student and when teaching could be used to display various finishing to their students.  I still have my box of panels and have used them many times.  The finishing process was described on the back of each panel.

                             

A third instructor, Dr. Lloyd VandeBerg, was a relatively new, young member of the staff, hired to teach metal working classes and electricity.  He was a very professional instructor, but difficult to earn an A grade from.   He graded me with all B’s except two C’s.  Not one single A.  This impacted my grade point average adversely; as did the one D grade I received from a political science instructor in fall quarter of my sophomore year.  In spite of these grades, I graduated as an honor student.

        VandeBerg

My favorite Instructor was Dr. Orland Killin who joined the staff later in my studies at Eastern.  He was a large burley man who had lost a leg in the war and was fitted with prosthesis.  It didn’t slow him down.  I watched him climb ladders and walk out over rough terrain without a second thought.  He involved himself in college life and organizations outside the I. A. Department such as Senior Class Advisor in my senior year.  He was also Advisor to the Associated Student Body Council, a member of Kappa Delta Pi and Epsilon Pi Tau.

                                    Killin
His teaching assignment included interesting subjects such as boat building, art metal, lapidary, and furniture construction.  He was a soft spoken man who convinced you of his interest in you.  The summer before I began my senior year he stopped by the ranch to visit me.  I had been in his apidary class that spring and he was fascinated with the Montana moss agate.  I had taken some slices of agate to Eastern for that class.  He had a lengthy discussion with Grandpa about agates.  Grandpa was impressed with his down to earth personality.

Dr. Killin taught the second quarter of furniture construction during my senior year.  I drew a plan for a radio/phonograph cabinet and presented it to him as my proposed furniture project.  He looked it over and after asking me several questions about its construction, approved it as my project.  I wanted to finish it by Christmas for Mom.  Tom Plant and I drove to Spokane to shop for a radio/phonograph player.  We looked in second hand stores.  I wasn’t concerned about the condition of the cabinet, as I planned to use the mechanical and electronic equipment and discard the cabinet.  We found one that would work at a reasonable price, so loaded it in the car and headed for Cheney.

I finished the project just in time to crate it and put it on the train for Miles City before the Holidays.  Even if I couldn’t be there for Christmas my thoughts and present would be.  The cabinet was of Maple and had many coats of Lacquer rubbed in.  The used radio and phonograph worked after installation.  Dr. Killin gave me an A on my project.

The Industrial Arts department tried a co-ed series of courses one quarter which I thought was successful.  Women as well as men learned basic and practical fundamentals of wood and metal crafts.  It created new interest in Industrial Arts and gave the senior students a chance to practice their teaching skills by helping these new beginning students.

*Taken from "Which Road Should I Follow?, Volume 1, Growing up in the country", an autobiography by Edwin K. Hill.