Nona Hansmeier with "Country School: One Room - One Nation" producer Tammy Rundle.
Meeting Nona Hansmeier in 2007 while filming our documentary Country School: One Room - One Nation was one of the highlights of the project. She was the stuff that good country school teachers were made of--multi-taskers, passionate about teaching, a love for children, talented with a knowledge in many subjects, creative and innovative, stern but compassionate, and athletic enough to play Annie, Annie Over, Kick the Can, swing a bat and hit a ball, and play Duck and Geese in the snow with her students (grades 1-8).
She relished her country school days and we were grateful she shared her experiences with us for the film. Country School: One Room - One Nation went on to receive a regional Emmy nomination. It was the experiences shared by the one-room school teachers and students in the film that captured viewers' hearts, and garnered the documentary numerous awards at film festivals.
Nona passed away on Sunday, October 18, 2020 at the age of 95, in Waukon, Iowa. She was born on July 18, 1925, at the rural Rossville, Iowa home of her parents and attended school at Jefferson #7. She graduated from Waukon High School in 1942, where she took the Normal Training curriculum. Thirty-five years later, in 1977, she received her B.A. in Education from Upper Iowa University.
From her obituary: "Nona had a passion for teaching and a love of kids that translated to a long and successful career in education. She started as an elementary teacher in area rural schools and then spent 31 years teaching 4th grade in the Allamakee Community School District. Even though she retired from full-time teaching in 1990, she remained involved as a substitute teacher until 2006. Nona was an active and vital supporter of her profession and her community. She was a lifetime member of the National Education Association and the Iowa State Education Association and, in later years, the Allamakee County Retired Teachers... Nona’s positive attitude toward life and love for people were contagious and she expressed them beautifully in how she lived. Some of Nona’s favorite sayings were: “Kids are special people”; “There is good in everyone—look for it and forget the bad” and “Be slow to speak—put your brain in gear before opening your mouth because words can’t be taken back.”"
We will miss Nona Hansmeier and know there are many others whose lives she touched. The wonderful thing about the film is that amazing teachers like Nona will forever light up the screen and teach us, inspire us, make us laugh. We thank Nona for all she did and all she gave to the profession of education.
We will dedicate the special 10th Anniversary online screening celebration of Country School: One Room - One Nation to Nona Hansmeier, and honor the memories of others we have lost over the years who were an important part of the film project. The showing will take place via Facebook on Sunday, November 22 at 3:00 p.m. with a Q&A with filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle.
Click on this link for details and the screening event: https://www.facebook.com/Fourth-Wall-Films-173844695995934.
Country schools took rough-hewn pioneers and multilingual immigrants and transformed them into a literate and patriotic new nation. Whether personally, or through a parent or grandparent, the country school as an American architectural icon, is as imprinted on our perception of the nation’s early history as the log cabin and the general store. Stories told by former teachers and students are often nostalgic, but they are also dramatic, humorous, and heart-wrenching.
Kelly & Tammy Rundle's Country School: One Room - One Nation provides a never-before-seen perspective on one-room schools in the Upper Midwest. This visually stunning film features a unique country school designed by Frank Lloyd Wright along with dozens of more traditional structures of brick, stone, or wood - in all stages of restoration or decay - in picturesque rural areas of Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, and Nebraska. Shot in the midst of all four seasons, Country School features interviews with a who's who of one-room school scholars, including authors Bill Samuelson, Jerry Apps, Dorothy Schwieder, Mark Dewalt, Vera Hurst, Frank Yoder, and Bill Sherman, as well as former country school teachers and students.
From the first schools in new states to the demise of their widespread use in the 1950s and 1960s, Country School: One Room - One Nation takes viewers "back to school" for a dramatic new look at the lasting impact of America's one-room schools.
Country School: One Room – One Nation was funded in part by Humanities Iowa, Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, the Wisconsin Humanities Council, Kansas Humanities Council, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Kelly and Tammy Rundle, of Fourth Wall Films, are the producers of four regional Emmy® nominated films including Country School: One Room - One Nation, Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City, River to River: Iowa’s Forgotten Highway 6, and Letters Home to Hero Street; and over a dozen award-winning documentaries including the Lost Nation: The Ioway 1, 2 & 3 series, Villisca: Living with a Mystery, The Barn Raisers, Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg. All of their DVD titles are available at FourthWallFilms.com.
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