Elbert Redwine attended Jefferson elementary in Norman, Oklahoma between 1920-1927. "Many of us were poor kids. Some children came to school barefoot. We had sack lunches from home or went home for lunch everyday when the noon bell rang. In the early part of the 1920's parents in town began to provide a 'Jefferson Jitney Lunch.' It became a weekly event during the twenties. Parents would bring all kinds of food that day and set up portable tables arranged in the first-floor hallway. It cost a nickel for each serving of food. I always had two nickels to spend."
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My personal thirst for stories took hold by 1984 when my elementary school celebrated its 90th anniversary. The stories returning students told brought tears and laughter to our faces. These stories come from the hearts of former Jefferson Dragons, whose lives developed from the values of our public schools.
A 'jitney lunch' became a theme of the stories from the 1920's-1950's when schools did not offer lunches. The descriptions and definitions of 'jitney' vary from a 'jitney taxi' in San Francisco meaning a cheap nickel ride to a meal as simple as a hot lunch consisting of hot dogs, soup and/or homemade dessert. Jitney lunches were served at churches, schools, public parks, and sometimes advertised in diners.
While some newspapers wrote that a 'jitney lunch' was a cheap uninspiring meal, other people stood in line to enjoy the hot food and homemade desserts by volunteers. For many it may have been the only meal of the day.
In 1932 Clara Furbee Worley shared this memory of attending Jefferson. "I remember one teacher, a small lady, who wore a fur coat. When she was on the play ground during recess, I used to put my hands in her coat pockets to keep my hands warm. You will have to remember that this is the depression, and I had no gloves." Clara lived six blocks away and described running home for lunch every day since they did not have a cafeteria. "On special occasions the school or the churches offered a 'jitney lunch' for us. It usually costs a nickel for the meal."
"During the depression years sometimes there were very few of us who came to school in shoes. There were lots of kids who were very underprivileged. My father, Dr. Charles R. Rayburn, was a physician (psychiatrist) at the state hospital and my mother was always room-mother. On special days she brought a freezer of home cranked ice cream and cupcakes," explained Rosalie Rayburn Renfro. "We all went home for lunch and those of us who lived close to school ran back early to school to play jacks before they rang the bell. We played with a golf ball and metal jacks. We also played London Bridge and Farmer in the Dell in the lower grades. On May Day there was the winding of the Maypole. One year I was an attendant to the May Queen."
"Times were tough back then," writes Bill Saxon, "Many children at Jefferson elementary worked to support their large families. I distinctly remember Bear Jensen, who went on to become one of our star athletes at Norman High School, worked at the "Daily Oklahoman" for three hours every morning before coming to grade school in the 1930's."
Wallace Collins shared this piece of school history. "While my mother, Lois Collins was president of the PTA, they instituted what I believe was the very first hot lunch program for Jefferson. The PTA gathered sponsors to support the hot meals on every Friday of the school year. This would have been about 1952. The meals featured hot dogs, chips, and milk. The food items were donated by local merchants such as Greenleaf Grocery Store and Gilt-Edge Dairy (now Hyland Dairy). In addition to the Friday hot lunch, Gilt Edge Dairy agreed to deliver daily, half pint cartons of milk to the school at mid-morning to any student that wanted to subscribe for it. The cost was 3 cents each. I remember getting the milk, and many of us were thrilled when Guilt Edge expanded the milk option to include chocolate milk! These lunches were often referred to as “Jitney” lunches."
Beginning in 1953 Jefferson offered a daily lunchroom meal. Judy Jones Wilson writes, "My mother devoted the last ten years of her life as the head cook. She was famous for her hot breads. Every day we would have wonderful hot rolls. she even made her own hamburger buns."
By the early 1950's the term "jitney" dropped out of use because it implied cheapness or anything dilapidated, or ramshackled, such as jitney pianos, jitney paintings, or jitney houses.
