Wednesday, October 11, 2017
SJHS teacher shares connections to her Salem High School teachers
By HELEN MARIE POTTER HAYES
As a junior attending Salem High School
(SHS) at 230 North Lincoln Avenue, I had a
wonderful woman by the name of Mrs.
Helen Mulbach for junior English.
Her room was 212, last room by the back
door of the building. I enjoyed her English
class and am probably the reader I am today
because of it. Move forward 20 some years
in time, and I am teaching math in the same
building, though it was by then the Salem
Junior High School. I was assigned to the
same room that Mrs. Mulbach had.
Often during the school day, in the mid-
Helen Carol
Mulbach Kelley
Generations of students have studied in the beautiful library at 230 North Lincoln Ave.
dle of a math lesson, the closet door in the
back of the room would pop open!
My students would always be startled by
that door opening, seemingly on its own.
I would tell them: “Don’t worry. It is just
Mrs. Mulbach checking on me."
I don't believe in ghosts, but I liked think-
ing of Mrs. Mulbach, and it provided a
humorous break in the day. The most likely
reason the door opened was the change in air
pressure when people opened the main rear
door of the building, right next to Room
212.
My other SHS story revolves around
Century of Education 11
another SHS teacher: Miss Carol Kelley. She
was my geometry teacher when I was a soph-
omore. In that class, with Miss Kelley as my
teacher, I could really see a future for
myself. I loved math, I loved geometry, and
her example gave me direction and a view of
my future.
Helen Marie Potter Hayes, a 1957 Salem
High School graduate, longtime Salem
teacher, and for the past 20 years office
coordinator for the Salem High School
Alumni Association, shared her fond memo-
ries and interesting connections to two Salem
teachers who influenced her life.