Local Legends: A dedicated teacher

Howard Nichol Kramer dedicated himself to teaching generations of students across northwestern Butler County during a 46-year career as a teacher, principal and superintendent.

Kramer was born on May 3, 1891 on the family farm located on Oxford-Trenton Road in Section 29 of Milford Township. He was the son of William Kramer and Amanda Kate (Nichol) Kramer, though his father died when he was just 9 years old in 1900.

Raised solely by his mother from that time onwards, Kramer and his four siblings grew up working the family farm and attending the one-room schoolhouse of the Jackson Special School District. Kramer later attributed his desire to teach to the teachers he had at the rural schools he attended.

In 1909, Kramer graduated from the Milford Township High School in Collinsville and went on to Miami University. He graduated from the school in 1912 with a B.A. and immediately headed for Fort Wayne, Indiana to learn the art of mechanical drawing at a technical school located there. 

With his new skill, Kramer came back to Butler County in 1913 and got a job as a draftsman at Herring-Hall-Marvin (H-H-M) Safe and Lock Company in Hamilton.

Kramer stayed at H-H-M for only three years until being called to teach. He accepted a position at Hanover High School that paid $80 a month. Looking back on his pay in 1955, Kramer commented “teacher salaries have improved over the years, but the other rewards are of far more importance. Working with young people isn’t the only satisfaction. A teacher has fine people for his colleagues, people who share his interest in education, people who have high standards and are interested in the school, the church and the community.”

After a year at Hanover, Kramer went back to his alma mater, Collinsville, to teach while simultaneously taking care of his aging mother. At Collinsville, he taught every subject, including Latin. He also met his future wife Mabel C. (Battrick) Kramer, another teacher at the school.

Kramer left to become the principal of Oxford Public Schools in 1920, but first married Mabel, to the surprise of many, at her family home in Williamsfield, Ashtabula County on Aug. 25, 1920. The newlyweds moved to Oxford, living at 201 South Main Street for the rest of their lives and raising their two children, Robert Kramer and Helen (Kramer) Randels, there.  

Mabel continued teaching at Collinsville and later also taught at New Miami High School before her retirement in 1963. 

The years that immediately followed were characterized by loss for the family, starting with the death of Kramer’s mother in 1921. The subsequent sale of the family farm triggered another family tragedy in 1923. Kramer’s sister-in-law, Bertha (Shollenbarger) Kramer, who had already been undergoing treatment for mental illness for some time, shot and killed Kramer’s brother Scott Kramer before attempting to commit suicide out of fear that they would lose their farm as well. Bertha was sent to Lima State Hospital where she died by suicide in 1932.

In spite of these events, Kramer made a name for himself as an educator and began taking classes in the summers at Columbia University. He completed his master’s degree from Columbia in 1926.

Even as his position transformed from principal to superintendent of Oxford Township and Oxford Village Schools, Kramer continued to be a classroom teacher. He had to deal with a major controversy in 1928, which entailed accusations that his school was “turning out poor spellers,” prompting him to create a prize for the best graduating spellers. Other matters were of greater importance, including the construction of a new school building, the Stewart School, which opened in 1930.  

While Kramer served at the helm of the district for 27 years, he decided to step away from administration in 1947. He foresaw the coming consolidation of local schools and felt that “a younger man was needed to assume the responsibility” of overseeing the mergers. Instead, Kramer happily settled into teaching math, science, physics and geography at Stewart.

As a testament to his ability and impact on his students, Kramer was named “Teacher of the Half-Century” in 1955. As part of the community celebration of his career thus far, a former student called him “a teacher you remember for a lifetime.”

When asked about the nature of students at the time compared to when he started, Kramer’s remarks sounded eerily similar to contemporary discussions of phone and internet usage in schools by students, “Thirty years ago students did come to class better prepared…there were no distractions then, no radio, no television, and fewer social activities.”

Kramer joined the faculty of the new Talawanda High School teaching math and science in 1956, where he continued to be a favorite of students and coworkers, and sponsored the Hi-Y Club, as he had done for several years. Evidence of this can be seen in Talawanda’s chapter of the Future Teachers of America being named in his honor in 1957 and the 1961 Talawanda Triumvirate yearbook being dedicated to him ahead of his retirement at the end of that school year.

At the dedication ceremony of Howard N. Kramer Elementary School the following February, Superintendent Robert W. Bogan recounted that the board’s decision to dedicate the new school building to Kramer was unanimous. Also speaking at the event was John Blackford, superintendent of the Butler County School District, who said the school was “dedicated to a dedicated teacher…one of the most dedicated teachers I’ve ever known.”  

In awe of the honor, Kramer said he “felt like Cinderella” and was afraid he would awake and it would all have been a dream. Always student focused, Kramer ended his remarks by stating it was his desire that the building “will continue to house and to promote the best in education for our children and our community.”

Kramer wasn’t idle in retirement. He worked in support of at least one school levy for Talawanda and remained highly involved with the Oxford United Presbyterian Church and the Butler County Retired Teachers Association. He was a man of many hobbies, and occupied himself through gardening, hunting, taking photographs, rooting on the Reds and Miami sports teams, golfing and traveling with Mabel.  

Kramer died on June 6, 1990, at age 99, at Hillcrest Estates Nursing Home in Liberty, Indiana.  He was buried with his family in Darrtown Cemetery.

The Kramers’ children also grew up to be educators with Robert serving as a teacher, counselor and vice principal at Middletown High School and Helen teaching math and computer programming at The Ohio State University. Helen, at age 90, was also there for the dedication of a new Kramer Elementary School in 2017, just as she had been 55 years earlier for the dedication of the first school building named after her father.

Brad Spurlock is the manager of the Smith Library of Regional History and Cummins Local History Room, Lane Libraries.  A certified archivist, Brad has over a decade of experience working with local history, maintaining archival collections and collaborating on community history projects. He also serves as a board member for Historic Hamilton Inc. and the Butler County Historical Society.