My grandmother, (Lucille) Edna Mulder Zuidweg, graduated from Western Normal School and accepted a job as a teacher in Kent County for the 1931-32 school year.
1931-32 Teacher Contract
This contract, pictured above, shows that she was hired on at a salary of Xxxty-five dollars per month. That’s right: Xxx because that portion of the paper document has worn away over the years. Any guesses how much her salary was? $25? $45? $65? $85? It doesn’t look like it was over a hundred. I found a list of salaries in Johnson County, Kentucky, for the same year.
According to these salaries, it’s likely that, as a new teacher, my grandmother could have been hired in at $75 or $85 per month. If anybody has a better idea of salaries in rural Michigan at that time, I’d love to hear it.
When my grandmother started her teaching job, she had already been dating my grandfather, Adrian Zuidweg. They married at the end of the school year, on May 21, 1932, in South Bend, Indiana.
Adrian Zuidweg and Edna Mulder
1930
The Family Kalamazoo 