p>  Education, dedication and over 80 is a good way to describe Weltha and Wilder Burnside of Rt. 1 Walkerton. Each started teaching in the little old fashioned one room school house which came to represent days gone by, but it was Mrs. Burnside who continued in the profession, putting in over 30 years of service. Her husband turned to masonry and farming.
  Mrs. Burnside will celebrate her 80th birthday on Labor Day. Her husband turned 86 on August 21st.
  Mrs. Burnside was born in Monon near Lafayette and began teaching when she was 18. She taught two years at her birthplace before moving to South Bend with her family. There she got a job teaching the third grade until she married Wilder in 1922. "that was the time they wouldn't hire a married teacher." Mrs. Burnside said.
  Mrs. Burnside remembers that first meeting quite well. She said that his two sisters were rooming with her family at Walkerton and Wilder would come up to hunt. After his sisters informed him about a single girl he should meet, he came to the house bearing gifts. "He brought me a dressed rabbit and a gallon of syrup," Mrs. Burnside said and turned to her husband, "you don't remember that do you?" He admitted that he didn't.
  Wilder was born and raised in Tyner. Like his father he became a self-employed mason and was in the business 27 years before turning to farming. He was also a veteran of WW1. "Sixty -one years ago I was in England in the Air Force assembling planes," Wilder reflected. He said he was originally trained to fire a machine gun, but before he could be assigned, his unit was shipped overseas to assemble planes for the war. "I come from a military family," he said. "My granddad was in the Civil War, my son was a bombadier in WW2 and my grandsons were in Vietnam. The nasty stuff," he paused and finished.
  Wilder did not finish his senior year of high school before a $60 a month teaching job lured him to North Dakota. He said the pay in Indiana was $45 a month. He taught school for two years before he returned to school to finish his high school education.
  Mrs, Burnside quit teaching for 22 years to raise her family of one son, Lyle. When most women are settling back to wait on the arrival of grandchildren,

Mrs. Burnside accepted a teaching job at Teegarden for the third and fourth grade. It was a time when teachers were scarce. She was there three years before she was hired at Walkerton as an elementary school teacher. It was from there that she retired in 1971 after 26 years of teaching in the Polk-Lincoln-Johnson School Corporation. At this occasion the school board wrote her a letter to praise this great teacher whom the corporation would be losing. It read in part: "not all teachers have the calling to be a great teacher. You have. Not all teachers have unselfish dedication. You have. Not all teachers genuinely love and respect their students and job. You have. You will never be forgotten."

  Mrs. Burnside said she got her teacher's license the hard way through extension campuses and correspondence courses. She graduated from Valparaiso University and also attended Indiana University and Ball State
  The Burnsides moved to their present home near Walkerton in 1942. Wilder said he built all the buildings on the property except for the barn.
  In addition to their one son who lives in South Bend, they have three grandchildren.
  As a farmer Wilder first milked cows. "Until my ticker went bad then I raised hogs," he said.
  As the years began to catch up with the couple, the farm was sold but the Burnsides are far from invalids. Mrs. Burnside's hobby can be seen on the arms of her livingroom chairs in the form of colorful patchwork quilts. I don't know how many quilts I've made," she said. Wilder's hobby can also be seen in the living room as beautifully sculpted walnut end tables, bookcases and furniture. He said the pieces were made from trees on his farm and made with his own hands. In the winter time he makes picnic tables in his basement to sell. He said he had his own workshop complete with lathe.
   Wilder celebrated his birthday before their son left for Florida with the neighbors bringing ice cream and cake. Mrs. Burnside said she was not expecting any elaborate celebration. "It's enough to know the neighbors think about us," she said.