In 1906 Ina Stocker and her mother came to Jackson County from Iowa where Stocker had taught school.
Ina began teaching at Beaver Creek School in the Applegate and soon met Nelson Pursel. They were married in Jacksonville in 1908 and later moved to the Yale Creek area. Now known as Ina Pursel, she taught in various schools throughout the Applegate Valley.
Pursel’s grandson, Gary West, tells of her riding each day on horseback to her one-room school. Upon arriving she would chop wood to build a fire in a small wood stove for the children. One photo shows her pulling children across the Applegate River in a trolley to get them to school.
Pursel taught for more than 50 years, 40 of them in small schools in the Upper Applegate. When the small schools were consolidated with Ruch in 1950, she began teaching mainly first graders at Ruch School until her retirement in 1958.
During her nearly 25 years of retirement, Pursel participated in many community organizations. She died in 1980 at age 93 and was buried in Jacksonville Cemetery next to her husband.
Source: Black, John, and Marguerite Black. Ruch and the Upper Applegate Valley. Medford: Webb Research Group, 1993. 107-13. Print; West, Gary. “Jerky from Gary West.” GaryWest.com . Web. 17 July 2014.
