Walton children high school graduation

[Brenda]

Watching The Nurse today got me to thinking about the Walton children’s high school graduation. It was mentioned several times throughout the series that John wanted all his children to graduate from high school. We saw some of them graduate in an episode. For others, their graduation was implied. Here’s what I came up with. These are not their graduation years. These are the seasons their graduations occurred. Maybe someone else can add the years.

• John Boy: graduated Season 2 episode 22 The Graduation.
  

• Jason: apparently graduated in Season 3. He made a decision in The Choice (Season 3 episode 20) to apply for a music scholarship.
• Mary Ellen: apparently graduated in Season 4, Episode 13 The Nurse.
• Erin: graduated in Season 5 episode 17 The Career Girl.
• Ben: said “I’m next!” when they were discussing Mary Ellen’s graduation, but that’s the only reference to his graduation I can remember. In Season 5 Episode 23 The Go Getter, he seemed to be working full time as a car salesman. Did he graduate before Erin or after Erin? Did he graduate at all? I assume he did. He was thinking about going to college and becoming an engineer.
• Jim Bob: graduated in Season 8 Episode 23 The Valediction.
• Elizabeth: was still in school when the series ended.  

[JessicaGirlSpy]

I would loveto  do a series of fan fiction dealing with Mary Ellen's experiences at Medical School in Charlottesville.Mary Ellen and Erin are roommates. The challenges Mary Ellen faces being one of a few woman medical school students plus a widow mother. Eventually Elizabeth enrolls in the University of Virginia.

[ellaroo]

Jan 26, 2022 19:40:53 GMT -5 JessicaGirlSpy said:

I would live to series of fan fiction dealing with Mary Ellen's experiences at Medical School in Charlottesville.Mary Ellen and Erin are roommates. The challenges Mary Ellen faces being one of a few woman medical school students plus a widow mother. Eventually Elizabeth enrolls in the University of Virginia.

I kind of wish they made an episode or even a spin-off series dealing with Mary Ellen at med school but I'm not sure how well it'll do.

Hey, it's never too late to write fanfics of the "what ifs?"

[Brenda]

I’m still thinking about Ben and trying to determine when he graduated from high school. Today I watched The Intruders (Season 4 Episode 14) on MeTV. This is the episode that aired after The Nurse when Mary Ellen apparently graduated from high school and Ben said, “I’m next!” In this episode, Ben brought home a girl called Courtney and showed her around the farm. He told Mama that Courtney’s family had recently moved to the area. The children all seemed to know her, which leads me to believe that they knew her from school, and that is where Ben met her. Ben got upset when she called him “childish” and decided to leave home and look for a job. When he applied for a job in Charlottesville, he told a shopkeeper, “I’m going to be 16.” So he must have been 15, almost 16, in this episode, too young to be finished with school. This makes me think it was summer vacation. Otherwise, Ben wouldn’t have been able to leave home and get a full time job. Six episodes before this one in The Competition (Season 4 Episode 8), Erin was 15. We know this because Chad said he hadn’t  counted on falling in love with a 15-year old girl. Ben and Erin must have been very close together in age.

So, I still don’t know when Ben graduated, but I’ll keep watching and listening for clues, and adding to this thread until I either figure it out or give up. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Deleted]

^^^
The used car place had two different actors play the part of the owner, correct? 

There was an episode that  Ben went to the lot and said something like "Now that I have graduated, I was hoping to work for you full time". The owner was taking off to work in a defense plant because he could make more money as an employee, rather than a used car lot owner. 

I do not remember which episode it was. I do not know if it was before or after Pearl. 

[Easton]

In Season 2's 'The Substitute', Ben was in Grade 6, which would have been in the second half of 1933. Depending upon which grade they graduate (in Canada, we have grades 9 to 13, but I don't know about the US, especially during The Depression), you might be able to work it out from there, as long as you know the numbers.

www.allaboutthewaltons.com/timeline1.php

EDIT: In Season 5, 'The Go-Getter', Ben goes to work at Jarvis' Used Cars. That was in 1938.

[Brenda]

Today I watched “The Burnout” (Season 4, Ep 18). Ben was still in school in this episode, because he skipped school and went fishing with Yancy. So he hadn’t graduated yet.

[carol]

In The Grandchild S6 Ep 7 it was implied that Ben wasn't old enough to go with Grandpa to the burlesque show but Grandpa thought he was old enough and took him and Jim Bob who definitely was under age. I am thinking Ben may have been 17 and in his last year of high school at the time. I also thought if Ben was of age then John wouldn't have taken him aside when he found out they went to the show because he would have been an adult and it would have been his decision whether John liked it or not.

[Easton]

In Season 6's 'The Recluse', Ben finds out that Mr. Jarvis is closing down his car lot and Ben loses his job. (He moves to Norfolk.) Anyway, it's 1939 and Ben was hoping to work full-time since he had just graduated.

So, Ben graduated in 1939.

[Deleted]

We know that the general timeline is a little skewed and things don't always match up, much like the general map of the area, lol! They probably decided to just skip over Ben's graduation and focus on other things. He had a head for business and didn't seem to have a crisis like Erin about what to do. He would have been assumed to have graduated during hiatus of the show and they didn't write it in to the script. I doubt very much if John and Olivia would have allowed him not to graduate.

[Easton]

^ He would have graduated at the end of the '38 - '39 school year.

EDIT: You mentioned the ages. Erin used to be younger than Ben until Mary overtook Eric in height. Suddenly she was older. I think the producers should have left them the original ages and disregarded the height difference entirely. In the end, Eric was the shortest of the kids. That happens. (I'm the 5th of 5 boys in my family and I'm the tallest.)

[Deleted]

When they built the new mill it was for Walton and Sons and Jason wanted to go off and study music. Much later, after WWII, they made a big deal about putting up a "new" sign for Walton and Sons and then Ben wanted to go off and do something else. Wasn't it Walton and Sons all along, even when it was mostly Grandpa and John with the boys helping out. 

[Easton]

^ The new mill was built in 1935 (Season 3). With the boys gone to war, John decided to incorporate the mill and make Ben his partner. Ben wanted to become an engineer after the war and John was suitably upset but refused to stand in the way of Ben's ambitions. ('The Move', Season 9) However, when Olivia had to move to Arizona for her TB recovery, John went with her. (Ralph Waite had been 'let go' from the show.) Instead of seeing the mill close down, Ben decided to stay and run it as 'Waltons and Sons'.

[Deleted]

Yes, but my point is that they had already named it Walton and Sons before with Jason. The new mill was named that from the get-go.

[Easton]

^ I see where you're coming from. That was in Season 3, 'The Choice', where Jason wants to study music at Kleinburg. John has secured a loan to expand the business and name it 'Walton  & Sons Lumber Yard and Fine Furniture'. His intention for Jason was that Jason could learn a trade, but Jason didn't want any part of it.

It didn't become 'Walton and Sons' until Ben came back from the war and John left the show to move to Arizona.