Sharing Memories - Grades 7 and 8

     For me, grade 7 was the start of a new beginning. I think it was for many, but for me in particular, it was because I had moved to a new area and so I was literally starting over again. We always hope with a new beginning, even at the tender ages of 11 and 12, that we won't make the same mistakes we made in our last school, will be more popular, won't be bullied, would stand out etc. We had moved in June, so I had made a few friends, but most of them were going to a Catholic school and the rest were not in any of my classes. Being that my current school for some reason didn't allow for my good grades to stand for themselves by putting me in a regents class, I started out in the general class. Elementary school was not separated by IQs, so this was something new to me. Another new girl P, was in the same situation. Her name interestingly enough, came right after mine in roll call and we not only ended up dear friends, we also followed each other alphabetically all through school sharing many of the same classes. We both knew something was wrong when the material was so easy for us. The powers that be realized it as well and after the first semester, we were transferred into the honor's class. That was wonderful, we both enjoyed the challenge, but it brought along with it two things - having to make new friends all over again and having to start "New Math" with a semester deficit. P was a little more science and math minded than I and picked it up after a bit, but I was lost and stayed lost pretty much for the rest of my high school math career!! Of course, they threw New Math out shortly after, but it was all I had to enter the realm of higher math. (note: see wiki regarding what New Math was here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Math.)

     We met a few really nice girls and that little group of ours still remains connected meeting once a year for a day of lunch, reminiscing and catching up. We spent much of grades 7 and 8 writing and passing notes to each other which became named our "personal science notes" One of us actually kept them all and every now and then we read through them for a good laugh.Another thing we enjoyed during junior high was making corsages for each others birthdays. Back then it was a big thing and you could tell how popular a girl was by how many corsages she had. One girl in particular always had her entire dress front covered. Each year had a different theme: 12 -Pennys, 13- bubble gum, 14- dog biscuits, 15 -lifesavers, 16- sugar cubes (for sweet 16), 17 - lemon drops, 18 - cigarettes. Basically you made a corsage which had ribbons hanging off it with the year's pieces attached to them. The number of pieces attached corresponded with the year itself.  We decided they were looking tacky, so we chipped in the buy a corsage done at the florist shop with carnations and the pieces

     I had my first boyfriend the summer between 7th and 8th. His name was Gary and he lived in my neighborhood. I first thought something was up when my girlfriend and I were sitting on the brick gates to our development and the boys sitting on the gates across from us started throwing crab apples at us. I looked at my friend as if to say "what's up with this?" and she said, "I think one of them likes you!" I will never understand why throwing  things at someone means you like them, but she was right. The next day they were sitting on the curb across the street from my house. My mom thought it was a hoot, but said not to encourage them. This went on for several days till I finally got a note inside my mailbox from Chris telling me his friend Gary liked me. I hadn't a clue what to do about it. Gary Donnelly was a cutie, a year older but several inches shorter than me. I figured what the heck and enjoyed much of the summer hanging out with them and my other friends, till the fateful day of "the kiss".  My friend JoAnn and I were sitting on a hill behind our development and Chris and Gary happened along and joined us. Gary, as usual, sat next to me and we enjoyed talking about the usual interests of pre-teens. Out of nowhere, Chris said, "Kiss her Gary." JoAnn chimed in, "Yeah, kiss her." So Gary leaned over and kissed me! All I knew to do was sock him like I read about Anne of Green Gables doing to Gilbert! Oh my gosh, he was SO mad! They both cleared out and the next thing I knew as we made our way down to the street, there was a huge sign in chalk at the intersection of my street and his that said "Linda Rots! Linda Pots!" Of course everyone saw it and I was a bit humiliated, but it eventually blew over. I never did hang out with Gary again, though years later Chris had a crush on me and we hung out for a while.

     My main memory from 8th grade was Mr. Heinz's English class. I loved him! He was so much fun and always had us reading interesting things. He is directly responsible for two things - introducing me to the Broadway theater and my obsession as a teen with Davy Jones! In the fall, for a class trip, we went to see Oliver! at the Imperial Theater in NYC. Back then you could get seats in the nosebleed section for $5, so everyone got to go. My mom gave me my aunt's opera glasses so I could see things better. This was even better than the movies! It grabbed my imagination, my love of music and the feeling of being directly involved in the process was amazing. I knew then and there that I wanted to perform in musicals. It starred the fantastic Georgia Brown as Nancy and Clive Revill as Fagin. The part of the Artful Dodger was played by a young British actor named David Jones. I was instantly in love! You can see David at the bottom of the stairs in the above photo which also has my ticket stub from the second time I saw it. 

      I wanted to meet him, but of course on a school trip there is no time for hanging about. So I decided to write him and got a reply very quickly. Thus began the plotting and planning to see the show again. Luckily my dad worked in Manhattan, so I had a way in and back.

I went to see the show again in the summer, but this time, made sure I got there early to hang at the stage door before the show to see if I could catch him. I did! After the show, my dad and I ended up having tea with him in the diner across the street.  Thus began a simple "friendship" with David (he never really liked being called Davy) that was fully fueled by a massive crush. Everyone was so aware of it that at my 40th reunion people mentioned it! I am sure he knew that, but he was really nice about it. I made friends with a few of his friends and while I didn't hang with him much in his off time, he always remembered me long after he became famous as one of The Monkees. I wrote a series of articles about my times with him for Flip magazine when I was 17. I tore out my pix from it because I didn't like them, but here is one of the articles.                                                     

A few years later, he did me a favor by writing a lovely letter to a girl with hodgkins who had written me after the article appeared in Flip. Here is a copy of his letter to her... I find it  interesting as
I look back at these years, how much the affected my life. I went on to appear in my high school's musicals, Up With People, starred in many community theater shows and even sang in Europe!

Grades 5 and 6

     As I mentioned in last weeks post, I am attempting to do 52 weeks of sharing memories. This week we are into grades 5 and 6.
     I am looking at my report cards for both grades and see that I had aa problem in the last quarter of grade 5 with English - which I can't even imagine as it has always been my favorite subject - ask my kids - I love grammar and spelling and reading most anything I can get my hands on. They went through countless drills of diagramming sentences and reading the classics when I homeschooled them. All my habits were commendable and I was a good student. I do notice that Math was starting to rear its ugly head and my lack of interest in all things Science was also starting to show.

     Interestingly I don't recollect a lot about fifth grade, I was still friends with Janet Engel, but a new girl moved into the neighborhood named Betty Ann Cleary and we just hit it off and I spent many days after school at her house. She was from a large family and lived in a two story house, whereas we lived in a little cape cod. Sometime around 5th grade I got the measles and not listening to my parents, kept curtains open so the sun could shine in and continues reading - it would later be said to be the cause of my needing glasses.
     My sister and brother were growing older and now the three of us were sharing a room. I remember when my parent set up the bunk bed, my sister climbed onto the top and promptly fell off - needless to say, I got top bunk. We had a screened in porch right off our bedroom and there was a lovely glider that  you could make into a double bed of sorts - i spent many hot and steamy summer nights sleeping out there.

I had a huge crush on a boy named Jon Card. He was an Air Force brat as Mitchell Field Base was in our school district.  Jon was particularly talented. He did great imitations of Elvis and called himself Elwood Pretzel and we girls thought he was t he best. He had a great voice and we always enjoyed hearing him sing songs like Sink the Bismark and Battle of New Orleans at school talent shows. I can still hear his voice in my mind - isn't that funny?
     I played clarinet in band after giving up on the violin - my grandfather thought I was going to be the next Henny Youngman, when I switched, it became Benny Goodman! By sixth grade I was playing first chair.

In sixth grade, by the second semester, a lot of my grades started slipping and no one could figure out why. Then neighbors started to complain I was ignoring them when they waved at me>  My mom decided maybe it was time I get my eyes checked. Now I have a great memory and at school when they tested us, there was always a line so by the time my turn came, I just gave them the lines I memorized. I don't think I really thought about it meaning I needed glasses, I just didn't like to do poorly on things. Yes, I needed glasses, and yes they were ugly! We got these awful cat's eye frames - like this, but in pale blue

I thought they were hideous and did everything I could think of to get rid of them, but mom always found them - I even broke them, but she got me a new pair. My report card shows the change - and also those awful Math grades - I really think because I couldn't see the board for a semester or two I lost a lot of what I needed the next year in what was called New Math.

I did love the front of my report card which I never really looked at until I took it out to scan it -look what it says at the bottom in a message to parents - might be a good thing to think about today.

     Towards the end of sixth grade, my parents made the decision to move out to Suffolk County and buy a bigger home. We spent many weekends going out there to see how the building was coming along and Betty Ann often came along. My dad was very particular and checked every little thing. He even marked off trees he did not want cut down. Like my friend Janet, Betty Ann also liked to sing and was picked to sing for our graduation. She sang an old Irish Air - The Last Rose of Summer, which I fondly remembered and sang to my children and now my grandchildren. It always seems to quiet them down to go to sleep! We had a field day just before graduation and I did pretty well, winning the 40 yard dash and coming in second with Betty Ann in the three-legged race. Somewhere along the line I lost what little athleticism I had and never won anything physical again!  I was devastated when I learned we were moving the day after graduation which meant I would miss all the parties. It took me a long time to get over that. Betty Ann and I had big plans, but sadly they went out the window. We stayed friends writing back and forth until senior year of high school when I went to visit and see all my old friends. The next year she was off to college and we lost touch.

     The town we moved to was called Hauppauge which was an Indian name that meant sweet water. It was so different compared to Uniondale. While there were neighborhoods, there were no stores, restaurants - nothing unless you went two miles into town by highway, which at 11 I was not allowed to do. Even at that, there was only a small 5 and dime store, a luncheonette, movie theater and Grants. The post office was in a small house and the library was also in a house. I was used to  lots of things to do and places to go, so it was a huge adjustment. I remember seeing a Sheriff's car, which I had never seen in my life, and thinking, Oh my gosh, we're in Mayberry RFD with Sheriff Andy and Opie! Happily though, I eventually made new friends and was happy in my new home -with my OWN room!

Sharing Memories

   I have been following Lorine Massey's blog Olive Tree Genealogy (http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.ca/p/sharing-memories.html) for a year now and always mean to participate in her yearly idea plan. I have missed January and most of February, but this year I would like to try to stay consistent in blogging. Each week she gives bloggers a jump off point to write about ensuring that at the end of the year, they have 52 stories about their grandparents, parents and themselves to pass down to their families.
     This weeks challenge is "Do you remember grades 3 and 4?" Who was your best friend? Do you have any report cards from those grades? Who was your best friend? Who was your teacher? What was your classroom like? How big was your school and how far from home? Did you walk or take a bus to school?

     Well, I really have to put my thinking cap on for this one - after all it was back in 1958-9! We had moved the winter before from the Bronx, NY to Uniondale, which is in Nassau County on Long Island. This was a big move for me. I had been living with my grandparents in their duplex, in a neighborhood filled with duplex buildings, with my mom, dad and baby sister sleeping in the second floor apartment with my grandparents, my great grandfather in the ground floor apartment and my grand aunt living in the basement apartment - I slept with Aunt Mae in the basement. Now we were living in a neighborhood of single family homes with lots of kids and a public school. For first and part of second grade I had attended Lutheran schools, so public school was still pretty new for me. I had been in combined classes of 60+ students and now was in a classroom of about 25. The Lutheran schools were in the city and had no grassy playgrounds, just pavement, and I don't recall any swings or slides. We played typical city games outside - Mother May I, Red Light Green Light, Jump-rope etc. and occasionally went to a nearby park for recess. My new school had a huge playground with swings, slides, monkey bars and even a baseball diamond where we played kickball. It was like heaven!

      I had to take two buses on the regular bus lines to get to school in the Bronx. My  uncle and aunt who were only 5 and 7 years older than me were also at the same school, so they were in charge of me on the 5 block walk to the bus and the bus ride. Living in Uniondale, I was allowed to walk to school by myself. We were just under 3/4 of a mile away, so there was no bus service for us. I enjoyed the walk there and back as there were always friends to pal around with. The school was called Walnut Street School and we used to say it was where all the little nuts go!

      My third grade teacher was Miss Caypinar. I believe her background was Turkish. Our neighborhood was a melting pot with people whose families came from all over the globe. I remember she was short with jet black hair. Third grade was where you earned the right to use a pen. If your penmanship had reached a certain standard, then you received the long awaited permission - it was a big deal! I remember wanting so badly to get a Parker or Papermate pen - and dreamed of getting one that was scented. We didn't have Bic pens back then - the other hoped for pen was a one that held a cartridge of liquid ink and wrote like an old fashioned dip in the inkwell style pen. We still had holes for ink on our desktops. You had to be almost impeccable in your use of those because they smeared so easily, but I couldn't wait to try. I had a nice group of friends, most of whom lived within 2 or 3 blocks from me. We enjoyed playing outside after school with all the other neighborhood kids; back then we hung out with kids both older and younger than we were. There was always a game of kickball or spud going on in the street. I enjoyed roller skating and loved getting to put my metal skates over my shoes and using the key to tighten them. When a neighbor had their driveway resurfaced, you could guarantee all the skaters would be there the next day to enjoy the smooth ride! We also made our own Chinese jump ropes out of saved rubber bands, played jump rope with old pieces of clothes line and my dad built me a buckboard out of carriage wheels and scraps of wood. In winter we were all outside making igloos and slides like this one. I am inside the igloo with my neighbors Steve McGowan and Laura Thalhammer outside.That's my house in the background.

     My best friend was Janet Engle. She and I shared a love of Ginny dolls and Anne of Green Gables. Actually, it was her mom who first told me about Anne. She was from Canada where I think every young girl read it, but in the US it wasn't popular at the time and I borrowed the books from Janet. I made my mom get wigs for two of my Ginny dolls, so they could be Anne with long braids and Anne with short hair after the bungled dye job! Janet and I were always in constant competition to see who was the best singer. We would stage shows and sing songs like Casey Would Waltz with the Strawberry Blond and songs from South Pacific. The big problem was that usually the judge was her younger sister, so you can imagine how that turned out!

     Miss Sill was my fourth grade teacher and she was a world traveler. We were deep into the "Cold War" at that time and spent many a day practicing how to avoid being killed by a bomb. "Duck and cover" was our motto, though I have yet to understand how that was going to save us!

Miss Sill felt that learning Russian might be good for us - another thing I am not sure I understand! Did she think Russia was going to invade the U.S. and take it over?  I still remember a smattering of the words and phrases she taught, along with the travelogue of her photos from Russia. Hmm....maybe she was a sympathizer!

     I really enjoyed fourth grade, I was always one to want to learn more - and the difficulties of math hadn't reared its ugly head. It's funny the things you do remember. I remember our gym teacher showing us how to fall off a ladder or high place without hurting ourselves. Everyone got a turn to "fall off" the ladder, tuck in and roll. We also were separated into classes for the boys (Shop) and the girls (Home Ec). Schools today don't teach this till middle school and only for a year whereas we were taught from grades 3-8. We girls learned to knit by making squares to be sewn into lap afghans for the World War II vets, how to sew ditty bags for our gym clothes, and make tasty (not) things like Welsh Rarebit. The boys started with the usual ashtrays and worked their way up to salad bowls and such. Janet Engel continued to be my best friend and we enjoyed many days of playing dolls, house, and those darn talent shows!

     I went back to Uniondale six years ago, I hadn't been there since we moved out to Hauppauge in Suffolk County, NY in 1962. The houses all looked the same, but they had one huge difference - many had iron bars on the windows. I continued on to the elementary school and high school and was shocked to see a large iron gate around them and policemen checking each kid as they entered the area. It made me so sad. I guess my parents had seen the writing on the wall and its why they chose to move further out on the island. I was happy that it at least looked nice and clean like it did when I was a child. I have many fond memories of my four years in Uniondale and it was fun taking the time to think of them!