K Mrs. Howard - a time to nap, play, milk and Graham crackers, puzzles, learning centers. She corrected me, when I spoke unkindly to a retarded boy near the playground tunnel. That never happened a second time.
My big heartbreak was that it was uncool for boys to speak to girls (yes, even in kindergarten), so my dearest friend, Greg would only play with me at home, not at school.
1 Mrs. Glover - about to retire a year later, the cafeteria became "Glover Hall”. We daily folded plain paper in twelfths each direction, to write our numbers to 100 before doing a math page each day.
2 Mrs. Beth Vaccaro - most loving. We were all "Sweetheart or Sugarplum" etc.
Bill Willson - in second grade classroom, when I did not square dance, Billy said something like, "I wouldn’t want to be part of a religion that did not allow dancing.”
That same year, Greg Donaldson (who had been placed in a special gifted class with Mrs. Copenhaver) asked me to dance at an event on the blacktop. I tried to explain, "I'm a Christian." "So am I, Come on” he said. No problem, I was delighted to join in, two left feet and all. ~Es
3 Mrs Searls taught cursive.
Tom Davenport's mom taught an after school Bible class at her house. She picked us up in her old station wagon. Kids loved chanting, "Give me a put, put." Then she'd make the car do that.
4. Mrs. Shazadae evolutionist. She pointed out my shyness as opposed to Steven Swall's boldness to the class. I longed to witness to her. She complained that her Christian husband who spent his time watching TV.
5 Mrs. Fielding had a baby, then we had a substitute.
Mother babysat for Shelly Yoder and her siblings one night. She told kids on the bus what a wonderful mother I have. I was delighted.
6 Mr. Wisenberger hit a dog on the way to work one morning so was very late coming in that day. He was likable but he paired us up [paired our desks] with a member of the opposite sex.
Mr. Lagrutta, music teacher often yelled, “You bunch of hamburgers!”
Classmates: Teresa Dorado, John Whittington, Gregory Donaldson (brother of Sandra McCoy), Shelly Yoder, Tom Davenport, Bill Willson, Mario Flores, Lynn Bettencourt, Joe Gulart, Allan Tidwell, Steve Swall, Tom Davenport, Danny Oden, Darlene Green, Anna Bastardo, Lorena Olivera… We were the first class to not continue there after 6th Grade. This was the beginning of Jr. High at Ivanhoe.
There were many reasons, I would not discuss here, that caused me to open my arms to homeschooling as a much wiser course.
