November 9, 2010
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Just so you won’t think that I left you hanging …..with my decision to move to the Philippines I will pick that story up later …..maybe next weekend.
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Fourth Grade
Going into fourth grade was a bit scary because the fourth grade teacher was the Reynolds’s school principal, Miss Grieves. Everybody talked about how strict and grumpy she was.
It was interesting that Miss Grieves was a very good friend of my Grandma Richs’ and she lived in a house close to my Grandma and Grandpa Rich lived. Before I had a chance to get very scared, Miss Grieves cornered me and ask me to use my bicycle to pick up and return movies from the high school building about 8 blocks away toward the downtown area.
We would have special movies in the gymnasium about 2 to 3 times a week, That meant I was kept pretty busy and the “movie delivery person”. I was also selected to be the crossing guard at the 4th street intersection north of the school building.
I would put on my special orange colored belt and strap and position myself at the corner for about a half hour 3 times a day. It was my job to make sure my fellow students obeyed the rules about crossing the street and to report any automobile violators to Miss Grieves.
Fourth grade was actually a good year as the first three years had been. All of my duties meant I didn’t have to read as much and I found that was a good way to avoid my reading problem. I was promoted to the fifth grade at the end of that school year.
Fifth Grade
My teacher in fifth grade was Miss Devine. Her reputation was that of a very sober person (never smiling) and a teacher that gave a lot of study assignments. Shortly after I started the third grade my Grandma Logan (Ben) came to me and told me a new renter had just moved into one of their vacant upstairs apartments in Grandma and Grandpa Bens’ apartment house.
She told me that the new lady was a teacher at the school that I attended. Her name was Miss Devine! WOW, that was cool, now I had first hand access to my teacher through my Grandma and Grandpa. I thought “How could I be so lucky?” Well I don’t think it was luck, as many other things in my life were not left to luck.
I remember she as me to sit up in the front row which enabled me to see and hear better. I remember I read slow, but she seemed to be very understanding of my reading problem and I hadn’t said anything to her about it.
I remember that she would ask me to go to the grocery store for her when she needed some small item. Grandma and Grandpas’ house was pretty close to a small grocery store on Main street. Miss Devine would always give me a small treat for running the errand for her.
Nothing too exciting happened in 5th grade but I was really looking forward to my next grade, sixth grade.
Sixth Grade
Mrs. Ditzell was the only married teacher I had in grade school. The main thing I was attracted to in sixth grade was the art class. I got some really good grades in Mrs. Ditzell’s class as a result of my art and drawing ability.
Again I was able to avoid a lot of reading that I was able to cover up with my art talent. One other thing I remember is that since I was in sixth grade we sixth graders were the “King of the mountain” …we were the seniors of the Reynolds grade school and we liked that status.
My next year, I would be going to a different school. The Lincoln school or West school as it was sometimes referred to. It was on the West side of Main street where I lived and only 5 block to walk as compared to the 9 blocks to Reynolds school.
Seventh Grade
Seventh grade was a big transition for me. It was a big transition in many ways; we had different teachers for the different subjects and would move from one classroom to another unlike staying in the same room for all of out subjects. I had some difficulty with my English class and Geography class due to my poor reading ability.
We had Industrial Arts class taught by Mr. Zart, the first male teacher I ever had. I liked that class because it was mostly “a hands on” class. I participated in Glass etching, Mechanical drawing, photography and was the shore attendant where my classmates would get their supplies. I had to receive their payments and keep track of the money spent.
One very important thing about Mr. Zart was that he had a paddle that he would use on our behinds if we did something not in the rules. I remember I got a swat on the butt once and remembered it.
It was in the latter part of the school year that my parents made the decision to move to a different location. I remember I was very sad because I didn’t think I ever wanted to move away fro the fire station.The decision was made because mom was going to have a baby and dad didn’t think that the fire station was a good place to raise 3 children. My uncle Dale, dad’s oldest brother was a district representation fore the Mobile Gas company and found dad a job as a tank wagon driver in a town called Sac City, Iowa, about 60 miles straight south of Spencer.
I had about two months of seventh grade left when they decided to move. I was fortunate because my Aunt Imajean and Uncle Swede along with my cousin, Webb said that I could live with them to finish out my 7th grade year.
That worked out real great because Aunt Imajean helped me with my English, we were diagramming sentences. At the end of the year I was very good at diagramming sentences.
When the time came for me to move to Sac City with the rest of my family, I did so without very much trouble.
My next Blog will pick up with my move to Sac City and the beginning of my 8th grade year of school.
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