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Chapter 3

Adolescence

School days, school days, good old golden rule days,
Reading and writing and arithmetic,
All to the tune of a licorice stick .......
Remember that?

I remember a little about kindergarten. The schoolroom was on the corner of the block where, what I remember as, the Jr. High School playground was. Of course when dad went to school at Russell High School this was the High School. This kindergarten was more like a baby setting service. We were ushered into a large room with our blankies and socialized with the other new students. Little did we know that we would spend the next twelve years with these boys and girls? For small town kids it was that way. There were a few kids who moved out of town and a few new ones who moved into town. But with only a few changes these were the children that I graduated with from the "New" Russell High School. There must not have been many significant events because I do not remember any of them. I just remember the building and the huge room with all of the blankets on the floor and the instructions to take a nap frequently.

My next memories in school were in primary grade school one block west of Main Street on Maple Street. In this school recess in the playground was the big memory. We had a lot of fun playing on the jungle gym and general running around. In class I remembered the horror of being called on to read out loud in class. I was so shy that to be called upon to do anything in front of the class was tantamount to death. (How did I ever become a manager in IBM giving speeches in large auditoriums?) The school system failed me in these early days because it took me years to get over these memories.

Some time early in my life we moved to a new house in the Theron Addition on Oakdale Street. Bert and I spread out quickly and met all of the children in the new section that we could. I remember playing with Jack and Jill Karst one block up the street. I especially remember playing with Jill in the attic over their garage. We were into playing house with all of those child dishes, pots and pans, etc… Can you imagine me with dishes and such things, and remember it! We were whisked off to Sunday school every Sunday to the Old Methodist Church that was on the corner of Main Street and Sixth Street. Mom was a Sunday school teacher so we could not get away with anything. My grandfather had a drinking problem. He was mom's father. The Church confronted her about her father's problem and how it affected her teaching Sunday school. We left the Methodist Church immediately and joined the Congregational Church. Their loss because Dad was a big donator of time and money.

It must be around this time that we took our vacation to the East Coast visiting New York City and Hartford, Connecticut. It was also around this time that Uncle Hank came home from his WWII assignment. We enjoyed the short time that he stayed with us. Shortly after we returned Mom and Dad began the project to build our new house at 109 South Culp Street and we went to live with Grandma and Grandpa. I have already told that story.

While we lived with Grandma and Grandpa on 741 East Third Street we walked to school which was across Main Street. I think it may have been four or five blocks. It seemed like miles. This little excursion took me past the Cunningham's house and the Bernard's house. I struck up conversations with Mr. Cunningham and eventually the friendship got me a job in his Standard gasoline station. Passing the Bernard house caused little heartthrobs for their daughter was the apple of my eye. Of course I never talked to her because I was too shy and she was two years my senior. The experience of walking to school was very enlightening for this young boy. I met Nancy Peterson, the girl to become Craig Jackson's wife. I met Gerson Stern and his parents. He was one of the originals in my kindergarten class. These people all lived on my way to school.

The time was near the end of my sixth grade, May 1952. The school had an auditorium / Gymnasium / dance hall / theater all rolled into one room with a very high ceiling. We did it all in that room. We held our gym classes there, learned basketball, wrestling and track events there. The school drama performances were there and we were taught to dance there. First time for me to be close to a girl. My shyness was still in the way but I really liked those events. Unfortunately I was a clumsy skinny geek. I didn't impress too many of the Kansas sunflowers. I grew quite fond of one of my sixth grade teacher and would have done anything for her.

I came down with an illness named Encephalitis. I missed the rest of my sixth grade year and recovered throughout the summer. My memory of coming down with that illness center on a fishing outing with Grandpa. He had taken Bert and I to a little pond near highway 40 that today is a water hazard in the Russell Municipal Gulf Course. I was getting dizzy and tired. We went to Grandpa and Grandma's house that evening for dinner. While dinner was underway I went to bed in the master bedroom. I remember hearing people taking in the front room and feeling so dizzy. I do not remember anything else until I was in recovery in the summer.

My memories about the recovery process are fairly limited. I remember sitting on the back porch in a cloth and wood lounge chair. One day the adjustable lounge chair collapsed with me in the chair. Unfortunately my hands were on the arm of the chair and when it folded flat my fingers were pinched in the structure. My weight was keeping the chair collapsed and it was a big deal to free my hands from the lounge chair arms. Bert was always around to keep me entertained. He made a model car out of an old electric fan motor and some model wheels. The electricity to the motor was a problem for running the car in a circle like a model airplane. So he devised a centerpiece out of steel bearings with a wood riser. The electric cords were used as a guide wire and the centerpiece provided a cord and plug to connect the electric motor to a wall outlet. It worked great and entertained me for hours. This is an example of the creative process that comes out of a small town atmosphere.

Another thing I remember about that long summer was going to the drive-in movies in a panel wagon. I don't know who's car it was but I remember parking backwards in the drive-in spaces and opening the back door so I could sit in my lounge chair and watch the movies. The people who assisted me in recovery from encephalitis were so creative.

The next year I continued on into seventh grade. I remember Junior High School in the Old High School (Dad's) building. One memory that stands out was our wood shop class. Ralph Fan was the teacher. He insisted on absolute behavior. He had a wood paddle hanging on the door into the shop and it was known that he would use it. I was never unfortunate enough to draw his wrath but some of my friends did. He said that he had to have absolute obedience to eliminate accidents with the power tools. He did!

It was in these grades that school sports and music first entered our curriculum. I was the typical sixty-pound weakling when I went out for Junior High football, much to Mom's chagrin. What a mutely bunch of football players we were. Yep! Ralph Fan was our coach. His strict discipline was remembered but he was much more a mentor on the football field. The Junior High team was a recipient of uniforms from last year's High School team. (Maybe many years ago team!) The helmets were the old leather style helmets. I have only seen them since in historical films of old football heroes.

Eighth grade was the blossoming of my young libido. I definitely was noticing the young girls. I had an eye for Julia Hamilton and Sandy Shields. But I was such a shy boy that they would never know of my admiration. The year passed with no memorable fanfare. However, that summer provided an experience that stays with me today. A decision was made that I should go to Colorado with R.C. Williams' family for the summer. I think the reasoning was that I should be kept cool for the recovery process.

R.C. was a junior in high school and had his driving permit. So while we were at his parent's cabin near Colorado Springs we drove all over the mountain roads in his hardtop 1955 Ford Victoria. He had dual Hollywood glass pack mufflers. The sound echoing through the canyons was nothing short of fantastic.

We spent the early mornings going down to the lake and rowing a boat out into a lake. The mornings were very calm, quiet and yes beautiful. There was fog floating up from the warm water into the cool morning air. I don't recall ever catching a fish, but it was so enjoyable. Back at the cabin was another very interesting event going on. One of R.C. senior's partners came to visit. He brought his teenage daughter along. I went gaga over her. Of course with my shyness the bigger part of my libido I kept it to myself.

The cabin had an electrical system whose source was a gasoline generator set. The generator was designed to start on demand. It always amazed me that when you turned a light on the generator would start. Of course it seemed to start on its own when things like the refrigerator needed electricity. These things fascinated me.

Another thing I remember about this trip to Colorado is on one evening we went to Cripple Creek and went to the melodramas. The actors were young students from colleges around the area. I just loved it and these memories are a warm fuzzy place in my heart still today. The summer was over all too soon. My return to Russell would usher in my entry into high school.