School Days
I loved growing up in a small town. Our schools classes were small and everyone knew everybody. I went to afternoon kindergarten, my teacher was Mrs. Burton. There are two things that stand out in my mind from that year. On the first day of kindergarten my best friend, Laurie Ostler, and I were walking up to the school after being dropped off by my Mom. Laurie started walking to a different door and I told her she was going to the wrong door, she insisted she was right and I knew I was right. After a few minutes my Mom called to me and told me to me I was going to the wrong door. I don’t know why I remember that but I do. My other memory of kindergarten is snack and nap time. Our snack was always graham crackers and milk and for nap time we would lay down on our towels and rest. I don’t ever remember going to sleep but it was quiet time.
In first grade I had Mrs. Pitt (my friend
LaRita’s mom), she was known as a strict teacher and I was sacred to be in her class, but she turned out to be really nice and I loved first grade. I remember learning read and I loved to read. One day while I was reading my assignment, Brandy, Wendy and Tracee came up to me and said “you’re not really reading because you
aren’t moving your lips, we’re going to go tell Mrs. Pitt.” I was scared to death. Mrs. Pitt came over and explained to the three girls (bullies) that I was reading to myself and you don’t need to move your lips.
Miss Hardy/Mrs. Taylor (she got married half way through the year) was my second grade teacher she also lived across the street from me in the government trailer court. I remember Miss Hardy had a great reading center we could read in for free time. I would hurry and get my work done so I could read in her castle. I also remember singing with the other 2
nd grade class, Miss Smith’s class (years later to be Mrs. Miller. One song I remember learning was if all the rain drops were candy bars were milkshakes oh what a rain that would be. Singing and reading were my favorite classes in 2
nd grade. My friends in 2
nd grade were Holly Smith and Kira
NielsonIn third grade I had the strictest teacher ever. Her name was Miss Gibson. You always here how mean the teachers are but I found they were really nice, especially if you followed the rules which I did, and I really like her. I remember learning multiplication and division. Division was hard for me to learn, my friend Gayleen was real smart so after she finished her math she would help me. She would always give me multiple choices and I soon learned the correct answer was always the middle number she gave me.
Fourth grade was my favorite year of elementary. My teacher was Mr. Chapman, my next door neighbor. This was my first year in the pod and we were able to rotate to the three different 4
th grade teachers, Mr. Chapman, Mr. Taylor and Miss
Rosquist, for
English, reading, and math. I felt like a teenager. My favorite part of fourth grade was studying Utah History. Mr Chapman made it so exciting for us. To finish off the unit we had a big rendezvous with all three 4
th grade classes where we dressed up as pioneers and went to different
vendors (our parents) to buy things from that time late 1800’s to early 1900’s. We used the money we earned while studying the unit by turning in assignments on time, our scores on assignments and tests and our behavior. It was a lot of fun.
In fifth grade I had Mrs. Bench; I looked forward to her as a teacher forever. This year the school decided to mix two grades together on a trial bases so we were mixed with 6
th graders. (Randall’s age group, though he
wasn’t in my class.) Shelly Young, a 6
th grader was my best friend that year. I also started band and went over to the
high school to learn from Mrs.
Brenbroker. I played the clarinet. My most embarrassing moment in grade school happened in 5
th grade. I threw up. Luckily I was not in class, I was decorating a bulletin board in an empty pod. I also remember earning banana split parties buy good behavior.
The thing that stands out in my mind as a 6
th grader, incidentally was the thing I disliked the most about 6
th grade; read aloud Mr. Chapman , yes, I got him again, loved the Hobbit and he read to us every day. It seemed like it took all year to get through the books. I love to read so having someone read to me was not very exciting.
My favorite part of elementary school was sunrise singers! The sunrise singers were a group of students who got together 2-3 mornings a week at 7:30 to practice singing and learn new songs. I particularly loved Christmas time during sunrise singers, we learned Christmas songs then got to perform at rest homes and other places all over the
Uintah Basin and even at the University Mall in
Orem.
I also have fun memories from the lunch room during my elementary days. Mrs. Harris would always stand where you emptied your tray and would take your leftovers, she said they were for her dog but you know how kids are and she was teased that they were really for her. She was a different kind of lady.
My favorite lunch they served was Navajo Tacos. I loved them! I was always the last one of my friends to finish lunch except on Navajo Taco days and I woofed those babies down.
One day in 2
nd grade we were eating lunch and my friends Kira
Nielson and Holly Smith always poked holes in their chocolate cake and pour their milk into the little holes. Well one this particular day we were having chocolate cake and they said they
wouldn’t be my friend if I
didn’t do it. It looked disgusting and besides that I
didn’t like milk. I gave into peer pressure and did it and actually loved it. I haven’t done that for many years. I think I’ll try it next time I have cake, I have to get my calcium somehow.
In the 5
th grade, our principal, Mr.
Foy and secretary, Mrs. White taught our 5
th and 6
th grade classes ballroom dance. It was a lot of fun! We learned the fox trot, jitterbug, waltz,
cha cha, two step, and polka We practiced a couple times a week, they even taught us dance etiquette. The boys learned how to ask a girl to dance, to gently lead the girl out on the floor and then take her back to her seat, and the girls learned how to accept graciously. We got to practice these outside the classroom a couple times a year at school dances.
I remember in 1st grade getting off the bus and there were soldiers waiting for us and they escorted us to class. We were told that we were pretending our country was no longer free. We had to get permission to go to the bathroom, get a drink, we
weren’t allowed to talk to our neighbor, at recess we marched around the building, at lunch they made sure we
didn’t talk and we ate everything on our plates. We had a very small taste of what freedom
isn’t. It was a very long day and I remember getting off the bus the next day very grateful there were no soldiers.
One of my favorite parts of elementary school was sunrise singers! The sunrise singers were a group of students who got together 2-3 mornings a week at 7:30 to practice singing and learn new songs then we got to perform at rest homes and other places all over the
Uintah Basin and even at the University Mall in
Orem.
In my small town of
Duchesne the Jr. high and high school were in the same building. We were just one little happy school. The only were only a couple things that separated the Jr. high from the high school. One was separate lunchtimes, (and our one and only lunch kitchen was in the elementary school so we walked up the street for lunch) and the other was school dances. The Jr. High students, 7
th and 8
th graders, were not allowed to go to the school dances. You had to be in 9
th grade.
My excitement in Jr. High consisted of playing volley ball and basketball on the school team and working at the Polar Queen. During my Jr. High and High school years I never ate at the lunch kitchen, even on Navajo Taco days, my Mom could make them much better then the school could. We when we owned the Polar Queen I would walk across the street during my lunch break to work and to eat, then after we sold it I would walk to
Conoco, the gas station, and get
pasticcios nuts and a hostess lemon pie. Real healthy I know.
My favorite teacher in Jr. High was Mr.
Horrocks, he was a grandpa, but what a great teacher. He taught history and had a showed a lot of respect to his students who in return had enormous respect for him. His philosophy was everyone would pass each quiz and test before we moved on and he taught it such a way they we
didn’t linger too long on a particular topic. He made history come alive. We learned all about the continents and countries and their capitals could locate them on the map. He also made sure he had each assignment corrected the day after it was turned in or the whole class a pop. In the two years I had him he only bought pop once and that was after a girl’s away ball game to Green River. (He was also the girls basketball and volley ball coach.)
In high school I was on the drill team, we were called the debutantes, deb’s for short. We had early morning practices (6 a.m.). One my way down to the school I would pick up another girl, Lisa, and take her. I would shower in the morning before practice because we only had 45 minutes after practice to get home and get ready for school. One morning I got up, showered and went to get Lisa and all her lights were off which was never the case, because it was 6 in the morning I
didn’t want to knock on her door so I assumed her Dad had taken her that morning. So I drove to the school and no lights were on, so I drove passed the deb presidents house and her lights were off. I was so confused about why no one was up and at the school. I drove back home and all the lights in my house were off and that was really unusual. Mom and Dad were always up reading scriptures and eating breakfast together. I go into my parent’s bedroom to wake them up and notice the time on the glowing digital clock; it’s 3:30 a.m. I guess I was a little early!
In
Duchesne we only had one prom and it was the junior prom. My junior prom was a disaster. The only person I
didn’t want to go with asked me in front of the whole class. I was so embarrassed, I told him I had to go home and ask my mom and dad. I could have ended the disaster and said no when he called me later that day, after I had talked to mom and dad, but he told me were going to double with Anna and Gayleen, my best friends so I thought that could be fun so I said yes. Well, a couple days before the prom I learned that due to car situations one couple would have to go by themselves. You guessed it; we were the ones by ourselves. Now days the church has said only double dating during high school but that
wasn’t the case way back in the day and I thought it would be o.k. because we would just drive separately and meet the other two couples for dinner. So when we were walking out to Leeland’s truck, I asked him if he wanted to go to post prom with me. (BIG mistake, the post prom is the girls’ choice dance the night after the prom and you usually take your prom date to it. Anna, Gayleen and I were planning something fun.)He said yes to the post prom, but the whole dinner thing did not turn out so well and I wished I could turn the clock back to the day he asked me. We did dinner totally solo, not even another couple from the whole entire school was at this restaurant, maybe because we were like two hours too early. (There were only two restaurants in
Duchesne to choose from). We did meet up with everyone at the dance but, I’ll tell you by the end of the night, Anna, Gayleen and I was ready to kill our dates and did not want to spend more time with them the next night. And to top it off when Leeland walked me to the door he asked if he could have a kiss, I laughed, said NO and walked in the house but knew it still had to seem him the next night.
The post prom
wasn’t as bad because it was less formal and you can go stag so I spent most of the evening dancing with the sophomore boys and Leeland was with his friends, and their was no kissing that night either.
