It was during my second year at Olympus Jr. High that my parents decided to sell our house with half of the property and build a new one on the other. My brother, J.D., was going on seven years old and still had no bedroom of his own. I honestly don't remember where he was sleeping (neither does he) but I know it wasn't in us girl's room, so he either had to be in my parent's room or in the basement because we only had two bedrooms. The house was put on the market along with the "animal section" of the property. That meant no more pigs, lambs, or goats, but we did keep the rabbits. I was really sad about that because I have always loved animals of any kind. So my Dad promised that I could have a dog once we built and moved in to our new house.
When the house sold we had to move back to Grandma Knapp's house while work on our new house began. That posed some transportation problems. How would we get to school? Mom and Dad didn't want to have us change schools for the six months they anticipated it would take to finish the house and then have to change back. Both of my sisters were attending Granite High School which was located on 33rd So. and 9th E. and I was still in junior high school in Holladay. They just weren't that close together. So my sisters had to take the city bus to school which required a transfer, and Dad would take me to my old school bus stop when he could before he went to work. On days that he couldn't take me, I would have to take the city bus to my old house which also required a transfer. I would always have to take the bus home because Dad would still be at work. It was a real pain, especially in the winter months.
Remember that time I was asked to my first dance at school? It was while we were living at Grandma's. My first thought was, "How am I going to explain where I lived and expect mu date's dad to drive that far away to pick me up?" I just couldn't. So I gave Harry, my date, the address of our house under construction and convinced my dad to drive me there the night of the dance. I'm not sure what went through the mind of date when he saw me and my dad standing outside in front of a half built house that night waiting to be picked up. But he never said a word about it , not even when he returned me to that same spot where my dad was waiting for me after the dance.
Of course the house wasn't finished in the six months that had been promised (not much different back then than it is now) so we ended up moving into the basement when it was completed and the framing was up on the house. That was an interesting experience. The walls of the basement were cement and there were no rooms, just open space which we divided into a kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms in ingenious ways. The "kitchen" was to the side of the stairs, but since the source of water was on the opposite side of the basement, we had to carry pans of water to the "kitchen" to cook and do the dishes. The living room connected to the kitchen and was separated from the "laundry room", the source of water, by the couch. The two bedrooms on the opposite side of the basement were separated by a wall of clothes. Dad strung a wire between two support beams and that became a family "closet" as well as a wall. The worst part of living in that basement was the bathroom. It was upstairs in the unfinished part of the house with just lath (no plaster) for walls and no door. Besides lacking privacy, it was freezing cold in the winter.
Somehow we all survived the next few months in the basement until the house was completed. We girls got to choose the wallpaper for our new bedroom (all rooms were papered back then, not painted. I still remember that wallpaper to this day. All though what we picked was the "in" thing at the time, I'm not sure why my mother who was so conservative let us choose something so "radical". One wall was covered with huge white flowers with bright green leaves, on a maroon background. The other three walls were matching stripes of different widths. There were white, green and maroon stripes. I would describe it now as very "gaudy", but we loved it then. The best part of that room was the large closet which covered one whole wall which was needed for three teenage girls. Actually, we really didn't have that many clothes compared to youth today, but Claire was working and could afford to buy her own.
Compared to homes today, this one was pretty small. Family rooms and more than one bathroom had not even been thought about as necessary, or at least preferred, back in 1946. So we just had the basic kitchen with attached eating area, living room, three bedrooms, and one bathroom. J.D.'s bedroom was upstairs over the garage and the other two on the main floor of the house. I envied my brother having that "upstairs" bedroom. I always wanted to have a two-story house as a kid. Somehow, I thought it was really classy to live in a multi level dwelling. I loved the thought of being able to go upstairs to your room. I have no clue where I got that idea. But I know it was real to me then. I remember running up those stairs to J.D.'s room just to see what it would be like.
Life got back to normal as I began my third year of junior high school. But a big event happened to me that year. It was to change my whole world at that time and have a big part in determining my future. Tune in to my next "episode".
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Joyce and Jantzen
First I apologize for not writing more often the past few weeks. I have been spending most of my free time sewing for Bethany's wedding. After the wedding I'll get back to writing more frequently.
Now back to life as a "teenager" in junior high school. I was excited about school most of the time, that is until I realized that just being a nice person just didn't make it with the "popular" or "in" group. Can you believe that cliquishness and fad crazes begin so early? Yes, I guess you can because I see it even in grade school today. And what is so sad that even way back in the forties your popularity depended mostly on the clothes you wore. It's the same now but different in a way. The challenge today is about being stylish and modest at the same time. I know how hard it is for you young women today to find clothes that meet both requirements. And there may be some stigma about brand names (Abercrombie and Fitch, Old Navy, and others I'm sure) but that usually isn't a big issue today. But it was everything in my day. We didn't have to worry about modesty because the styles were all modest...skirts (mid calf or longer) and sweaters (not skin tight ones). But those sweaters better be Jantzens and the shoes...yes, the shoes had to have the brand name of "Joyce". The sweaters were not always easy to distinguish except that they had some unusual colors that would identify them. But it was not unusual for someone to come up behind you and pull down the neck of the sweater to see the label just to make sure it said "Jantzen". But the shoes were easy to tell because they made only four or five styles each year, and everyone knew those styles. And as you might suppose both of those brand names were expensive. Consequently, I was never one of the "in" group or considered even slightly popular. I never owned a Jantzen sweater and I had only one pair of Joyce shoes...and that was because I bought them myself. I was earning some money now by babysitting for $.50 an hour ($.00 if the parents were going to the temple or to a church meeting) and picking strawberries for $.50 a flat. Our bus driver owned a huge strawberry field and paid some some of us students to pick strawberries. I even picked cherries one year, but they paid so little that it just wasn't worth it. I saved my money for a long time to be able to buy that one pair of shoes.
Some of the activities that made school fun were:
Now a little advice. Enjoy your school years but also work hard especially in the early teen years. You will be practicing, preparing, discovereing new interests and developing habits that will not only make your high school years easier, but will help prepare you for making good decisions the rest of your life. Find joy and excitement in learning new things.
Now back to life as a "teenager" in junior high school. I was excited about school most of the time, that is until I realized that just being a nice person just didn't make it with the "popular" or "in" group. Can you believe that cliquishness and fad crazes begin so early? Yes, I guess you can because I see it even in grade school today. And what is so sad that even way back in the forties your popularity depended mostly on the clothes you wore. It's the same now but different in a way. The challenge today is about being stylish and modest at the same time. I know how hard it is for you young women today to find clothes that meet both requirements. And there may be some stigma about brand names (Abercrombie and Fitch, Old Navy, and others I'm sure) but that usually isn't a big issue today. But it was everything in my day. We didn't have to worry about modesty because the styles were all modest...skirts (mid calf or longer) and sweaters (not skin tight ones). But those sweaters better be Jantzens and the shoes...yes, the shoes had to have the brand name of "Joyce". The sweaters were not always easy to distinguish except that they had some unusual colors that would identify them. But it was not unusual for someone to come up behind you and pull down the neck of the sweater to see the label just to make sure it said "Jantzen". But the shoes were easy to tell because they made only four or five styles each year, and everyone knew those styles. And as you might suppose both of those brand names were expensive. Consequently, I was never one of the "in" group or considered even slightly popular. I never owned a Jantzen sweater and I had only one pair of Joyce shoes...and that was because I bought them myself. I was earning some money now by babysitting for $.50 an hour ($.00 if the parents were going to the temple or to a church meeting) and picking strawberries for $.50 a flat. Our bus driver owned a huge strawberry field and paid some some of us students to pick strawberries. I even picked cherries one year, but they paid so little that it just wasn't worth it. I saved my money for a long time to be able to buy that one pair of shoes.
Some of the activities that made school fun were:
- Orchestra concerts - I loved to play the classical and semi-classical music.
- Sports competitions with other schools - Flag football, basketball, volleyball and track. I've always loved sports.
- Night dances - Yes, we had night dances. I only remember going to one and that one was kind of awkward (I'll explain later). But I was happy just to be invited even though the guy was kind of a "dork" by the name of Harry Farber. I have no idea why I remember that name. Maybe it was because it was first "date" and by parents let me go even though I was just thirteen years old. (The Church hadn't come out with the counsel not to date until sixteen or you can be sure my Mom would not have let me go. She always went "by the book" or by the word of the prophet.)
- Making new friends mainly with the music lovers and serious students. We were always considered the weird ones. What kind of teenager loves classical music and tries to be conscientious about their studies? (I was pretty much an A student.) Only the "dorks". Some of my friends included Jerrold Ottley, one time conductor of the Tabernacle Choir, Lawrence Lyon, who has written or arranged many of the hymns in our hymn book, and Jamie Lyon, his twin brother who was very smart. If I were to search his accomplishments, I'm sure they would be significant. Both of those boys were sons of T. Edgar Lyon, a noted Church scholar and educator. Yes, I had girlfriends, too, but didn't have the time to develop close relationships with girls because they often require spending a lot of time together.
- There was special a occurrence that really made my junior high school experience the best ever. That will also come later.
Now a little advice. Enjoy your school years but also work hard especially in the early teen years. You will be practicing, preparing, discovereing new interests and developing habits that will not only make your high school years easier, but will help prepare you for making good decisions the rest of your life. Find joy and excitement in learning new things.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
You Might Not Believe It
There were memorable experiences at Olympus Jr. High School...some good, others I would just as soon forget or at least not have to confess. I guess I don't have to admit to anything, I just choose to just in case you think I never yielded to temptation. I was once asked by one of my children if I ever did anything wrong in my life to which I answered, "Of course". But when I told her the first thing that came to my mind she began to laugh. You'll see why when I told her that once some friends and I got off the bus before reaching school one morning because we decided to walk. It was a beautiful morning and we just felt like walking. Of course we were late to school and had to go to the office. We were reprimanded, our parents were called, and we were sent to class. "Was that the worst thing you ever did?" my daughter asked as she began to laugh out loud. What made it bad in my mind was that I had to face my parent's disappointment in me when I got home. They expected strict obedience and conformance to rules, and I knew I had let them down. Since this was a minor infraction of the "be on time" rule, I got off "free" at home this time.
"Wasn't there anything worse than that?" I was asked. "Well.......(I tried hard not to remember) there was this one time when I got caught cheating. But I really wasn't cheating, I was just checking the answers I had already written down. (Am I rationalizing? Probably so.) It happened like this. It was in my eighth grade English class. Miss Jones was the teacher - one of the teachers I remember mainly because of this incident. Miss Jones was probably in her forties, had black hair, and a large hooked nose that you couldn't help but notice. One day she gave us a surprise quiz on grammar, one right out of the book. Since it was one of those self-help quizzes, the answers were in the back. Grammar has always been my strongest part of English, so the quiz was no problem for me. But temptation came when the teacher left the room and most of the students quickly turned to the back of the book where they knew the answers were. I had already finished the quiz, but had just turned to the back of the book to check my answers when the teacher walked in and told everyone to put their hands on the desk without turning a page in their books. Then she walked around the room to see where our books were open. I was caught! I didn't say anything to my parents about this incident until they received my report card and I had to explain why I received a "C" in citizenship. My academic grade was still an "A" which was a surprise because I really expected that would be the grade to drop. But the low grade in citizenship was just as disappointing to my parents. I can honestly say that I NEVER cheated or even gave the appearance of cheating again in my whole school experience, including college. I never wanted to feel that guilt again and I didn't want to disappoint my parents either. It's kind of like having to face our Heavenly Father knowing of all the mistakes we have made in our lives. Thank goodness for repentance! I may not have ever cheated again, but I certainly have made many other mistakes. Miss Jones was a good teacher, and I remember her also for introducing us to Shakespeare. We studied the Merchant of Venice that year and I not only understood it, I still remember it even though I haven't read it since. She must have done something right. She also taught diagramming sentences which they don't do any more. That is how I not only learned parts of speech, but the correct use of words such as "I" or "me", "they" or "them", etc. I have been known to mentally diagram a sentence to know what form to use. I think it is a great tool, and can't quite understand why they don't use it anymore. How many students today actually know what a gerund, or an infinitive is? I do because I learned to diagram.
"
My very favorite science teacher ever was Mr. Todd...eighth grade science. Why? Because he made us think. He taught us science and problem solving way beyond an eighth grade level and made us believe we could do it. And we did. Have you ever felt that wonderful feeling of accomplishment when you do something beyond what you thought you ever could do? Mr. Todd made us feel that way all the time. He gave us the tools and the self confidence to try difficult things and solve difficult problems. I still remember one of those problems...kind of. He said their was a boat that sunk in X feet of water. It was lying on it's side. The deck was X number of square feet in size. We were asked to find the average pressure per square inch on the deck. I remember that so well because I was the first one to get the right answer. I know I couldn't do that now. His way of giving quizzes was to play a game that went on for at least a week. He would start by asking the first student in row one a question. If he answered it correctly the second student in that row was asked a different question. If number one answered incorrectly the second student could try and if he were right they had to change places. This would go on up and down each row, the goal being to try to move up as close to the first seat in the first row as possible. This would go on for a week or so, and at the end all those in row one would get an "A" on the test, row two "B", row three "C", etc. I'm sure he made some adjustments because those who started on the last row had less of a chance to move up as those in the first rows. Anyway, I thought it was a fun way to take a test.
My ninth grade math teacher was a "hoot". That is why I remember her. She was tall, and I mean tall. I would say about six feet one or two. She was older with wrinkles and white hair, and did I mention that she was tall? When we got a little too rowdy her favorite saying was: "If you don't settle down, I'm going to sit on you and your mother won't know you when you get home." That always got our attention even though I never saw her sit on anyone. She could be very strict, too, if it was needed. Although math has never been my strength, basic math was easy for me. And basic math is all we had in Jr. High. There was no algebra, or even pre-algebra as there is today. That didn't come until high school.
These are the teachers I remember along with Mr. Weight, my orchestra teacher, and Mr. Henefer, my art teacher. I guess I remember them mostly because I loved the subjects. Academically I was a good student, and I loved learning. I think a great deal of our attitude towards learning comes from dedicated teachers who love to teach and have a genuine interest in their students. At least that was the case with me. My hat is off to those who take on the great challenge of teaching youth today. It is much more difficult than it was back in my day. But what would we do without you?!!!!
"Wasn't there anything worse than that?" I was asked. "Well.......(I tried hard not to remember) there was this one time when I got caught cheating. But I really wasn't cheating, I was just checking the answers I had already written down. (Am I rationalizing? Probably so.) It happened like this. It was in my eighth grade English class. Miss Jones was the teacher - one of the teachers I remember mainly because of this incident. Miss Jones was probably in her forties, had black hair, and a large hooked nose that you couldn't help but notice. One day she gave us a surprise quiz on grammar, one right out of the book. Since it was one of those self-help quizzes, the answers were in the back. Grammar has always been my strongest part of English, so the quiz was no problem for me. But temptation came when the teacher left the room and most of the students quickly turned to the back of the book where they knew the answers were. I had already finished the quiz, but had just turned to the back of the book to check my answers when the teacher walked in and told everyone to put their hands on the desk without turning a page in their books. Then she walked around the room to see where our books were open. I was caught! I didn't say anything to my parents about this incident until they received my report card and I had to explain why I received a "C" in citizenship. My academic grade was still an "A" which was a surprise because I really expected that would be the grade to drop. But the low grade in citizenship was just as disappointing to my parents. I can honestly say that I NEVER cheated or even gave the appearance of cheating again in my whole school experience, including college. I never wanted to feel that guilt again and I didn't want to disappoint my parents either. It's kind of like having to face our Heavenly Father knowing of all the mistakes we have made in our lives. Thank goodness for repentance! I may not have ever cheated again, but I certainly have made many other mistakes. Miss Jones was a good teacher, and I remember her also for introducing us to Shakespeare. We studied the Merchant of Venice that year and I not only understood it, I still remember it even though I haven't read it since. She must have done something right. She also taught diagramming sentences which they don't do any more. That is how I not only learned parts of speech, but the correct use of words such as "I" or "me", "they" or "them", etc. I have been known to mentally diagram a sentence to know what form to use. I think it is a great tool, and can't quite understand why they don't use it anymore. How many students today actually know what a gerund, or an infinitive is? I do because I learned to diagram.
"
My very favorite science teacher ever was Mr. Todd...eighth grade science. Why? Because he made us think. He taught us science and problem solving way beyond an eighth grade level and made us believe we could do it. And we did. Have you ever felt that wonderful feeling of accomplishment when you do something beyond what you thought you ever could do? Mr. Todd made us feel that way all the time. He gave us the tools and the self confidence to try difficult things and solve difficult problems. I still remember one of those problems...kind of. He said their was a boat that sunk in X feet of water. It was lying on it's side. The deck was X number of square feet in size. We were asked to find the average pressure per square inch on the deck. I remember that so well because I was the first one to get the right answer. I know I couldn't do that now. His way of giving quizzes was to play a game that went on for at least a week. He would start by asking the first student in row one a question. If he answered it correctly the second student in that row was asked a different question. If number one answered incorrectly the second student could try and if he were right they had to change places. This would go on up and down each row, the goal being to try to move up as close to the first seat in the first row as possible. This would go on for a week or so, and at the end all those in row one would get an "A" on the test, row two "B", row three "C", etc. I'm sure he made some adjustments because those who started on the last row had less of a chance to move up as those in the first rows. Anyway, I thought it was a fun way to take a test.
My ninth grade math teacher was a "hoot". That is why I remember her. She was tall, and I mean tall. I would say about six feet one or two. She was older with wrinkles and white hair, and did I mention that she was tall? When we got a little too rowdy her favorite saying was: "If you don't settle down, I'm going to sit on you and your mother won't know you when you get home." That always got our attention even though I never saw her sit on anyone. She could be very strict, too, if it was needed. Although math has never been my strength, basic math was easy for me. And basic math is all we had in Jr. High. There was no algebra, or even pre-algebra as there is today. That didn't come until high school.
These are the teachers I remember along with Mr. Weight, my orchestra teacher, and Mr. Henefer, my art teacher. I guess I remember them mostly because I loved the subjects. Academically I was a good student, and I loved learning. I think a great deal of our attitude towards learning comes from dedicated teachers who love to teach and have a genuine interest in their students. At least that was the case with me. My hat is off to those who take on the great challenge of teaching youth today. It is much more difficult than it was back in my day. But what would we do without you?!!!!
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Oh, Oh!
I think (actually I know) that in my last blog I got some dates confused. You'll have to remember that I'm getting older by the day, and with age comes lost brain cells. So I 'd better hurry and finish my life history before I lose them all. Anyway...the war did end in 1945 (you probably already knew that), but I still had one more year of elementary school and one more year before the decision was made to sell our house and move. So now I'll just fast forward a year to 1946 when I did graduate from Sherman school, when our house went up for sale, and when I did begin junior high school.
Being twelve was exciting for me. It was the beginning of a new phase of my life as a "teenager" which in my mind was a "near adult". I know you might not consider twelve a teen, much less an adult, but I did. Maybe that's because I was now permitted to wear a little lipstick thanks to my sister, Claire, who fought the battle with my dad. By the time I reached this age he had just given up. He hated any kind of makeup because in his mind only the cheap "ladies of the night" as he called them, painted their faces. That was the case in Holland when he was on his mission. Even though I'm sure it was Mom who softened him towards us girls, she honored his feelings by not wearing any makeup at all until the last year of her life.
This new phase of my life meant joing my older sisters in the Young Women's Mutual Association at church. No more Primary on week days...it was YWMIA on Tuesday nights and
being able to choose two elective classes at school. Both made me feel "older" but the latter gave me a feeling of being grown up enough to make some decisions about my education. My two electives I chose were the same for all three years...orchestra and art. Yes, our school actually had an orchestra and a band. I really enjoyed the cello by this time, enough so that my parents bought me my own cello for $50.00. You couldn't get one now for that price, but in our financial circumstances even that was a lot of money. The condition was that I practice. And I did. Most of the music we played was classical, and I learned to love it. My art class was my first introduction to the principles of color, technique and different art mediums. I loved it and continued to take classes the next two years and on into high school. The rest of our classes were the usual math, English, science, history and P.E. It's kind of funny that the teachers you remember are the ones that made you hated because they made you work the hardest and expected the most from you. One of these was our P.E. teacher. Her name was Lisle Lindsey. She was middle aged, very small (I would say under five feet), single, and dynamic. We were expected to energetically participate in all activities planned, practice good hygiene and shower after every class and she checked to make sure you did. If you were having your period you were excused from class because of the shower requirement but required to do written work which she also checked. The reason I appreciate her now was that she was always smiling and pleasant and made you feel that she really cared about you personally. I think to this day that she did. She always reminded us to stand tall, hold in that stomach, and tuck under that booty I remember her making us practice how to pull our hip and pelvic bones underneath our diaphragm which would achieve these goals. She always told us to be proud of who we were and show it by the way we carried ourselves. It was not unusual for her to walk past us and say, "Tuck it in", and we knew what that meant. She was the only P.E. teacher at the school for girls, so we had her for three years. By then we had the "tucking in" and the "standing up straight" down cold. I still think of her when I look in the mirror and see that bulging belly, and I even practice that technique she taught us to see if it still would work for me. It doesn't. I guess my body is just too far gone at 73.
Then there was Mr. Todd, my eighth grade science teacher. He was truly amazing at what he taught us and how. Oh yes, and Mrs. Rapp my math teacher, and Miss Jones, an English teacher. I remember each of them for other reasons. But that is my next blog.
Being twelve was exciting for me. It was the beginning of a new phase of my life as a "teenager" which in my mind was a "near adult". I know you might not consider twelve a teen, much less an adult, but I did. Maybe that's because I was now permitted to wear a little lipstick thanks to my sister, Claire, who fought the battle with my dad. By the time I reached this age he had just given up. He hated any kind of makeup because in his mind only the cheap "ladies of the night" as he called them, painted their faces. That was the case in Holland when he was on his mission. Even though I'm sure it was Mom who softened him towards us girls, she honored his feelings by not wearing any makeup at all until the last year of her life.
This new phase of my life meant joing my older sisters in the Young Women's Mutual Association at church. No more Primary on week days...it was YWMIA on Tuesday nights and
being able to choose two elective classes at school. Both made me feel "older" but the latter gave me a feeling of being grown up enough to make some decisions about my education. My two electives I chose were the same for all three years...orchestra and art. Yes, our school actually had an orchestra and a band. I really enjoyed the cello by this time, enough so that my parents bought me my own cello for $50.00. You couldn't get one now for that price, but in our financial circumstances even that was a lot of money. The condition was that I practice. And I did. Most of the music we played was classical, and I learned to love it. My art class was my first introduction to the principles of color, technique and different art mediums. I loved it and continued to take classes the next two years and on into high school. The rest of our classes were the usual math, English, science, history and P.E. It's kind of funny that the teachers you remember are the ones that made you hated because they made you work the hardest and expected the most from you. One of these was our P.E. teacher. Her name was Lisle Lindsey. She was middle aged, very small (I would say under five feet), single, and dynamic. We were expected to energetically participate in all activities planned, practice good hygiene and shower after every class and she checked to make sure you did. If you were having your period you were excused from class because of the shower requirement but required to do written work which she also checked. The reason I appreciate her now was that she was always smiling and pleasant and made you feel that she really cared about you personally. I think to this day that she did. She always reminded us to stand tall, hold in that stomach, and tuck under that booty I remember her making us practice how to pull our hip and pelvic bones underneath our diaphragm which would achieve these goals. She always told us to be proud of who we were and show it by the way we carried ourselves. It was not unusual for her to walk past us and say, "Tuck it in", and we knew what that meant. She was the only P.E. teacher at the school for girls, so we had her for three years. By then we had the "tucking in" and the "standing up straight" down cold. I still think of her when I look in the mirror and see that bulging belly, and I even practice that technique she taught us to see if it still would work for me. It doesn't. I guess my body is just too far gone at 73.
Then there was Mr. Todd, my eighth grade science teacher. He was truly amazing at what he taught us and how. Oh yes, and Mrs. Rapp my math teacher, and Miss Jones, an English teacher. I remember each of them for other reasons. But that is my next blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)