MEMOIRS PART 12 - SCHOOL YEARS

I will begin with what I can remember about my elementary school years. My first-grade teacher was Lillian Anderson, who was probably in her thirties or forties at that time. The class size may have been about 30 pupils. The only other thing about that year that I remember was an incident involving one of the boys who I had known well before we started classes, whose name was Blaine Matthews. He was Pratt Matthews' son and he died that first school year. I was told that he was killed in an accident, when a swinging gate struck him.

I don't remember anything about grades 2 through 6, but I still have a report card showing my performance during the fifth grade. I had slightly above a "C" average; I got "D"s in writing, which brought my average down. The report card also noted that I "needed improvement in posture, health habits, attitude toward school, and industry". Lola Jefferies was the teacher that year.

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Grades 7 and 8 were called "Junior High"; the class moved to Grantsville High School at that time. I remember most of my teachers there, and I think they taught both junior high and high school students. The teachers were Jimmy Williams, Sterl Anderson, Allen Parkinson, John Clark, Frances Rowberry, Sarah Anderson, Gwen Anderson, and Jeanette Ford. I got along reasonably well with all of them, although I probably still had the same attitude toward school that was noted earlier.

I do remember two things about Junior High. Jimmy Williams was my English teacher, and for one assignment in composition , I wrote an imaginary essay on the origin of the letter "Q". In summary, my essay involved the need for a letter between "P" and 'R" because they looked so much alike. Mr. Williams thought it was so good that he sent it to the Deseret News in Salt Lake City. They published it and I basked in the glory of the notoriety that resulted. I'm sure we saved clippings of it, but I can't find any in my records.

The other thing I recall about Junior High was the shop class. Eddie Anderson was the teacher, and we learned wood-working and metalworking in his class. I made all the standard things, such as a magazine rack, a waste paper container, a cedar chest, and a small table. In Metalworking I made a crowbar, a cold chisel, and repair links for chains. I also remember making a dust pan. Mr. Anderson was very deaf, and there was a lot of horse play behind his back.

High School was much the same. Scholastically, I may have improved some, because I took a more serious attitude toward such things as trigonometry and geometry. I must have earned a high enough grade point average to be accepted by the University of Utah, although I have no idea of there were any requirements at that time.

I was never very fast, agile, or even strong in athletic events. In pickup softball games during recess or physical education classes, I was usually one of the last to be chosen. I boxed a little and played basketball and football. In my junior and seniors years, I "went out" for basketball and football, and was usually on the second string team, but made the first string in football as a senior. This was probably because there were hardly enough boys in the senior class to make up a football team.

We played other local high school teams, and my best recollection is that we lost all the games but one, which was a 0-0 tie. In my senior year I also tried out for basketball, but after a few weeks of practice, the coach (Sterl Anderson), took me aside and told me that I wasn't good enough for the first string team. He said that I could continue if I wanted to, on the second string. I thought it was beneath the dignity of a senior to have to play with juniors and sophomores, so I dropped out.

It turned out to help Dad a whole lot because at that time we had about 12 cows which had to be milked every morning and evening, so by quitting the basketball team , I was able to come home after school to help Dad, instead of staying late for basketball practice. In addition, we separated all the milk, as much as 60 gallons a day, and sold the cream.