School Days Grade The 1st

Here's my shot at listing the names from my 1st grade class. You can click on the photo to make it bigger.

1st row - floor
(L-R) don't remember, myself, Ken Lane, Fred Martin

2nd row
(L-R) Wendy Warpoole, don't remember, don't remember, Jan or Nan Higdon (I never could tell them apart), don't remember, Sebrina Pendergrast, don't remember, Kim Young, and I believe her name is Tammy Young

3rd row
(L-R) don't remember, don't remember, Mark (Gonz) Taylor, don't remember, Scott Hercules, either Steve Goodman or Steve Effler, Gene Dixon, maybe Mike Stacey, don't remember

4th row
(L-R) don't remember, don't remember, Darin Coe, Debra Reed, Theresa Koebeck, Karen Newcomb, I think this is Sherry Beasley, Kim Poland, and Vickie Haislip

If you know any of the people or have a correction let me know. Tomorrow I'll post 2nd grade.

Children just don't get a summer vacation these days. It was back to school today so in honor of this momentous occasion I figured I'd share some class pictures and a few words from my primary and elementary school days. This is my 1st grade class picture from the 1973-74 school year at Mitchell-Neilson Primary. Miss Wilson was my teacher. Boy, did I have a crush on her. I even still remember that she drove an AMC Gremlin. I sometimes wonder if my constant chatter in class was because I wanted to sit next to her desk where the problem kids had to sit facing the class. It sure seemed like I was in that spot often which only fed my ego. I'd make funny faces at Debra Reed and get in even more trouble.

I couldn't have been too bad a kid since I passed even after missing more than two months of the school year for chicken pox and the mumps. I had Mrs. Armstong for math class and there is where I found the first chicken pox bump. I caught the mumps almost the day I came back to school. I'm sure I missed other days too as I distinctly recall one morning before class I felt sick and my classmates thought I was kidding. They quickly changed their minds after I threw up on them.

One memory that sticks out is quiet time. Miss Wilson would turn out the lights and usually play a record about Peter & The Wolf. She also loved to play "Seasons In The Sun." That tune is engraved upon my mind. Sometimes she'd let us bring records and I'd always bring my mother's 45 of "Hound Dog" and this red headed kid named Darin Coe would do his great Elvis impersonation. My best friend Mark (Gonz) Taylor was a big Elvis fan too. We'd stay friends thoughout our lives and later rock and roll in the punk band The Dislocated.

I hadn't looked at my class photos in many years and I'm saddened less by the passage of time, but by the fact that I don't remember many of my classmates's names. It would be neat if I knew everyone's story, but I guess it's simply amazing that I still know some of these people.