Continued

[susandennis]

I went to Whitaker Elementary School from 1st grade through 6th grade - ages 6 - 12. 1955-1961. There are some outstanding memories and lots of big old blanks. We had one teacher for each grade and we spent the entire school year in her (yep, all chicks) classroom. I cannot remember one single one of their names. I do remember the name of the school crossing guard. Mrs. Foxglove. The school superintendent was Dr. Phillips. This, I know, because he was the one who declared snow days - or not.

The cold war was picking up steam. The atom bomb was a real thing and a threat that seemed on the mind of every adult. People built bomb shelters and kids believed that only people with bomb shelters would survive. But bomb shelters were expensive so not so many people had them. But they were the subject of lots of conversations.

Civil Defense drills were a big part of my elementary school experience. We saw lots of films about what to do when the bomb came. For the drill, we each got a big red tag and wrote our name on it and attached it to our clothes. Then, when the air raid siren went off, we'd march, single file out of the school and down the block to a designated area.

So, to recap, the people who had seen the aftermath of the bombings of Japan, led us to believe that when they dropped the bomb, we'd be fine because of paper name tags and because we were a block away. Happily, they forgot to drop the bomb.

I met my first real BFF - Linda Rhyne - we called her Lemon (get it?! hahah). We were tight as ticks. She had a creek behind her house and we spent whole summers in that creek. Her family moved to another town when we were in the 6th grade. I was crushed into little tiny bits. It was my first loss. In 2014, one day, coming out from swimming, I was checking my email when I spied a note from a Linda Rhyne that started 'Do you remember me?'

She still lives in North Carolina but was in Vancouver a few months later and I went up to see her. It was just amazing to meet the grown up Lemon. And such fun. If we were closer geographically, I honestly think we could be BFF's again. She brought with her, a bracelet that I'd totally forgotten about. Just before she moved away, my Mom had thrown Lemon a going away party with about 12 of our friends. Charm bracelets were really big and Mom bought Lemon a charm bracelet with a little silver disk with my name on it and had all the other girls add disks with their names on it. Lemon still has that bracelet and brought it with her! We had a great time going through each disk and trying to remember each girl 50 years later.

Comments

[fitzjameshorse.livejournal.com]

Wonderful

[susandennis]

Thank you.

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

How fantastic she still had the bracelet

[susandennis]

I know, right? I was just sorry my Mom was gone. She would have been tickled to bits.

[meowmensteen]

That is cool. I have a few relics from my past like that. Maybe someday it will thrill someone to know I have them.

[lifeinroseland.livejournal.com]

Thank you for these stories! They're awesome <3

[susandennis]

I'm so delighted to know they are enjoyed. Thank you!

[lifeinroseland.livejournal.com]

I mean, Mrs. Foxglove. That's the stuff of life!

[susandennis]

She was our crossing guard for probably all my years at that school. Which is probably why I remember her name. Plus she was really nice and fun.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

I remember the atomic drills in school. Our school had big thick curtains that they would close (to protect us from radiation, lol), and we would have to get under our desks. They blew off a big siren in town at noon every day that we called the noon whistle. If it wasn't noon, that was our cue to get under our desks.

[susandennis]

Curtains... way better than big paper tags :)

What in the world were all those adults thinking???

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

It was the 60s version of taking your shoes off at the airport.

[susandennis]

Bazinga!

[sweetmeow]

Lemon Rhyne. OMG -- that is too funny! Clever. I hope you're continuing to keep in some kind of contact with her.

It is so interesting reading these, as you and I share our age, and so many of our experiences are parallel -- right down to the bomb shelter thing. We used to hide under our desks during the air raid drills. I remember asking my mom about what we would do and if we'd survive if a bomb fell. She talked blandly about our cellar being the place to go, but I got the clue she was not confident. Duh. Plus our cellar was ... AWFUL! Could anyone live there? Really? I think we all knew on some level it would never work. Kids of our age I think were all kind of "low level" scared.

My elementary school was like yours -- one teacher to a grade, and all were women teachers ... except for my 6th grade teacher, Mr. Hettrick who scared the bejezus out of me! That was a long year. I do remember all my teacher's names from K through 6th.

[susandennis]

I'm so glad you are enjoying revisiting our past. I think we are so lucky to have spanned these particular years.

[badrobot68.livejournal.com]

I still don't understand what everyone was supposed to do in those bomb shelters if a bomb did get dropped - just live there forever? Until you run out of food and starve, or die of boredom?

[susandennis]

Actually, I think most would have been killed fighting off their neighbors who wanted in.

[maju01.livejournal.com]

Volunteering in our town archives, I discovered that sometime in the 50s or 60s there was a plan to build bomb shelters in a few places around the town for the residents, rather than people building their own in their yards. It never came to anything though.

[susandennis]

Wild.

[jwg.livejournal.com]

I remember us alleging down to the auditorium as practice runs for bomb threats. It seemed like a strange place sine there were these huge glass chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

[susandennis]

Saved from the bomb but stabbed by the chandelier!