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| Added Fall 2009 Remember when… extracted from 10-year reunion memory book
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| Submitted Summer 2009: Rocky Sinclair As I was attempting to build this website, several topics came to mind. Perhaps these will trigger some ideas for you to contribute. No doubt you have tales to tell that make these pale in comparison. Cruzin' Lou's… that was the big deal to go to see and be seen. Don't remember ever actually ordering anything, for that we went to the Arctic Circle. A whole carload would get out and individually order a Coke. Mostly it was so the clerk would be obligated to say I am sorry sir, we only serve Pepsi products. Then the next one, and then the next one, would go up and order a Coke just to get the same reaction. Remember that Phil? Burgers were only 19-cents in those days. |
| Accountability… Remember when we were expected to be accountable for what we did. If we screwed up and ANY adult found out about it, we were sure our parents would find out by the grape vine. Not to say we did not do some pretty goofy things. The television ads promoted such things as smoking (anyone remember what LSMFT stood for?) and ambulance chasing lawyers did not yet advertise to get you something for nothing.
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| Pranks… No doubt others can add to this topic with much better reminiscing. What I do remember, is we were pretty careful to NOT do any damage to anything. Everything else was pretty much fair game. Senior physics class: Frank Penzer and Marion Shinn would always lunch together. They were ALWAYS late returning, returning from the gym side door rather than the student hallway door. The room was always locked when empty as well. After a while, we got pretty tired of that. Remember those plastic wallet calendars the bank gave away. Worked perfectly to gain room access. Not sure he ever figured out how we did it. Another time we just refused to go into the room after he was late. We had all seated ourselves on the steps on the stairway there and just started singing when he finally opened the door, and seeing we did not come in, begged us to come to class. It must have echoed all the way down the hall as all the other classes were, of course, started on time. Study Hall: Remember those "row" desks that must have been a throw back to our parent's time? The "monitor" always had a tall stack of plain scratch paper on the corner of her desk. She also often "excused" herself and left the classroom for who knows what reason. The game was to see if we could take all that paper each day without getting caught. I still had scratch paper left after finishing college. I will let others explain how the brackets keeping the front desk legs from sliding off the podium got loosened. |
| Favorite Teachers… A couple teachers come to mind, probably because of fun incidents during classes. Who remembers "Little" Eva Peterson who taught English on the third floor? She had her desk and a lecture podium on a riser at the front of the room, the class was a large one. When she would get to lecturing, she could tilt that podium forward nearly to the point of tipping. The poor student directly in front of her had to be in fear of his life about then. Looking back, we had a very strong foundation in English that we acquired despite classroom antics and she provided much of that. Then there was Frank Penzer who taught SPCA (or some new-to-us acronym) physics. What first comes to mind was his demonstration on freezing stuff. I remember he took a weenie and froze it in liquid air. To demonstrate how fragile it had become, hit smashed it with a hammer, it shattered like glass. Weenie everywhere, on us, on him, all over the room. By the time the fragments hit anything, they were thawed completely and sticky. Pretty sure there are bits still lodged in the cinder block crevices of that room even today-hopefully painted over by now. Anyone remember those light tables with water and bouncing pop beads that made all those pretty wave patterns? Hell, anyone remember pop beads? |
| Basketball games… Of course we did not have our own court for our games so had to use the LCNS gym. I doubt if that old building is even in existence these days.
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| Favorite Annual "Signings"… Probably everyone got the obligatory Good luck-have a nice life notations in their annuals each the spring. Occasionally, a really creative one came along. Here are two examples. Well, another year has gone by and we haven't flunked out (I don't think, anyway). Ruby's room was, as last year, quite informal, to say the least. What a ball! Ruby, though deaf and unable to see, Rates very high as a teacher with me; Because of this, I find it my duty To expound on Ruby's beauty. You will notice her long, lovely hair, Flying wildly in the air. Also note her flat little feet This part of her body being so petite. The beautiful gowns she wears to school Make Billy Greene want to drool. Her stockings are maintained in a lovely state, If only she'd keep the seams straight! From this description, I hope I've given you Some of the fond memories of her which I hold too. Last year I was very poetic in your annual-remember my touching ode about Ruby? However, this year my talent has waned, I'm afraid, so I'll have to write in plain, dull old prose. Anyway, remember all the good times we've had this year: We began the year by choosing our lunch table, the same one, I believe, we used last year (it was a strategic location). From that table we launched such projects as trying to fill up the vent with trays, cold lunch garbage, spoons, forks, dishes, and just about anything we could get our hands on; throwing food across the cafeteria in a attempt to win the terrible war with such slimy individuals as Don Herbert and Gary Nichols. (Remember the day I nailed Galpern who immediately came back and just about choked poor Patterson to death for it?); bending fork and spoon handles so they looked like fat corkscrews, and (our crowning achievement, I might add) turning the telephone booth against the wall while that girl sat eating her lunch in it.. Other memorable events of the year took place on the way to physics. Remember when we plugged up the drain on the drinking fountain and just about flooded the school (almost). Then there was the time someone put food coloring in the reservoir for the you know what and it flushed down a luscious hue all afternoon. I'll also always remember the day we had somewhat a hand in putting dry ice in the end toilet in that good old downstairs lavatory. Just before physics we did such things as have pinecone fights, stuff oranges up Mr. Pentzer's exhaust pipe, and shove burning incinerators down the hall. There was also our fine choir which serenaded Mr. P and Mr. Shinn as they emerged daily after lunch. As the afternoon progressed, we met again in beautiful Ruth Modie's math class. Wasn't it terrible the way we kept hiding her plants outside the windows in the cold air? Wasn't it terrible too how poor Ruth was bugged unmercifully by Al. (I can't say anything nasty about Ruth or she will take 1/64th of a point off my semester grade! Shudder!) Well, I'm about out of room so I'll quit (you know not for lack of adventures to remember) Lots of luck in the future and I'll see you next year at the U of I. Phil |