Personal History - Grade School March

Where did you attend grade school?

 I enjoyed a selection of grade schools, because we moved pretty frequently. It seemed like my father, having had a taste of military life, didn't want to give it up, so we were always moving in my younger years.

Not easy, for a girl as shy as I was. I'm willing to make bets on whether or not people could remember me from those days. I never spoke outside my home - not unless I was forced to. I could speak at home, no problem. Even yell. But never outside the house, especially at school or church - more formal areas, and even then the sound of my own voice in my ears would shock me. I didn't recognize it.


I didn't get over that little quirk until adulthood, actually. A bit of an Aspberger-y child, before Aspberger's was a thing.

George Washington Elementary School, Salt Lake City, UT

This was my first school, from kindergarten to at least first grade, maybe second grade.

It was down the street from my house, which in those days seemed a very long walk for a 5-year-old, yet somehow I could go to church or over to downtown Salt Lake to see a movie or go to Temple Square, and that walk seemed much shorter. Or at least, more enjoyable.

School was awkward, to say the least. Strangers wanted me to talk to them, and I didn't like that. I wanted to read, and be left alone. Bullies were drawn to me like bees to honey. I must have had 'convenient victim' written on my forehead in invisible ink only the bullies could see, because I got them, right out of the gate. Lunch stolen, skinned knees in desperate chases through the snow, intimidated to go outside, the whole deal.

But there were good times too. I still remember Ms. Lisonbee and Mrs. Cassias, my kindergarten teachers. Ms. Lisonbee looked like Mr. Rogers in a curly wig, and Mrs. Cassias was sassy and had a loud laugh. But that's all I remember.

I had a couple other misfit friends that helped me through those grades. Tina, and Norma in particular. They came to my birthday party.

In first grade, I dashed my teeth out of my head, and went on a field trip to a soda factory, where we each got a free can of soda. I remember sitting alone, in my extremely advanced reading group of one, while everyone else sat together in their sad little basic reading groups, actually learning to read.

I also have memories of my first presidential election, and this is going to date me pretty hard, I'm afraid. We were voting for either Ford, or Carter. And Carter won. I didn't know who either of them were, but I'd heard my parents (who were conservative voters) talking about Ford, so I voted for him. Very sad when I lost, and then Ford lost for real soon after.

Meadowlark Elementary School, Salt Lake City, UT

This was either in the middle of second grade, or the beginning of third grade. My third grade teacher was Mrs. Acretree, a blond bubbly lady who helped us put together a band for a special school assembly, and I was exceptionally good at percussion. She had me lead everyone so we could keep time with the music. It was really fun, because I didn't have to talk or sing, and I could make lots of noise.

Got two new bullies to go along with the new school. One was a girl a grade older than me, who just flat-out didn't like me. She'd follow me home deliberately, even though it was out of her way, and slap me around. Another was a boy, but he liked me, so he would beat me up and then give me candy, which I found very confusing.

Recess was both challenging and awesome. Challenging for a girl who didn't make friends easily - I played alone most days, or pretended to be thinking while wishing desperately that I could somehow stop coming to school. Awesome in the wintertime, when there was acres of snow to play with, and I didn't feel so lonely and targeted on those days.

Was nearly kidnapped by a strange blond young man with a mustache once while coming home from school. I usually walked home from school by myself, even though my brothers went to school with me - they didn't always wait for me, and I didn't mind being alone. One day this car pulls up, and the man inside asks me how to get to Liberty Park. I told him I didn't know. Then he asked me if I wanted to see something beautiful, with a very strange tone to his voice. I stepped a little closer to the car.

His pants were around his ankles, and...well...I stepped back and gave him some fake directions to Liberty Park very quickly, and ran. Never saw him again.

My fourth-grade teacher was a very skinny lady named Mrs. Mule'. Her hair was super-long, and she was one of my favorite teachers. I had this rivalry for good grades with another girl in class named Tanya Lawrence. If I got a B, she got an A. If I got an A, she got an A+. I tried to best her, but I think I only managed to do it once. She was really good at school. Her brother did drugs. In elementary school - heaven only knows what her home life was like.

I don't recall the name of my fifth grade teacher, but I do remember Steven, this Jewish kid at school who would swear like a merchant marine. In a class full of Mormons, this created a certain chaos. We were learning about the law, and running a mock court in class, where we could bring someone in and 'sue' them - and poor Steven was being hauled into court for his language almost every week by someone. I got into it too - I would follow Steven around, just listening for when he would swear, so I could have my chance to sue someone too. Feel kinda bad about that today, but truthfully, I just really wanted to sue someone, and no one else ever seemed to do anything wrong.

Another memory of around fourth and fifth grade was the Wolfgramms. They were a Hawaiian family that went to my church, and their daughter Kathy was my friend. A really sweet girl, and good in school like me. Her family was very musical - they did a special concert of Hawaiian songs and dances for my school one Christmas. Kathy's older brother ran around with my older brother, and the younger brother Rudy was a punk - he teased me incessantly.

Later on after I moved away, they started a family band, and called it the Jets. Had a couple of fairly big hits in the 80s. I was so surprised to see their videos, but I loved that they found some success. Kathy played keyboards in the band, and Rudy played the drums in the middle.

Bertha Ronzone Elementary School, Las Vegas, NV

I think we moved to Las Vegas in the middle of the school year, because all of a sudden I was in fifth grade somewhere else. Yet another school where I knew absolutely no one.

Fortunately, one of the girls in my class lived across the street from me, and said she wanted to be friends. We spent hours listening to music together at her house, and playing in her backyard. I don't think she ever came over to my house. I didn't usually bring friends home.

This was the age when I finally got to take up my dream of taking ballet lessons (I was convinced that, if I could only become a ballerina, my life would be perfect). Started out with the little baby kid class, and those kids were pirouetting circles around me. All I got was dizzy. I did have one Baryshnikov sighting while I was there - or at least, someone who looked very much like him, and that was thrilling - but not enough to get me to sign up for another round of classes.

It was in this school that I earned my very first 'C' grade - on a spelling test, no less. Up until that point, I was a champion speller. Never, ever misspelled a word, but I got several wrong on that one. I put my face down on my arms on the desk and cried when that happened. But I never cried again - not even when I failed something.

There was another class assembly in this school where I worked up a magician's act (I was into magic tricks at the time). It was short, and even a little funny. The crowd loved it, and didn't really know what to make of a person who was so shy, and yet could stand up in front of others and perform. I'd given talks in church ever since I was old enough to stand and talk together, so performing while others listened I could do. I just couldn't start or hold my own in a personal conversation or in a group - apparently that was different somehow.

I also did a lot of jump rope and Double Dutch at this school - at recess, there wasn't much else to do, and people were willing to let me join in if I would hold the rope. Not so good at the jumping, though.

Booker Sixth Grade Center, North Las Vegas, NV

My elementary school didn't have sixth grade - apparently the sixth-graders were traded to a different neighborhood in some sort of agreement between schools. So for sixth grade, I started riding the bus for the first time. The novelty of it wore off pretty fast, and I stayed close to the front, since anything could happen in back, where the known bullies did their partying.

North Las Vegas was kind of a rough neighborhood - at least, it didn't look like where I lived. But we stayed on campus, and nothing untoward happened there. There were these rumors of gang wars and shootouts that happened on the weekend, but nothing ever went on while I was there.

My teacher's name I can't remember. I'll just refer to her as 'Ms. Evil'. Because she was. Especially about penmanship, and apparently mine was never up to her standards. This was also the age where kickball and tether ball were in vogue, and I was good at neither. So I either played alone, or waited to get chosen last, and then flailed my way through the best I could, always ending up disappointing my team.

The most significant part of sixth grade busing was meeting my friends Janna and Christy Lusk for the first time. We were on the bus together, and sat together nearly every day. We also went to church together, which was how they recognized me. They wore fake fur coats a lot that year, but not matching coats. They were twins, but didn't work hard at trying to look like each other. I could tell them apart easily after a few months, and always got confused whenever people would look at them and claim they couldn't tell the difference. It was easy for me.

I would play over at their house frequently in those days. We got to be kind of inseparable. They had Barbies, and Simon and Garfunkel albums. Their parents had a waterbed. Their house was much cooler than my own.

In sixth grade, I also learned to play the violin, which I liked very much, but which got too frustrating to try to keep the thing in tune. I think, if I had chosen the cello instead, I might have kept up with it longer.

Also, I tried out for and got into the drill team, which was thrilling. I got to wear something that looked like a cheerleader's outfit (I was convinced at the time that, if I could only manage to be a cheerleader, my life would be perfect), and even marched in a parade with a big flag, which was both confusing and exciting. Cheerleader was never in the cards for me, but drill team was pretty dang close, and I was so glad I'd tried.