Fall 1955 at Ft. Riley Elementary

We moved into a basement apartment in Junction City - which wasn't a good idea because of my asthma. We lived there about a month. Our landlady thought she could come downstairs into our apartment at any hour. That really didn't work, so we found a little house to rent. This worked out much better - no landlady coming to bother us.

Chuck returned to Kansas State as a sophomore. He hated the required classes and just wanted to get down to the nitty gritty in Engineering.

The teachers met for a couple of in service days before school started. One of the kindergarten teachers decided she wanted to get to know me. This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. Her name was Betty and she is a dear friend.

My first day of teaching found me in my room - terrified! The first student to come in the room at Ft. Riley Elementary was a tiny little girl who was even more scared than I! I still remember her name!

The year started out with 22 students. This really helped me get "my feet wet" as a teacher. As the year progressed, the "Big Red One" returned from Germany. The class size at the end of the year was 36! That was really a challenge. Grading papers happened at home in the evenings.

One of students, a girl named Blair, was so smart she could have taught the class. The kids had traveled all over the world. I'd never been out of the US except for visiting Tiajuana, Mexico.

Back then teachers dressed up for school. I usually wore heels, straight skirts and blouses or sweaters. I don't ever remember teaching in slacks. I kept sneakers under the desk for recess because I played ball and other games with the kids.

One boy, Mike, was the orneriest I ever met - he could talk your arm off and did lots of talking during class.

With such a variety of learning abilities, teaching math and reading was really challenging. Some found learning so easy and others found it really difficult. There was one who had genius IQ and others with low IQs. It was hard for me to understand kids not being able to spell. Of course, I was a good speller and had to learn that not everyone could spell.

During the first six week of school the teachers had to visit each family in their homes. So we made the phone calls to set up the appointments and visited. Thank goodness for the 22 students at the beginning of the year! Some of the parents were very well-educated and others, not so much.

The children were "army brats." Their fathers were sargeants to Generals. The one exception was the fire chief, he was a civilian. His child was in my class.

My teaching certificate had to be renewed each year. I needed nine hours credit. So Saturdays, evenings and summer school classes were part of my year.

My friend Betty and I belonged to a car pool. I didn't have a car to drive so I paid to ride. I was the last one picked up and the first one dropped off. I hated to wait!

Betty and I usually had lunch together; sometimes in her room, sometimes at the PX with the other teachers.

The buses arrived with the kids shortly before 9 a.m. Then the students were picked up at ll:30 for lunch and came back shortly before 1 p.m. That 90 minute lunch hour was lovely! Then school was out between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m.

We were paid monthly. So quite often we took the pop bottles back to the store the night before payday. We'd have enough money to go to a movie. My annual wages for the 1955-56 school year were $2,850! Yep, you read right, I did say Annual!