The "School Daze: Part 1" Story

It was an ordinary day. Checking out my high school yearbook. My graduating class recently held a meeting to discuss our upcoming 50th year reunion. 50 YEARS!! Holy cow, how old am I? Started to look through the book at the photos of the senior class. I remember most of them, but probably wouldn't recognize quite a few of them if I was standing next to them. I'm sure many would not recognize me. I grew a few inches taller, put on a few pounds and lost all my hair from the photo in the yearbook. Then I hit the faculty section of the yearbook and wondered how many of these people are still alive. I know my history teacher, Mr. Hoover is still alive and looks pretty close to his photo in the book. He was in his first year of teaching when I was a senior. He comes to breakfast every so often when the retired teachers eat together. You see, I went back to my Alma mater to teach after graduating from college. I got to teach with many of the same people who taught me. It was awkward at first, but I became good friends with most of them. And now I am part of the retired group who have breakfast once a month. As I start looking again, there is yet another member of my breakfast club, Mr. Hower. He was a math teacher who became principal after I graduated and was my boss for almost 30 years. Still do printing jobs for him. He is secretary of the PIAA (PA Athletic Asso.) and has me do the printing for him. Back to the yearbook. There is "Sheena", my homeroom and French teacher. Miss Nolan looked like Shenna, queen of the jungle. Tall, gorgeous, and blond. And, a photo of Miss Hauck who was my 9th grade math teacher. Used to hit me across the hands with a ruler if I made mistakes. Lucky for me she retired before I came back to teach. Ah, there's a pix of "Warpy" , my gym teacher for 4 years. Never quite sure how he got that name, but he was hated by many. After teaching with Mr. Lewars for a few years, I got to know the other side of him. There's Mr. Miller, one of my favorite teachers. He was my art teacher and occupied the room next to me when I started teaching. Mr. Ehemann was my shop teacher and the reason I got my job at MT after graduating from college. He coached my brother Steve in basketball and really like him. My brother convinced him that I should have a job in the Industrial Arts shop with him. Mrs. Gehman was the high school secretary and after I started teaching I realized how important she was to the school. I printed the graduation programs for years and one year had to redo it 3 times because she kept making mistakes in proofreading. As I was printing it for the third time at 6:00 AM the day of graduation, she brought me breakfast for helping her so many times. Things you remember!! Mr. Robinson, who is another breakfast member and has to be close to 90 years olds, liked to paddle kids. Kept a tally on the corner of the chalkboard. I was never a member of his list, luckily! Mr. Lewis was my favorite math teacher. Limped, walked with a cane and made me love math. I wanted to be a math teacher, but got talked into Industrial Arts, because they would instantly admit me to Millersville State Teachers College. IA teachers were in demand at the time. And finally, Dean who was a shop teacher when I was a student and became close friends when I returned to work with him. He was my department chairman. Dean still has a Christmas Tree stand. Raises all of them himself and still throws the trees on top of cars even though he has to be more than 10 years older than me. Don't know how he does it! Well, time to check out my friends in the underclass section. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Pixs from the top are left: Mr. Hoover and Mr. Hower, Miss Nolan, Miss Hauck, Left: Mr. Lewars and Mr. Miller, Mr. Ehemann, Mrs. Gehman, Mr. Robinson, and left: Mr. Lemon and Mr. Lewis.