The "We're Too Young to be This Old - Class Reunion Time!!" Story

It was an ordinary day. Looking over some of the notes that Bill, one of my classmates from high school, has added to his on-going list of memories that other classmates are sharing for our upcoming high school reunion in early September. Hey, this isn't just any reunion, but the big 5-0. Fifty years!! Hard to believe that I graduated from Manheim Township High School in 1962. I was a tall, skinny kid, weighing about 140 pounds. Did try to play football in 9th grade, but got beat up pretty bad so I gave that up. Baseball was my game and I was good at it even though I didn't play ball after 10th grade. Got a job! Too busy working so I could keep gas in my car. Academically, I took the college prep courses, but wasn't sure why. My parents wanted me to go to college which I did. I was a "B" student in high school, but had a high "B" average in college. Well, enough about me for now. As I read the comments from my classmates, it brings back a flood of memories, some good and some bad. If I share some with you you will be able to see what life was like in the late 50s and early 60s. Read one, a few, or all to get an idea what high school was like during that time period. I have not edited any, including spelling, so you will have to figure out what is being said. Here goes:

• Remember when Penny Loafers where all the rage along with the Saddle Shoes & Socks Era
• Of course, everyone remembers the poodle skirts
• Rushing home after school to listen to Band Stand and practicing the new dancesI
• One afternoon I cut class with a bunch of friends to go to a movie. We lied about our age to get the cheapest tickets. However, David Hall foiled these plans when he told the ticket taker we were old enough to pay the adult rate. His input was not appreciated! Then I saw my father in the movie theater. He had also taken the afternoon off!
• Does anyone remember driver's ed with Mr. Cushman ? the man drove home a point (no pun intended ) regarding safety. Found myself thinking about him and also the physics teacher.... no two atoms can occupy the same space at the same time. Hmmmm is it atoms or molecules ? anyway the X generation seems fairly distracted and could use a good, driver's ed coach ( teacher ).
• Does anyone remember someone throwing pennies up against the blackboard while the teacher had his back turned...I'm thinking it was Mr.Kreider (science)??? I remember Mr. Wills, driver eduction teacher made me back the whole way from Rt. 501 to the school building...needless to say I'm pretty good at backing ever since. I too remember those dumb swimsuits and how we had just like hand dryers to dry our hair to get to our next class and everyone would make fun of us for having wet hair. Miss Hauck used to throw an eraser at people to have them quit talking.
• i recall tenth grade burkholder and epler creating their own version of pig latin, a remarkable bit of nonsense they labeled Op Talk. my name, for instance, became n-op-ick op-and-op-es. epler was d-op-ick op-epl-op-er, or something like that. that blather enabled us to talk so that we were not understood (which just so happened to be the way we normally came across), but we got in trouble anyway because, Op Talk, Ancient Greek or Lithuanian, we were TALKING in class, understood or not. also recall 10th grade beatnik day, a gala for which many of us donned beatnik attire and were promptly sent home from school to change clothing. personally, i also recall school dances, at which i was quite possibly the worst dancer on the face of the earth, boogie-ing like a demented Pee Wee Herman. the word embarrassing comes to mind. then there was the first football game senior year, under the lights at lancaster catholic, a game jody et al won handily, much to everyone's surprise and delight. the undefeated season had begun! and all the pretty girls. oh, yes, i remember them.
• Miss Hauck throwing erasers? Funny, I don't remember that but I do remember the object she had hanging ominously on the front wall of her room which she occasionaly referred to - her shillelagh. Did she ever actually put it into action? She sure had me fooled (and scared). To her credit, she was a good algebra teacher; many years later when I was subbing at M.T. some of her contemporaries - still teaching - told me she was a great gal and lots of fun in the faculty room.
• As to Mr. Kreider - looking back, we were a cruel, bullying bunch. He was a nice enough man and sincere, just could not control the teenage hormones raging within his classroom walls. Does anyone else remember the ONE time when we were taking one of those easy multiple choice/guess tests, we waited until he turned his back and then the rows switched papers, we checked each other's answers and then turned the tests in. Oh, how smart we thought we were! (Could anyone still be prosecuted for past misdeeds or get detention for these "confessions?"
• I was always so pleased with my French from Miss Nolan until I got to college and then to France and realized that it was a Pennsylvania Dutch French! Oh well, bonjour!
• i recall the movie frankenstein, in which igor rounds up body parts for the good doctor to use in assembling his 'monster' creation. i am reminded of that story because it seems somehow analogous to memory of mr anderson and his remarkable, long, black hearse, itself a feat of automotive engineering largely assembled by mechanic anderson with parts secured far and wide, typically in the dark of night with flashlights, power tools and hessen at his side. the hearse ended up running a lot better than frankenstein, and i am glad none of those parts had serial numbers.
• Another great teacher : Mr. Lewis, math(later a guidance counselor). He came our junior year. I actually enjoyed math for the first time, even took it senior year just to get him again, and joined the math club. A very dedicated man.
• I remember Katie Kuhl (Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres.) Mr Livingood's Chemical Bond Approach (CBA) chemistry class gave me valuable insights in a later career (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrascopy) and my favorite Mabel Murray " It doesn't matter how smart you are, if you can't communicate no one will ever know".
• A side note!! Do you all remember where our Senior Prom was held?? Well, it was held at the new Host Inn on Keller Ave near the train station. We have lasted longer than the Host!! Our prom was in June 1962 and the Host was leveled in June 2012 to make room for who knows what?? Probably another shopping mall or office/business complex!! Progress?? Free Market Capitalism at its best??
• Does anyone remember the terror one felt in being assigned to Mr. Robinson and Mr. (Hughie) Miller? I do! I remember a so called "contest" between them to see how many students they could paddle. As I remember, their rooms were in the basement, bad enough, and the crack of that paddle would echo throughout the halls. Did you ever look at that paddle? I did, thick handle, solid wood, with several holes drilled at different angles, enabling it to move swiftly through the air maximizing impact. Could that have been inspired by some medieval device? Then again, maybe it could solve some of our problems today!
• Have thoroughly enjoyed all the great and small stories of the past. Don't mean to throw a wet blanket on this exchange but would like us to take a moment to remember a class mate who gave his life in service to our country. Norm Billipp a team mate and neighborhood friend while he was in Lancaster. This link will take you to a site that tells his story:http://www.virtualwall.org/db/BillippNK01a.htm He went MIA while on a voluntary mission during May of 1969. His remains were recovered and repatriated in March of 1996. His name is on the memorial wall in DC. A sad loss we must always remember and give thanks to him and his comrades in arms for keeping the country safe. Their sacrifices must be honored. Politics aside, he did what his government asked him to do and paid the ultimate price!
• Yes, thanks to Dick for remembering a fallen classmate and, in my case, a fallen comrade. I was an Army Air Traffic Controller in Vietnam from Dec 1966 to Dec.1967.And, I know first hand the risks that the Forward Air Contollers (FAC Pilots) took every day. We had several based out of our airfield in DaLat, Vietnam and one of our FAC pilots was shot down and killed in Sept.1967. Things were beginning to heat-up by this time for the big "TET" offensive in February 1968. Another pack of lies that got us into another wrong war like the two we are still engaged in, Iraq and Afghanistan. Needless wars, needless death, needles pain and suffering, and on and on. Anyone remember the song "Where Have All The Flowers Gone"?? The lyrics are wonderful, especially; "when will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?" The answer is obvious, we never learn!!!!!! Yea, baby! Remember "W" and Mission Accomplished in full "Bomber Jacket" attire on the aircraft carrier!! What mission was that???? The mission to fool the American Public with yellow cake and all the rest!!!!!!!! You may not want to print this one because it is not "PC" for some of our classmates!! David Knapp, not ashamed to tell it like it is!!!
• I remember Gino's? you bet i do. i worked at Gino's! actually was told by Gino (Marchetti) and Alan Amechi, Baltimore Colts of Hall of Fame fame and who were partners in the biz), told to get down off a counter while i was cleaning one of those big windows. i apologized, but Gino said, "No, no need for that; good job; but somebody else will do it." i thus became a devout Colts fan. i might add that after a week or two working there, i lost my taste for burgers, fries and cola for years, due in toto to my over-indulgence early on.
• It is so great to hear from so many classmates. I smile seeing your names and reading the memories. What a great idea this is...being in touch after all the years. Wanted to share that I was working in ICU at LGH when Joe Cass died there either in 1970 or 1971. I was his nurse! Really tough.
• On a happier note...I love to remember choir and Mr S...and our shows and plays. And remember singing the Battle Hymn! Truth is marching! So many memories ...we're too young to be this old!

Well, hope you enjoyed reading a few of the memories that my class has been sharing with each other. I realize that they mean more to me than to you, but you can at least see what high schol life was like 50 years ago. Oh, yeah, I do remember being paddled by Mr. Miller, and it did echo through the halls. Hurt? You bet! Those holes in it made for less wind resistance. Didn't throw spit balls after that, at least not in homeroom. And, Mr. Robinson is one of my monthly breakfast companions, since I went back to teach and eventually retire at my alma mater, and the retired teachers have breakfast together once a month. Oh, the memories! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.