The "Have Never Regretted My Choices In Life!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  My retired Industrial Arts teacher friends decided to get together for a lunchtime meal in Southern Lancaster County.  Five of us made the journey to a restaurant to the south of Lancaster County.  We hadn't seen each other for a few months and thought it would be a good time to meet and check out what everyone was doing during their retired life.  Those in attendance were Barry W., Hal H., Jeff L., Jim C., and myself...Larry W.  We had all taught Industrial Arts at Manheim Township High School during the past 56 years with Barry and myself teaching the longest.  Most taught in both the Middle School (grades 6-8) and the High School (grades 9-12) at one time or another.  The fields of Industrial Arts that the five of us had taught at one time or another were Wood Shop, Metal Shop, Mechanical Drawing, Graphic Arts and Photography.  My specialities were Graphic Arts and Photography which I taught in the high school.  I had the longest tenure of the group with Barry next in line.  I began teaching in 1966, four years after I had graduated from the same Manheim Township High School.  I had taught wood shop at a high school in nearby York County even before I had graduated from Millersville State Teachers College, since teachers were in short supply and the school districts were mandated as to what classes they had to offer to high school students.  After teaching a year in York County I returned to Manheim Township and taught a half-semester of wood and metal shop before receiving my teaching certificate.  It was at that time that I began teaching Graphic Arts (printing) and eventually photography.  The remainder of the group today taught in a variety of Industrial Arts classes.  Barry eventually became the department chairman during his last few years of teaching.  We all still live in Lancaster County, but don't get to see each other as often as we used to while teaching.  Fun to get together and talk about times past when memories of teaching and friendships that we had developed during those years at good ole' Manheim Township.  As for me...well, I actually graduated from Manheim Township High School in 1962 and began classes at Millersville State Teacher's College the following year.  The Industrial Arts department at Millersville at times lost quite a few students, since the Vietnam War was excellerating and buses would at times stop at the Industrial Arts building to pick up students to take them for physicals and induction into the Army or another service unit.   To this day I still don't know how I was never drafted into the Army...or any other service.   Could be my name was at the end of the alphabet or maybe it was the classes that I had chosen to teach which were extremely low in college students.  At times I felt guilty that I had never been drafted, but I evidently was needed as a teacher in an area where there were few teachers that graduated from college.  I never once thought of changing my major in college, since I loved working with my hands and had always wanted to be a teacher.  Today I look back on all the years that I taught and wonder where all the time went.  And...you know...I would love to do it all over again...if given the chance and time!  But...we know...that unfortunately will never happen!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Seated: Barry W., Standing: Larry W., Hal H., Jeff L., and Jim C.