While teaching second grade at Rush Elementary in Lubbock, I had a variety of “critters” come to the classroom for Show and Tell. Clay’s parents had been to Florida. At that time, baby gators could be bought and taken home. And taken to school, it seems! The tiny thing was on my desk as all the children crowded around to see a real live alligator. Nothing would do, but for Mrs. Dane to touch the creature. When I touched his back, he quickly turned around and bit my finger. Another experience to add to my long list...I’ve been bitten by an alligator!
Someone brought a hamster. He was cute and fuzzy. The kids loved him. So did I, until he used my grade book for a bathroom. Not pleasant!
And then there was Charlie! Joel brought his pet crow in a cage. Charlie was perfectly happy to be in the classroom. There was so much for him to see. The only problem was when we left the room to go to lunch, Charlie spoke his one word loudly...”Help! Help, help, help!” Staff members raced to the classroom to see who was in distress! Charlie was happy to see new faces, but when they left, he started yelling again! Needless to say, Charlie had an early dismissal day.
After changing principals and going from a great situation to one barely tolerable, I went to teach first grade in a small farming community about 25 miles west of Lubbock. Ropesville had a lot of non-English speaking students. We referred to them as illegal aliens, because that’s what they were. Now that isn’t politically correct...they are undocumented visitors or something like that. But most of them would be there for a few weeks and then disappear as the crops would change.
The children in my class were sweet and respectful for the most part, but occasionally I would hear one say a “bad” word. My Spanish was extremely limited, but I soon learned both good and bad words. When I would tell them “no” to certain words, they would look surprised. All of them believed I was bilingual.
One of the main, but most unpleasant, duties I had was to check for head lice. Ugh! Usually, it wasn’t a very difficult task. One day, though, I needed some additional assistance so I took a little girl to the principal for help. Her hair was very crusty, probably because it hadn’t been washed in months. When we spread her strands of hair apart with throat swab sticks, lice were running around. The little pests didn’t like being in the light. I thought Mr. Redford was going to pass out!
In spite of unpleasant tasks like that, it was a great year after the stress of the previous year. I remember four students specifically. Orelia Cordoba was a cute little girl, with very dirty clothes and head lice. I adored her! I told Bill I wished I could bring her home, clean her up, and take care of the lice problem. Bill turned ghost white. He thought I was really going to bring her home. Of course, that wouldn’t have been possible for many, many reasons, but his reaction was classic.
One day, a new little girl was brought to my room and her sister, a little older, was taken to the first grade room next door. Each time I talked to her, she would cry and say, “No! Hermina.” I didn’t know what that word meant, but I finally figured out the problem. The principal had given me the wrong enrollment card. The child’s name wasn’t Hermina. It was Cryselda. Once I called her by the correct name, she was fine. Poor little thing!
And I remember Frank and Joe, cousins, who were in my class the entire year. Frank’s father worked for a local farmer full time. Frank was bright and inquisitive. Joe, on the other hand, was somewhat dull, but a very sweet little boy. Several years later, someone told me that Joe had died of a brain tumor. I was sad at this news and I’m sure Frank missed him very much!
I was originally hired to teach second grade in Ropesville. The first day of school, there weren’t enough students for three second grade classrooms and I would be put in a room with first grade non-English speaking students who came and went like a revolving door. The principal was very apologetic about the switch, but I was happy. I was just glad to be there!
Between the head lice and switched enrollment cards, plus a few other minor things, the first few weeks were interesting, to say the least. When it came time for report cards, I was ready for the task, only to discover my cards weren’t printed correctly. The inside part was printed upside down. I checked with the other teachers and discovered I was the only one with the misprinted cards.
One of the second grade teachers. Imogene, was the wife of the principal, Terry Redford. I ask her to go to the office with me to see what was going to happen. With a very serious face, I said, “Mr. Redford, this is the last straw. I didn’t mind being changed grade levels, and the head lice and wrong enrollment cards worked out OK, but this is the limit. I am the only teacher who got upside down grade cards!!!!!” I thought the poor man was going to have a heart attack, until his wife and I burst out laughing.” It was one of my greatest moments!
Knowing we would be going elsewhere to teach when we both got our degrees, we sold the race car. In need of a second car, Peewee, who worked for a foreign car dealer, suggested that I try out an Italian Alfa Romeo Zagatta they had for sale. It was a high powered thing of some sort, with kilometers instead of MPH. I wasn’t familiar with that, but thought it was about doubled. I got to school quickly that day, so I found the figures I needed and calculated my speed. 97 MPH! No wonder it was such a fast trip. On the way back home that afternoon, I drove the speed limit that I had calculated. The car wouldn’t run at that low a speed. I was in second and third gear all of the trip. We told Peewee “Thanks, but no thanks!”
We still needed a second car, so we bought a Mini Cooper from our friend, Buddy Adams. Buddy was a state senator so the license on the Mini had a State Official (SO) designation. At that time in Texas, the license plates stayed with the car. We could park anywhere we wanted to. It was exempt!
Our Mini was red with a white top. Our friends, Zan and Carolyn Smith, bought a green Mini, also with a white top. When we would go to church, whoever got there first would pull up in an angle parking space, and whoever would get there last would park right in back of the other one. And we still took up less space than the Cadillacs, which were the status symbol in Texas at the time.
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