High School Rides, Beautiful Papers and a Beloved Sister-in-Law

1954 - 1957 (Tenth to Twelfth Grade)

Bob drove us girls to high school in his car. We would pick up his girlfriend, Sue Warner, on the way. (Sue later became his wife.) I always liked Sue and we were always friends. After she married Bob, I grew to love her like another sister. She was our only sister-in- law, but she blended perfectly with all of us. Sadly, Sue passed away on my birthday, in 1996. I’ll always remember her zest for life, bubbly smile and her good heartedness. After school we would walk down the hill to the A&P Store where Daddy would be waiting to take us home. He would call Mom and ask her what groceries she needed before heading home. I didn’t worry about my grades. A’s and B’s were good enough for me. I had no particular interest in trying for all A’s. Some of the classes I took were: English, History, Biology, Literature, Spanish, Geometry, Government and an array of business courses, including shorthand and typing. One of the things I did enjoy was going to the library to do research for a term paper. I liked searching for details. Bernie drew all the covers for my papers. I would ask him to just quickly sketch on the title for me, but he would always take his time and draw a beautiful cover. I usually got A’s, A+’s and once an A++. I knew the beautiful covers helped my grade. I was a member of the Future Nurses Club, Civic Club, Home Economics Club and Spanish Club. I thought I wanted to be a Nurse, but Mom and Dad just didn’t have the money. I don’t remember being that disappointed. I really don’t think I knew what I wanted to do at sixteen, seventeen or eighteen years old. But, in retrospect, I’m glad I’m not a nurse. When I was in high school the worse discipline problems were: 1. Talking in class, 2. Running in the hall, 3. Chewing gum. 4. Passing notes. Smoking was a big no-no, but a few kids did try to sneak a smoke. As a teenager I did everything possible to dress and act like everyone else. I certainly didn’t want to appear “square.” We wore blue jeans with the legs rolled up to our calves and white long-sleeved shirts. We wore full-circle skirts (I made all of mine) with crinolines under them that were stiff enough to stand up on their own. Some of these full skirts had poodles appliquéd on them and became one of the trademarks of Fifties teenage dress—the Poodle Skirt was born. To complete this outfit, we wore white blouses with the collars turned up and a cinch belt at the waist. We also wore matching skirts and sweaters with detachable white collars or small square scarves tied in a square knot around our neck. We wore white bobby socks and saddle shoes or penny loafers. Barb and Diana loved to wear my clothes to school and would sneak them when I wasn’t looking. I didn’t realize they were doing it for a long time. But I finally noticed that there were wrinkles around the waistband of my skirts where they rolled them up to make the skirts shorter. The Clothes Snatchers were caught! Some of the guys wore their hair slicked back in a “duck tail.” They wore v-neck sweaters over plaid shirts, jeans and plain cotton pants. Their shoes were white bucks and penny loafers. Most of the guys had crew cuts. ROCK ‘N ROLL

We loved our records and plugged nickel after nickel into jukeboxes playing our favorites. We listened to the Top 40 on the radio religiously.