18 • The Beacon September 15 , 2022
School days memories have changed over time
By Marianne Austin
Public schools have changed through the years . Chalkboards have been replaced by Smartboards , and notebooks and textbooks have been replaced by laptops . But the thing most people remembered about their school days is a simpler time and all the friends and fun .
Rossann Davis started school at Union Elementary , and her family later moved to Frazeysburg .
“ The first day of school , I couldn ’ t wait ,” she said . “ We loved it . I think it was because most of us lived out in the country . We were far apart , and when school started , we got together . We kind of caused trouble — talk , talk , talk in class . It wasn ’ t anything for us to get notes sent home .”
Getting new school clothes was a big deal for Davis .
“ My aunt lived in Pittsburgh , and she purchased my school clothes ,” she said . “ She didn ’ t think my mother had taste , so I was so excited every time the box would come . There would be three or four outfits in it .”
Davis started school in 1956 and graduated from Tri-Valley in 1968 .
“ By that time we had combined the schools ,” she said . “ The high school was at West Carlisle at that time . It ’ s still there . I got to go to the new elementary . My best friend was Marilyn Minnick . We still keep in touch . We email back and forth . She doesn ’ t like to talk on the phone . We had a good time .
“ There was a gang of us , five girls , and we stuck
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Public schools have changed through the years . Chalkboards have been replaced by Smartboards , and notebooks and textbooks have been replaced by laptops . But the thing most people remembered about their school days is a simpler time and all the friends and fun .
together no matter what . Halloween we went soaping windows , and Teddy was the tallest one . Somebody hollered run . She didn ’ t see the clothes line ,
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BF-43509 and it caught her neck . It was funny . I helped her up , and we kept running .”
Lori Wright also shared her memories .
“ The first day of school , Mom would take us until my sister Amy started to drive , then she took me ,” she said . “ I was always excited because it seemed like I always got the teachers I wanted . Desi Gosset and I were in every class together from kindergarten through sixth grade . In seventh we got to make our own schedules . I always wore hand-me-downs until I was in the seventh grade .
“ I remember being so excited to have new clothes that year . I went to West Lafayette Elementary School . Mom used to smack my butt when I left just in case I did something that day I shouldn ’ t have .”
Joyce Shaw remembered her first day of school .
“ My sister Kathryn and I are three years apart ,” she said . “ We always dressed alike the first day of school , and we didn ’ t like to dress alike . I didn ’ t want to go because I was bashful . I was a school crossing guard , and I had to walk 10 blocks total to and from school . In the morning we walked from where the Bellflower apartments are over to where Stone Container is . We had to walk back home for lunch , back to school after lunch , and then we had to walk home every day .
“ We could not wear pants . We had to wear dresses or skirts . We could wear pants under our skirts in the winter , and when we got to school , we had to take them off . I went to Sycamore School , and they didn ’ t have a lunch program . We were the Sycamore Leaves . We had 40-plus kids in our class because we were the baby boomers and there was a lot of us . We had people that walked over from Lake Park when they had those houses along the lake . They brought their lunch .
“ We got vaccines at school . We had square dancing . We had plays on the stage , and I think I always played somebody ’ s mother . I don ’ t remember ever having school canceled . I was closer to South Lawn School , but they had a bridge at the tracks , and they wouldn ’ t let us cross the railroad tracks . You had to go up the steps and down , and they wouldn ’ t let you go on the railroad side .”
Ray Shaffer lives in Kimbolton now , but when he was a kid , he lived in Willoughby near Lake Erie . He started school in 1953 at McKinley Elementary School .
“ We had the largest crayons in the world , only six colors , large lead pencils , and we had this green-lined paper . It wasn ’ t white ; it was green , and it had these green lines to do our ABCs on ,” he said . “ I was a walker . You had to walk to school and carry your lunch and your milk money . It was three cents a day to buy your milk . The older kids in the sixth grade would come around with a cart to give you your milk at lunchtime .
“ We had recess in the morning , recess after lunch and recess in the afternoon . We did our ABCs on hickory paper , and then in our reader , we had Dick , Jane , Sally and Spot the dog . I remember the chalk squeaking on the chalkboard . I remember another kid in class used to break crayons and throw them at everybody . They had to put him in the coatroom . They had a rule that we weren ’ t allowed to run down the slide — we had to slide down .”
When asked if he ever ran down the slide , Shaffer said , “ I certainly did . I remember the chain links on the swings were big too and real long , and we had monkey bars . We played baseball outside , and in the summertime we would play baseball in the morning up at the school , then go swimming in Lake Erie in the afternoon and then go home and eat dinner . We walked . Not every kid had a bicycle .”
Mary Jane Sharp said , “ My first day of school I was scared because I didn ’ t know what to do and my mother had passed away a few months before I started . I went to a small country school at Madison Mills between Washington Courthouse and Mount Sterling , and now it ’ s called Miami Trace . Thank God I am living in Coshocton now . I ’ ve got so many friends , and they keep me in line .”
Jeannie Stokes first day of school was in 1950 .
“ I was a baby boomer ,” she said . “ My first day of school started on my birthday Sept . 4 . My first-grade teacher was the kindest , sweetest person in the world . I had her in first and second grade , and I remember our firstgrade readers — reading about the dog Jip . Run , Jip , run . We had a great time , and our teacher was an awesome lady . When ‘ Cinderella ’ was on TV , I invited her to my house , and she came to my house and watched ‘ Cinderella ’ with me .
“ We walked back and forth to school , even in the bad weather and the cold . We lived in Port Washington , and it was quite a little jaunt . Mom packed our lunch . When I was 9 years old , we moved down to the lower end of town , and there was a school bus .”