It was in the late summer of 1961 and Chubby Checker was singing “Let’s twist again, like we did last summer.” It was time for me to start the first grade and enroll at McDonough Elementary School. Back then they didn’t offer kindergarten or Pre-K and first grade was our first day at any school.

  I had two older sisters that were already in school and it seemed like it was a lot of fun to them. They would take their lunches in a lunchbox and carry their books back and forth on a daily basis. Little did I know what I was getting into. Twelve years later I was just as excited to graduate!

  My mother had already been getting me prepared to attend and the first stop on the Square was Bartlett and Taylor Grocery Store. I remember going to that store to buy ginger snaps quite often. My mother would call them and tell them what she needed and send me there to pick things up. Back then we all had accounts at the stores and you just paid once a month on your account.

  Our main purchases that day were some things I had been eyeing for some time – a Blue Horse tablet and a pencil that was as big as a drum stick. I think we also purchased a bottle of paste (glue), a big eraser and a big box of crayons. When we left that store my mom took me down to Hammock’s Hardware where they gave us a free Tampa Nugget cigar box that I still have today (I’m looking at it right now and it reads 2 for 15 cents, “A Good Smoke” Tampa, Florida).

  We left Hammock’s and took a left and went into Goldstein’s Shoe Store for some new shoes. Mr. J. C. Carter helped us find them, black and white tennis shoes. I don’t have the shoes anymore. I don’t know what happened to them!

  Our last stop was over to Jesse Gasses Department Store on the south side of the Square. Mr. Jesse  met my mom and me and personally waited on us. He always called my mom Martha Ann and referred to me as her son. There we got, not one, but two pairs of Levis. We were only going to buy one pair, but with Mr. Jesse being the expert salesman that he was, you just couldn’t say ‘no’ to him.

  At that point I was ready for school. Classes always started the Tuesday after Labor Day and I could not wait to go.

  My mom, along with other students’ moms, walked us in that morning and introduced us to Miss Susan. I had never met her but she had taught my sisters and my mother several years earlier.

  When I met Miss Susan she seemed like some of the grandmothers of my church friends.

  Anyway, they showed us to our assigned seats and our mothers left the room. I looked around and some of the children had been in my Sunday School class but there were many that I had never seen before.

  All of the boys had on new blue jeans. Your mother would buy them too long on purpose and we would have to turn up the legs and make a cuff, as we grew taller, we would roll them down.

  On the first day of school, the entire classroom smelled like a Levi Strauss factory with all of that dark blue dye in those jeans.

  That morning my life as I knew it changed forever. We had all been assigned chairs and Miss Susan was calling roll. Coralyn, Kay, Anne Marie, Betsy, Bill, Billy, Melvin … that’s all the names I can remember. I never understood teachers having to call roll when they could look at your seat and tell if you were present or not.

  We only went half days for the first six weeks and after that a full day, but everywhere we went, to recess or the lunchroom, we lined up and walked in a straight line. Of course recess and lunchtime ended up being some of my favorite parts of the school day.

  As far as the classroom went, two of the first things we started learning to do was read and write. Miss Susan told us to bring popsicle sticks to class and this is how we learned to read the  Dick and Jane books. We would cover up the line below us and moved the popsicle sticks to read.

  One day we were coming back from lunch and with my last name starting with an R, I could hear and see Miss Susan with a stern voice telling Bill Malone to get back in line and adding, “I mean what I say, boy!” We had never heard her speak like this before since she hadn’t needed to discipline anyone yet.

  Another time we were told to color a picture and I loaned my crayons to Anne Marie Drake. She put them in her cigar box, where we all kept our crayons, and wouldn’t give them back until Miss Susan instructed her to return them to me. I think she got in trouble for that.

  One of my favorite things to do was to finger paint, something I had never done before. You got to put all of your fingers in the wet paint and move them around on very slick paper. The school would have a family night and our entire families would come to look at our artwork.

  I don’t know how first grade is thought of today, but back in 1961 it was an exciting adventure. We also learned how to recite the alphabet.

  Back to the Pre-K that we didn’t have, so far I have been unable to find any results or facts that would prove if you attended Pre-K that you would make more money or get a better job!

  If the teacher that taught you how to read and write is still on this earth today, please look them up and thank them for teaching you the two most important skills you have today. Without Miss Susan I would not have been able to write this column and you would not have been able to read it. Teachers – God bless them!