Junior High Days

Junior High Days 1970-1973 

I attended Robert Stuart Junior High School in Twin Falls, Idaho. I was so excited for school to begin and wore mismatched knee-socks, one white and one red, on the first day with a red and white polkadot skirt (really a "skort”…short skirt with shorts under) and a white formfitting stretchy short-sleeved top with scooped neckline. I had long straight brown hair nearly to my waist parted in the middle with no bangs and was quite dark skinned. 

Some teachers I remember are Mr. Ware who was very strict and taught 7th grade Social Studies. I respected him and learned a lot in his class. Mr. Woebke (not sure the spelling) who taught advanced math where I learned about square roots. He was so impressed I could figure them out without a slide-ruler (there were no personal computers in those days) and he helped me send a fake failing notice home to my parents as a joke. They were not upset, just asked if that was the best I could do. I can picture my older, gray-headed, full-figured, female art teacher Mrs. Quesnell who introduced me to art where I won a few awards with pastel drawings and also the woman English teacher who was dating Mr. Woebke, but cannot remember her name. I loved school. 

The building was a large, brick, single-level with most of the classes on the west side and the gymnasium on the east end. The cafeteria was between the two. I would occasionally buy school lunches, but sometimes just use my lunch money to buy a hostess fruit pie, which I somehow thought was nutritious, or save the money. After lunch we would hang out in the balcony and bleachers by the gym. 

I was involved in choir and always wished my voice was better (and still do), I love to sing. The choir director worked on my speaking voice to help me speak from my chest not my nose because he liked my voice. It was sort of deep or low for a girl. I should probably be an alto, but I liked to sing melody. I also ran track. My events were the 100 yard dash and the anchor of the 440 relay. In junior high I was never beaten in the 100 yard dash. I think my fastest time was around 13 seconds…maybe 12.7. I ran the 200 yard dash in a few track meets, but that seemed like long distance to me. My P.E. teacher commented after 8th grade when I came back for 9th grade that I had “traded my broomsticks for curves”. I guess I filled out over the summer :-). 

My best friends were Nancy Evans and Mary Ann Salisbury, but they were really not friends with each other. In fact one summer I wrestled with the song “Old Auld Syne” stuck in my head for days with the words “make new friends and keep the old, one is silver and the other gold”. It was an answer to my prayers on friend problems. Both ended up being bridesmaids in my line when I got married.  Mary Ann was a tomboy who could out-pitch most boys. She liked boys, but I think they were intimidated by her. Nancy was quiet and small and ended up being better friends with a new girl Ethelyn Hougard before our years there finished. First boy-friends were Jim Paxton (funny, cute, blonde boy) and Brent Thomas (tough, good athlete with a beard and car in 9th grade). 

I actually achieved getting my driver’s license in 9th grade and was a terrible driver. I knocked down a fence and even backed all the way around into my own mailbox! I did well on the written test, but was pretty scary on the road. I even got four flat tires once looking into the Me&Eds Pizza window (at Roger who worked there and ended up my husband) and was stuck, high centered on a curb. Lucky I survived my escapades, often with my little brother Jason in the car. 

I spent a lot of time with my family and watching my brother’s sporting events. My parents were presidents of the PTA (Parent Teacher Association) at my school one year and once chaperoned a dance. I remember my dad fast dancing with one of my friends. It was a bit horrifying. Not that he danced poorly, just a teenager is easily embarrassed by parents even if they are cool. He also commented when a girl passed out while slow dancing that the young man she was dancing with must think he had amazing powers (to make the girl swoon I suppose). Once when my mom was driving me to school in an old white rambler station wagon, a wheel broke off and rolled into the ditch as we were turning a corner. We did not have a lot of expensive things because my dad was in education and my mom was a homemaker, but we always spent a lot of time as a family and did fun activities together. One year we all went with the CSI basketball team to Hutchinson, Kansas for the Jr. College National Basketball Tournament. I had happy young teen days and memories. 

I babysat a lot, my brothers and others. Once my parents left me in charge of a houseful of children while they took their parents out of town to a college football game. I was pretty responsible and old for my age in some ways. But I had a more creative or wild side they did not always know about too. My first kiss came in 9th grade when a boy from another school named Mac M. stopped by when I was babysitting. I am not proud of that. I often babysat overnight while other parents went away on a trip. I was sort of scared the first time, but my parent’s said I could do it and I did. Growing up is a unique process, often learning we can do things we did not know we could. Hopefully all of our adventures work together to help us be better adults…sometimes I am not sure :-). Jr. High was an interesting time. I survived it. 

Self portrait sketched with pencil.