Remembering Low School
To put this in perspective, let me give you the dates for my class at Leighton Elementary School, better known as “low school.” Opposite of high school. We started the first grade in September of 1958 and finished the 6th grade in May of 1964. There was no K through 5 or middle school. The elementary school was first through sixth and Colbert County High School was 7th through 12th.
A quick correction, in 1957 before my mother got a teaching job at the high school and was looking after 3 ankle biters, ages 5, 3 and 1, she had a kindergarten class, upstairs in our home across from the Methodist Church. She had about 15 students up there.
During our low school days in Leighton, these were the years that our little, small town was thriving more than ever. The population was more than a thousand. Jobs were plentiful, especially at Reynolds, Ford, TVA, Diamond Alkali, Colbert Steam, and Diamond Shamrock. Cotton was king meaning 3 gins were up and running. Great changes were on the horizon. For example, schools during these years were totally segregated. Integration finally came about for us when we entered the 8th grade. Our black friends attended Leighton Training School in those days.
Like most of you, I can remember all 6 of my elementary school teachers after almost 70 years. My first-grade teacher was Mrs. Brown. I think she was kin to the principal. My next 3 teachers all attended the Methodist Church with our family. Mrs. Laura King taught 2nd grade and actually had a “split” room which meant she taught some 3rd graders also. This gave us an advantage of being exposed to the next grade each day. Other second graders had Mrs. Terry, Fred’s mother, who also went to the same church.
Mrs. Horace Holland was my third-grade teacher. Her husband taught science at the high school and was known for his arrowhead collections and wildlife exhibits. I was in her class in April of 1961 when I had an eye accident. She prepared my classmates for my return from the hospital by explaining to the nine-year-olds what happens when you stick a twenty-penny nail in your eye running full-speed in a barn. It was like a freak show when I returned to school with a bandage running from my hairline to my lower jaw. This was also the first time that I lost a grandparent that I actually knew, Clarence Bradford. My other grandparents had died before I knew them.
Mrs. Reed King was my 4th grade teacher and my favorite of all. She lived next door to the church and loved everything about baseball. Mrs. Reed actually kept a scorebook at recess when we played softball. She was the type who made learning fun and we never wanted to let her down. She lit me up one day with her paddle for “talking too much” in class. That meant I got a three-for-one. Mother, the high school teacher, knew about it which meant I got her hickory tea with a self-cut switch after school and Daddy finished the trifecta when he got home from football practice. That was the last teacher- spanking I got, even though I deserved a few others. It’s amazing how osmosis changes behavior when the message travels from your butt to your brain.
My fifth-grade teacher was Mrs. Boshell even though I wanted to be in Mrs. Flossie Paden’s room. We went to school with her kids, David and Paula. Big changes happened in the sixth grade with Richard Brock as our teacher. He was the only male teacher at the school. In the fall of 1963, President John Kennedy was assassinated. We had trouble comprehending what just happened right around Thanksgiving. In February of our sixth-grade year, the Beatles came to the states meaning music, fashion, hairstyles, and world views would never be the same. Prior to the Beatles, we had 3 ways to wear our hair: short, shorter or flattop IF you wanted to pay an extra quarter. The other sixth grade teacher was actually the older sister of one of our classmates, Eddie Lowery. Sarah Lowery would soon become Sara Jeffreys when she got married to JW Jeffreys.
Each morning, Ruth Berry, led the pledge of allegiance over the intercom after reading the SAME Bible verse daily: Proverbs 22. To paraphrase: a good name is better than silver or gold. Mrs. Berry seemed to be about 6 feet 3 inches to all of us. You did NOT want to be sent to her office for serious offenses like skipping stair steps, running in the halls or Heaven forbid, chewing gum.
Lunches were twenty cents and popsicles could be bought for 5 cents. They came in two choices: chocolate covered vanilla or fudge. Milk was the only liquid choice: white or chocolate. If you lived close to the school, you could walk home for lunch then walk back.
Girl’s dress code was very simple: dresses only. No shorts or pants. Believe it or not, in my twelve years of school, I NEVER went to school with a girl who didn’t wear a dress. The “radical” change to pantsuits and jeans happened after I graduated.
Recess meant softball, dodgeball, monkey bars, swings, see-saws and playing chase. I could count the number of students who were obese on one hand and have 4 or 5 fingers left over. Most of us looked like biology specimens for the skeletal system.
Nobody, I mean nobody’s parents drove them to school. You either rode the bus, rode your bike or walked to school. Often, a student from high school was the bus driver. Michael Palmer doubled as a bus driver, then would get back to the football practice field where he was one of the stars during the sixties. Of course, bus #72 which went to the Flatwoods and White Oak was driven by Hoochie Posey who was about the same age as Grover Cleveland. To my knowledge, there was no rule against the bus driver smoking while driving. How times have changed.
It’s common knowledge that the foundation for a well-rounded education begins at an early age.
In other words, our low school days.