School Days

Watching CBS News Friday night brought back some memories of my own. The story was of a 90 year old English teacher who had been teaching since certification in the same high school from which she graduated. She was now teaching the grandchildren of her former students. And I’m not sure, it may have been some great grandchildren as well. She was still teaching Shakespeare, but the her State office had declared that she should now retire from teaching.

I don’t know how old Miss Alice Freeman was when she retired, but she was the principal of Emmons Elementary school in Huntington, WV when I first started school. She had been in that job as far as I know from before my oldest brother, Norman, started School. He was eleven years older than my twin brother, John and me. The more interesting part is that she was my father’s Second Grade teacher, probably back in 1892 or 1893. I entered elementary school in the fall of 1930. Miss Alice was still Principal at Emmons in the early 1940’s when my Nephew, Clarence Moses, entered that school. Miss Alice retired in the Spring of the year before he was to enter. The story goes that having had the father and seven of his children it was to much to begin with the grandchildren. She was probably in her late 60’s by that time.

Another memory is of my own first day of school. There had been a rainy period and the school sat on ground that was above the street. Actually later in life we used the hill to slide down own our sleds when it was snowy. Anyhow, a group of us found a hill at the back of the school which was muddy and just slick enough to slide down. My memory is not of how muddy I may have gotten, but that Miss Alice found out what was going on and spanked us with a metal can (the kind cookies or candy may have come in), and sent us home to get a change of clothes.