By Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to the Express
In the Summer of 1953 I was 6 years old and would start first grade in the fall. I was both excited and scared at the thought.
I also was covered with poison ivy from head to toe when I landed in it falling out of a small tree. I wasn’t hurt otherwise but hated being covered with calamine lotion every day. My sister Penny was 3 at the time and I felt bad because she didn’t understand why she couldn’t hug me or hold my hand. We also had a new baby brother who had been born the end of August and was little more than a week old and I couldn’t hold him. My parents were hoping the poison ivy would clear up so I could start school in time and I was hoping it wouldn’t.
Just in the nick of time the last of the poison ivy faded away.
I had new clothes and a lunch box and finally the big day came. I stood with Mom at the end of our sidewalk holding her hand with Penny beside us and Davey in the carriage asleep. As the big yellow bus came down the street and stopped in front of our house opening it’s door, I gripped mom’s hand. She urged me to go ahead as I walked slowly up the steps of the bus.
Much to my surprise I knew the bus driver, he was a distant cousin named Sammy.
My mother and he greeted each another both happy to see each other which calmed me down and I think it also helped my mother. As Sammy drove down the street picking up other children, I realized I had forgotten my lunchbox and everything in it I needed. I was trying very hard not to cry. When Sammy asked me if I was OK, I told him what was wrong. He told me not to worry, he would take care of it. When the bus turned around and came back up the street getting closer to my house, there was mom standing there holding my lunch box. Sammy smiled as he stopped the bus, took the lunch box from mom and gave it to me. It seemed very strange going to an unknown place without my mother. I also worried about leaving her alone with no one to help her.
The bus finally pulled into the L.Z. Thomas school parking lot. It was a nice old red brick building with a big window in the front with an outside staircase going down either side that made me think of a castle. Teachers met the buses, leading us into the building and to our designated classrooms. I will always love the smell of old buildings and their old wood floors and I did love this building, the wooden desks and chairs, the coat closets and the nice big windows with their spacious panes that looked out onto the grounds.
I liked my first-grade teacher and was intrigued and interested by the classroom and it’s big chalkboards on the wall. Over the chalkboards hung big squares, each one a different color with a letter on it. A big calendar hung on the wall depicting a colorful Fall scene. On another wall were big colorful squares with numbers on them. There was a flag hanging up in one corner and we all had our very own desk and chair. The first couple of weeks, I mostly worried about my mom and wanted to go home. Some of my classmates seemed to be having the same problem.
One morning the teacher passed out books. She said we were going to learn how to read. She started pointing to the lettered squares on the wall asking if any of us knew what letter it was and we learned the alphabet quite fast. Before long we were reading some of the words in the books she passed out. By the end of September, we were reading about Dick, Jane, Sally, their Cocker spaniel, Spot, and Puff the kitten; the town they lived in and all their adventures. When October came, we were learning how to cut shapes out of colorful construction paper and taping them on the windows. We decorated for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. We loved standing outside on the lawn looking at our decorated windows. There is always at least one kid who has to stick his or her tongue on the flagpole. The first year I was there it was a third grader as we all watched out the window while the Firetruck showed up to rescue him.
When Spring came that year, we were still decorating windows with our colorful cutouts. We also were taught about the Maypole and every Spring there was a ceremony. I remember the year my class was old enough to be in it and we were so proud. I was actually sad when it was time for Summer vacation at the end of first grade. I had stopped worrying about my mom, she was doing fine and Penny was helping her. Being both homesick and scared, first grade opened up a whole new world to me and as over the hill as I am, I’m still learning!
