210913 September 13, 2021

East Clinton was a neat school to me.  I loved the tan color of the bricks on the outside of it. It was the most modern school I had ever attended when I showed up there in the second grade.

Some of my fondest memories of going to school there were centered on the activities in the multi-purpose lunchroom/gymnasium/auditorium at the back of the building.  I also remember there were drinking water fountains outside in the back, and a big area in which we could play during recess. I loved recess and lunchtime. 

We had a recess period each day and went outside and played unless the weather was absolutely terrible. If it was just cold or a little misty we went out anyway. Most often it was unsupervised play and when the bell rang we went back to our rooms.

Lunches were 25 cents those days and I used to carry my quarter in an aspirin tin in my pocket. We marched to the lunch room as a class and took whatever the servers put on our trays. There were no options from which to select, and certainly no snack or drink machines. The only staple menu item I remember is fish and we always had it on Fridays. Even though there were very few Catholics I knew in school – we all ate fish on Fridays. At the time we never questioned it. Even if we had questioned it we had no other choices of menu items. If you cleaned your plate you could take it up to the serving counter and they would give you a piece of white bread with a combination of government surplus butter and honey mixed together into one of the sweetest nectars I had ever eaten.  It had a brownish yellow color, with tiny bits of butter in it. It was the stickiest mess you have ever seen should you accidentally let it drip down your hands. We had wax coated half-pint cartons of Meadow Gold milk that you had to open on the side with a pull-tab and could only drink with a straw.  It was later that you got to open the ends outward to drink the milk from the carton without a straw if you wished.

We were assigned to one teacher, and all our classes were taught by that teacher. We sat at our desks and did our work, and at my school if you were bad, you were made to sit out in the hall for punishment or sent to the principal’s office for a spanking. We started off each morning by standing by our desks, putting our hands over our hearts, and reciting the “Pledge of Allegiance” to the Flag, including the phrase “One nation under God.”

Our lunchroom at East Clinton School doubled as an auditorium and we sometimes went to see plays put on by other classes.  On Christmas we drew names and swapped presents. We would exchange Valentine cards on Valentine’s Day and celebrate most of the other holidays.

Halloween was the biggest holiday I can remember celebrating in elementary school. We held a Halloween carnival with cake walks, scary houses, and dart games with real darts. We used fishing poles with clothes pins on them that we placed over hanging bed sheets and won prizes. We selected pick-up-ducks out of a washtub and sometimes bobbed for apples.

On May Day our school had a May Pole celebration and we marched around, weaving in and out to wrap strands of crepe paper around the pole. This was a big event and everyone dressed alike for the day. We never even questioned what we were celebrating on May Day.

We also took several field trips each year. One of our favorites was as a trip to the Coca-Cola Bottling Company. This was back when Coke bottles were not disposable and we got to see them roll down conveyor belts to be cleaned, inspected, filled, capped, and inspected again. Of course, no field trip there would be complete without a free sample of their product.

But for those who didn’t like Coke, another field trip destination put a smile on their faces. Just across and a little up the street from the Coke plant was Meadow Gold Dairy.

As much as I do remember about going to see Coke bottles get filled, I can’t say the same for going to the dairy. My only unforgettable memory of that school field trip was at the end we each got a free sample there as well. This time it was a Dixie cup of vanilla ice cream, complete with a little flat wooden spoon with which to eat it. Now that memory stuck.

And speaking of something “sticking,” what school year would be complete without a field trip to the place most of us associated with being stuck - the Madison County Health Department. The trips there were done so routinely that one of my classmates tells everyone that our senior trip at Lee was to the health department. That was about the only place we went as a class during our senior year, so I can’t say he was wrong.

We got report cards each six weeks and had to take them home to be signed by our parents. If we didn’t do well enough in school, we failed. There was no mandatory passing to the next grade. If you didn’t meet the challenge, you were held back and repeated the grade. It was that simple – and we all knew it.

Folks, I warned you this was going to happen, and it has. I was forced to swap over to the new format for the website for this week's issue. It does not behave the same as the old one so I will be in a learning curve for the next couple of weeks I am sure. I do not even know if you will be able to access this or to read it if you do. I do not know how it will appear on your PC, Mac, iPad or tablet. This is a brave new world and we all know how us old folks dislike changes. 

So...I am going to keep this week's issue simple and try to see what happens. It is a big learning curve for me.