Reflections–Junior High School & High School
As I continue to reflect on the Baby Boomer’s life, I’ve been recalling those wonderfully blissful years from “back in the day” when living was carefree without any real responsibilities. Yes, those teenage years while attending Stratford Junior High School (1964-1967) and Washington-Lee High School (W-L) (1967-1970) in Arlington, VA are filled with so many fond memories.
Entering seventh grade at Stratford, if you looked up the definition of a “nerd” you would see a picture of me. The Baby Boomer has almost always been a big guy and I wore clothes that were labeled “Husky” only available at a store in the Virginia Square Shopping Center where Kann’s was located called Herbert’s. I was and still am a bit clumsy and needed to wear only shoes with a “Thomas heel” for added support meaning I was unable to wear tennis shoes for the first twelve years of my life. Kann’s was the closest store selling shoes with the “Thomas heel” and, of course, was the store we went to for my first pair of tennis shoes–high-top Keds. The really neat thing about buying shoes at Kann’s was they had imported a group of monkeys behind glass from Brazil to entertain us kids. The monkeys were named Teeny, Weeny, Eeny, and Miney. We also enjoyed eating lunch at the Kannteen. Continuing to be off point, my mother was a compulsive shopper, truly a “shopaholic”, and one of her favorite stores at Virginia Square was a very nice gift shop called Mary Baynes. That’s also where Giant #27 was located which was my home store when I worked there in the produce department for three summers (two while in high school and one in college), later became the Assistant Manager, and then General Manager during my fourteen-year career there.
Sometimes I think my career should’ve been in the military–the U.S. Marine Corps–love those “dress blues”. I believe that’s due to my being such a “nerd”, not the Marines, meaning I was very obsessive/compulsive, structured, somewhat disciplined, and very organized believing there was “a place for everything and everything had to be in its place”. So, as I headed into seventh grade, I had a crew cut and, of course, used a good amount of “butch wax” to make the short hair up front stood up, wore my “Husky” dress shirt and dress pants, definitely white socks, and my dress shoes with the “Thomas heel”. I needed an assortment of writing tools and they were placed into a plastic pocket protector which was neatly tucked in my dress shirt pocket. Finally, I carried an oversized leather briefcase which, when opened, had several places to store all my textbooks, folders, notebooks, and supplies remembering there was “a place for everything and everything had to be in its place. I was truly a “sight for sore eyes”. What’s unfortunate, is I’m still that way today and La Bear lets me know it too!!
Stratford was a really good hike from Colonial Village (4-5 miles) meaning I had to ride a school bus for the first time. While I was Captain of Patrols my last year at Wilson Elementary School, I got to know all the bus drivers having daily duty on the bus ramp. Our driver at Stratford and later at W-L was Eddie. He would always, if he wasn’t running too late, stop at the People’s Drug Store at the corner of Wilson Boulevard and Rhodes Street for a quick breakfast. I would meet Eddie there (a short walk from home), sit with him while he enjoyed his breakfast, and off we’d go. Days he may be running late, he was kind enough to just pick me up at People’s. I was very fond of Eddie as he was a great person and always so nice to me!
Mr. Richmond was our principal and he was an older very proper gentleman. If our bus ran late, we’d have to go see Miss Lewis for a note to get into class and not be counted as tardy–she was always very sweet knowing each of us by our name. Scholastically, junior high wasn’t very demanding as I recall. I’d always been a decent student, but I was surprised how easy Stratford was for me–must’ve had something to do with my being a “nerd”!
I very much enjoyed Mr. Kurcis in seventh grade as we were with him two hours each day teaching both English and History. He was new to Arlington County, young and vibrant, who followed our class to W-L where he taught English and was a coach for both JV football and JV baseball. He later went into administration where he became the principal of our number one rival, Yorktown High School (I couldn’t stand Yorktown), for many years.
Coach Mitchell was a PE teacher at Stratford and the head football coach. A short muscular man who was prematurely gray, I don’t believe noted for his great intelligence necessarily, but a good man and an excellent coach. My parents were friends of the Mitchell’s and we’d meet them along with their son, Ricky, for dinner at the Hot Shoppes at Lee Highway and Kirkwood Road weekly. Ricky went to Stratford, but in high school went to Yorktown where he was an excellent guard for their basketball team. While eating at the Hot Shoppes, I learned that Mrs. Mitchell had a loving nickname for the Coach. When she inadvertently blurted it out by mistake in front of me, Coach Mitchell turned “beet” red with embarrassment and swore me to secrecy–I only told a few of my buds. OBTW, his nickname was “Sticky Buns”!!
The class which has served me well throughout my life and, thus, was very important was Mr. Golden’s ninth grade typing class. LOL! My handwriting was terrible and my printing skills were unreadable other than to me unless I really took my time and concentrated.
At Stratford, I wasn’t mature enough to play football until my ninth-grade year. With Coach Mitchell at the helm, we had a very good football team which carried over to our high school years at W-L. Although rather tall, I know my dad was disappointed that I never tried out for basketball, but I was clumsy enough just walking. Having to walk and then dribble a basketball on top of that was certainly out of the question. I had no interest in wrestling (although I tried it for two days in high school) nor track and field.
In eighth grade, I could, at long last, begin wearing tennis shoes. I believe it was the second half of eighth grade when I began to let my hair grow out and got rid of the pocket protector and large briefcase. I learned to put my pen and pencil in my pants pocket and carry my “stuff” under my arm like most. I also began to utilize my locker which was always shared back then.
Lunch was bought daily in the cafeteria and the food was okay although standing in line could be a challenge. The cafeteria was loud and a time to socialize. Tom, who was merely an acquaintance, but who always sat with me at the same lunch table, brought his lunch which consisted of the same sandwich each and every day–it was a peanut butter, banana, and onion sandwich on white bread and it stunk and I mean stunk and he ate it with his mouth wide open–talkin’ about gross!!
As I matured, I began to hang out with some buds even though I was still pretty much a loner and somewhat introverted. Fred, Gary, Bob, and John had come from Wilson, and then there was Bobby, another John, Steve, Mark, Suzanne from Wilson, and Diane who was a cheerleader. In seventh grade, I had a crush on Eva (to no avail) and hung out a bunch with Laura who was so much fun, but had a bit of a dark side I believe. I guess I wasn’t too interested in girls during my junior high school years. I was, though, a Cavalier fan, and attended all the sporting events which were held in the afternoons. Afterwards, my mom, always being young at heart, would pick a group of us up from wherever and act as a taxicab taking everyone home. The group consisted of 3/4 guys and always Diane–we’ve been good friends over time, but never really dated as she was considered to be “one of the guys”.
I digress as my mom loved to drive and did so until the keys had to finally be taken away at age 88!! Mom was not a good driver and she loved to go fast. Over the years, she was involved in several accidents and received many speeding tickets in Arlington. I even believe there was a picture of my mom with a circle and a slash through it in every Arlington County police cruiser. She and my dad were well-known Arlingtonians being very active in all things Arlington and she was buds with all those who became sheriff and fixed all of her speeding tickets. One last story about my mom’s driving has to do with my dad and I going to Vic Tanny’s at Virginia Square working out as a way to lose weight and ending up at People’s afterwards for a refreshing and healthy V-8 (LOL). On this day though, my dad had dropped me off and my mom was picking me up at People’s after my workout. As she pulled onto Fairfax Drive from Virginia Square, she failed to cut the turn wide enough and instead of hitting the brakes, she hit the gas and plowed into a parked car hitting it with such force that it was knocked up on the curb. When the police arrived and my dad came onto the scene, the officer, who knew my dad, ticketed the car that my mom had hit for parking illegally saying my mom wasn’t at fault! BS!!
That pretty much sums up my years at Stratford. For the most part, it was a time of growing and maturing preparing me for the next chapter of my life entering high school at W-L.
I’ve become a bit chatty and look forward to Part II–to be continued!!