Kindergarten

Can you find me? Hint: I’m the only girl with pigtails!

School! So exciting. This is the class photo that some kind relative sent me after the fire. I can’t name all the kids anymore, but I do remember many of them. And of course, my teacher, Mrs. Wiley. I think she liked me. She used to come up behind me and tickle my neck with those pigtails. It gave me the shivers, but it also made me feel special.

(I’ve stepped over the border into the next half decade here, but since I was not quite five yet in this picture, I’m still in the spirit of this thing.)

Oh, boy — who were these kids? Jerry, Tommy, Howie, Donald, Ella, Gary, Gloria, Kathy, Carlos, Karen, Kathy, Carol and Ronnie… I was good friends with Gary. Carlos liked to kiss the girls and run away. Ronnie wore cowboy shirts all the time. One of the Kathys had bright red hair and a million freckles. So did Donald. Carol was sneaky even then. Ella (or was it Della?) was tall and thin and in this picture looks like a little Katherine Hepburn.

Painting at easels, recess, nap time, snack, stories. Our own little room away from the big kids. Lots of time to be creative and play games. Rainy day sessions.  I loved kindergarten!

 

My old school was torn down and rebuilt this year.


J.O. Ford school is still there, on Maricopa Avenue in Richmond, but it doesn’t look like this anymore. The new name is J.O. Ford International MicroSociety School. And it has its own facebook page. I’m going to post my class picture. Maybe a Karen or a Kathy or a Gloria will see it.

Leave a reply