When the opportunity was offered, I Jumped at the chance for library access. I think I read a whole book every night of the week. My mother made me turn off the lights, but I got a flashlight and read under the covers until the battery died. Miss Kopp and Miss Baker were always more kind to me than I deserved and I loved being in their classrooms. They somehow overlooked this goofy little boy's mischievous behavior and motivated me to learn and to be more considerate of others. Mrs. Woolard, Mrs Hill and Mrs McKeel worked harder on improving my silly behavior, but the results, I'm afraid, did not match their good intentions. Miss McDowell saw some promise in me, expanded the library privileges, encouraged more intellectual pursuits, and worked diligently on the irreverent behavior. In retrospect, I think she had about 75% success. She took several of us over to ECU for some advanced testing one day, and the results convinced her that the sooner I got to High School, the better for all of us! She was a very advanced educational thinker with much courage. Today, her ideas have been widely adopted and are reflected in the availability of Advanced Placement College Credit courses for strong students, while keeping them in the same grade (with their age-peers) as normal. This provides the needed extra academic challenge, burns up some of the wasted energy otherwise spent on silliness, and enhances the likelyhood of a college-based vector after High School. It also avoids the potentially severe social dislocation that can occur most painfully in the adolescent age range, in the case of grade-skipping. Mr. Grist taught 8th grade and was assistant principal. My memories of him are that he was a good teacher, and was even-handed and fair, but did not suffer fools gladly. Other concerns aside, a good teacher to prepare you for High School. I missed my 1948-49 friends, and today is my first real chance at reapproachment. High School was not very happy, but my good memories are of a few teachers who saw some promise and encouraged me to aim for college. The general impression, retained today, was that the more-well-off townies were treated to special concessions and freedoms, not based upon performance and merit, but connections and influence. Exceptions were Mrs. Ascue (English), Mrs Worthy (Librarian), Mr. Carleton (History), Mr. Blan+on (Physics), and Mr. Langley (Industrial Arts). It was very clear to me that my connections were weak and my influence was low. It was a game in which I couldn't even hold a hand in, much less play. In the short stretch of 2 years, I went from having friends and being somebody to being less than nobody. I wanted to be somewhere else, far away. The morning after HS graduation, I left to find a job in Culpeper, Va. After working part-time 1958-1959 fixing TV's with Carnell Smith TV in Washington, I quickly found a job in Culpeper. During my 1959-60 stay in Culpeper, I made several friends, and served as lighting controller in the Centennial celebration of Culpeper's history, great fun, being a participant again after WHS experience. The TV store closed in 1960, and I moved to New Bern, again working in TV repair.

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