Senior Year

I took these questions from Stacy who found them on Nesa's blog.

1. Who was your best friend?
I had lots of friends, but I'm not sure I could name one as "best" during that year.

2. Did you play any sports? No, but I competed in Forensic Meets and took 7th at State in poetry. One of my friends, Jeanne, suggested that competition in poetry was less intense than comedy or debate. It was a stretch for a wallflower, but ever so good for me.

3. What kind of car did you drive? I didn't have my own car in high school. I rode the bus to school. Even though I only lived a couple of miles from school, I had an hour ride both ways. I was always first on and last off, since they routed it for the more populated areas. Then, my senior year they appropriated a small van bus for the kids in my neighborhood. We got teased constantly because it looked just like the "special ed" bus. The summer after graduation, my parents bought me a used Corvair, red with a white top, and I named him, Gus.

4. It’s Friday night. Where were you? During the fall, I would have been at the football games with my friends. My parents (who are early to everything...what happened to me?) came early to pick me up, and were waiting in the car for the game to end...the police shined a flashlight in the windows thinking they'd caught a young couple necking. During the winter, my family went ice skating at a lake up in the mountains every Friday night . (see my Christmas quiz blog) Otherwise I was home with the family or occasionally spending the night with a friend. Often, I was probably on the phone, having long discussions with my friend, Auline. (As I was growing up we had an 8 party phone line, but sometime before my senior year we were able to obtain a private line. ) Auline and I disagreed on just about every issue, but by talking with her I learned to express myself and was forced to defend my positions.

5. Were you a party animal? Sure. You must be kidding! Far from it, as you've guessed by my other answers.

6. Were you considered a flirt? No. Innocent and naive. I didn't even know it when someone was flirting with me!

7. Were you in the band, orchestra or choir? Choir. Always Choir. I loved choir and I loved it when there was finally someone shorter than me (Debbie Bova, I love you!) so I didn't have to be on the end in the front row anymore. (Actually I grew 2 inches my senior year, so I topped out at 5'3.75"I learned to sing harmony which is a lifesaver since I am a low alto and can rarely sing the melody because it is too high.

8. Were you a nerd? Hmm...quiet, shy, smart enough to get reasonable grades with little effort, but nerd? don't think so, anyway, but who knows what others thought.

9. Were you ever suspended or expelled? I was DEFINITELY a rule follower, so no. In fact in JR. High I had nightmares about getting my code card taken away. (a list of rules, which we had to sign and carry with us at ALL times. If you broke a rule, your code card had the infraction written on the back and after 3 times it was taken away, which meant suspended I guess. ) I lived in fear that I would break some rule unintentionally, because if you even broke ONE you couldn't be on the honor roll for that quarter. I had that stupid dream for YEARS afterward.

10. Can you sing the fight song? That was a long time ago. uh-uh.

11. Who was your favorite teacher? NOT my art teacher, Miss Klaiber. I was straight laced, she was a hippie type. I don't think she liked me much either. She ruined my love of art. I wanted to be an art teacher until I had her. NOT my algebra 2 teacher, Mr. Irwin. Oh, wait. he was my Jr. year. He DIDN't teach, and I couldn't go on in math my senior year because I didn't get the basics I should have in his class. In his class half the grade was homework and half was tests. I got a B first quarter, based on review of Algebra I, but a C my last one (and A for homework and an F on tests.) I was handing in the homework, although I couldn't work the problems, I put them on the paper. I was turning in blank tests by the end of the year. I guess I liked my French teacher and my English teacher, no wait, I know! My science teacher!!! Yeah, Mr. Carlson. I took Basic science because I had to have a science to graduate. It was a little of each of the major sciences and I LOVED it. He taught me to love science, albeit too late. Well, that love of science did come in handy when I home schooled, I guess.

12. What was your school mascot? Knight.

13. Did you go to the Prom? No.

14. If you could go back, would you? No way. I survived it, but wouldn't want to relive it.

15. What do you remember most about graduation? We could only have 4 tickets since Mackey Auditorium at CU, where it was held was too small. I managed to get 3 extra tickets from friends so that my parents, brother, 3 grandparents and future DH could all be there. I remember my gown was white. I remember the white polyester rib knit dress, which I sewed myself and my new white pumps. Shallow, huh? The speeches? not really.

16. Where were you on Senior Skip Day? At school of course. Not sure I even knew when it was, but it wouldn't have mattered.

17. Did you have a job your senior year? No. I lived out in the country, and had no car.

18. Where did you go most often for lunch? The year I was a senior we finally got open campus at lunch time. Up until then, you either bought school lunches or brought a bag lunch. One of my friends, Cindy Barrick had a VW bug. She drove barefoot. I rode shotgun. Her younger brother, Bobby, and 2 or 3 of his friends would cram into the back seat and we took a wild ride to McDonalds. Our high school was out in the country, probably 5 miles from town, so to get there and back on a lunch break was a feat in itself. Cindy and I would split the combo...the little hamburger, fries, small coke. It cost us each about 50 cents. Back then, our Mc Donalds didn't even have a dining area. You formed lines outside the order windows under the big golden arches. I remember on the way back to school the boys would throw their weight from side to side causing the VW bug to rock violently. I was certain they could tip us over.

19. Have you gained weight since then? Mucho, unfortunately.

20. What did you do after high school? I thought maybe I would like to be a teacher, so I applied to be a teacher's aide. I was too young to be an aide for anything but elementary. They weren't sure they'd have enough funds to have aides in elementary. "Come back next month. " Next month, same story. Then the next..."Oh, we've already hired." By then it was too late to get into college classes, so my mom drove me around and I beat the streets looking for a job. I remember just before going into a flower shop (Hartman Floral, BaseMar Shopping center) that I said to my mom "I would REALLY like to get a job here." I did. I think I started at $1.25 an hour and ended at $1.40. Since I was working instead of going to college, my parents bought me the Corvair. I loved working at the flower shop even though Mrs. Hartman could be a bit intense. Merle and I got married the following summer and I began working as a floral designer at another flower shop, Golden Floral, while he went to Colorado School of Mines. Merle worked after class and on Saturdays delivering flowers. My employers, Ron and Betty Stapp were WONDERFUL to us. I wish I could find them again to say thank you.

OTHER: (added just because...)

School has changed so much since I was in high school. Girls wore dresses (except the ONE day a year when we had "slacks" day.) Boys wore slacks and collared shirts. Yes, this was PUBLIC school.

Only a few kids smoked (the BAD kids, for the most part) and they gathered on the OTHER side of the fence before and after school, so they could smoke and not be on school property.

We were required to take PE every year except our senior year. We had to wear these stupid royal blue, one piece gym suits. The girls acceptable rebellion was to remove the cuffs in the shorts which essentially turned them into bloomers. For some reason, we thought that looked better??? I HATED PE WITH. A. PASSION. I was not athletic. I couldn't wait to be a senior so I didn't have to take PE anymore. Imagine my mom's reaction when I actually signed up for it my senior year! I had learned to like gymnastics, specifically the uneven parallel bars and the balance beam.