Class Reunion
Saturday, October 9 2010 is the NRHS class of '65s 45th Reunion. 45 years, is it really possible that so much time has passed since I was getting hauled into Miss Coons office for cutting class? She was the principal when I first got there in '62. She was the principal when my father and my aunts went there. Not one to suffer clowns like me well.
I had a very checkered history at NRHS, to say the least. I was a terrible student, and an incorrigible truant. I just could not focus on anything else but the opposite sex and cars. Even at this late date, I have to marvel at some of my classmates that just seemed to breeze through without giving anything else a second thought. It must be some kind of brain block. To say that I was never in school is a serious understatement. I spent more time drinking coffee at the College Diner than I did in any classroom. When I was in class, all I could do was daydream about the good looking girl six seats ahead of me, or what I was going to do as soon as I could figure out a way to get the hell out of there. I had my '54 Merc Sun Valley waiting for me, parked on one of the side streets, probably collecting a slew of tickets and, if I could coax her to start, there was plenty of cruising to do. I would jump in that old car with 2 or 3 of my friends and just drive around for hours, or until we ran out of gas, which we frequently did.
It's not that I was any lazier than any other High School kid. To the contrary, I was always working at some after school job or another so that I had the cash to buy gas. It's just that there was nothing that a teacher could say that would interest me.
We were always getting written up for not being in class. They would diligently send the letters home, and I would just as diligently fish them out of the mailbox and dispose of them. Finally, in 1965, they gave up and were preparing to toss me out. I saved them the trouble and quit. A couple of months later, I was taking the oath to join the Marine Corps. I left for Boot Camp on April 13, 1966 and spent the next four years working for Uncle Sam. I took the GED shortly after reaching my first permanent duty station in Beaufort, SC. I scored a 98, so somehow, all of that education they were trying to force into my thick head finally made it in. At least quite a bit of it did.
I have spent quite a bit of my free time over the last 45 years studying what I refused to even try to learn all those years ago. I've come a long way since then. I wonder what my old teachers would think.....?
I had a very checkered history at NRHS, to say the least. I was a terrible student, and an incorrigible truant. I just could not focus on anything else but the opposite sex and cars. Even at this late date, I have to marvel at some of my classmates that just seemed to breeze through without giving anything else a second thought. It must be some kind of brain block. To say that I was never in school is a serious understatement. I spent more time drinking coffee at the College Diner than I did in any classroom. When I was in class, all I could do was daydream about the good looking girl six seats ahead of me, or what I was going to do as soon as I could figure out a way to get the hell out of there. I had my '54 Merc Sun Valley waiting for me, parked on one of the side streets, probably collecting a slew of tickets and, if I could coax her to start, there was plenty of cruising to do. I would jump in that old car with 2 or 3 of my friends and just drive around for hours, or until we ran out of gas, which we frequently did.
It's not that I was any lazier than any other High School kid. To the contrary, I was always working at some after school job or another so that I had the cash to buy gas. It's just that there was nothing that a teacher could say that would interest me.
We were always getting written up for not being in class. They would diligently send the letters home, and I would just as diligently fish them out of the mailbox and dispose of them. Finally, in 1965, they gave up and were preparing to toss me out. I saved them the trouble and quit. A couple of months later, I was taking the oath to join the Marine Corps. I left for Boot Camp on April 13, 1966 and spent the next four years working for Uncle Sam. I took the GED shortly after reaching my first permanent duty station in Beaufort, SC. I scored a 98, so somehow, all of that education they were trying to force into my thick head finally made it in. At least quite a bit of it did.
I have spent quite a bit of my free time over the last 45 years studying what I refused to even try to learn all those years ago. I've come a long way since then. I wonder what my old teachers would think.....?
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