Friday, December 04, 2015 12:45 p.m.
Provo Utah
My Dear Ohen;
Well, I found this photo I took of my grade school back in Minneapolis, so I thought I would use this letter to tell you some of my memories of the place . . .
It’s called Tuttle, and is just one block away from the house I grew up in on 19th Avenue SE. So all during my grade school years I would walk to Tuttle in the morning, walk home for lunch, and then walk back for the rest of the school day.
I recall that in Kindergarten we put on a circus for our parents. Naturally, I dressed up as a clown. I swiped a pair of my older brother Billy’s pajamas for a costume and used some of my mom’s red lipstick for makeup. I didn’t have any kind of an act; I just walked around and fell down a few dozen times, to the indulgent chuckles of the parents that had come to watch.
About the only teacher there I remember was Mr. Berg, my 6th grade teacher. I recall that one of the boys in class, David Rathbun, smarted off to him one day. Mr. Berg, who had been in the Marines during World War Two, picked him up and literally threw him out into the hallway. I don’t think teachers would be allowed to get away with that today!
At the very end of the school year, when it was warm and sunny outside and we had to open all the windows to keep from stifling, Mr. Berg stopped trying to teach us anything and instead read a book out loud to us. It was called The Island of the Blue Dolphins. I thought that was pretty cool, sitting there, looking out the window at the tentative leaves of the elm trees and the meandering clouds up in the sky, while Mr. Berg read to us.
Your Aunt Madelaine and uncles Adam and Steve went to Tuttle for a while. I don’t remember if your mother was old enough to go there – you’ll have to ask her.
One of my most vivid memories of Tuttle was the annual Fun Fest we had very April. It was a carnival to raise money for the PTA. There were games and prizes and many good things to eat.
It was always held on a Friday evening. Back then if you were Catholic (which my mom was, so we were too!) you were expected not to eat any meat on Friday. No hamburgers, chicken, ribs, hamburgers, or hot dogs.
And they had the most delicious Oscar Meyer hotdogs at the Fun Fest. I really wanted to have one, but never did. My sisters Sue Ellen and Linda ate all the hotdogs they wanted, when mom wasn’t looking.
There was a very high slide out in the playground. One day I was at the top, getting ready to slide down, when another boy gave me a shove and I fell off all the way to the gravel below. I landed on my back and had the wind knocked out of me. I was taken to the school nurse, but she couldn’t find anything wrong with me (except I was crying convulsively), so I never went to the doctor. I think that fall was the start of my back problems, which have bothered me most of my life.
Yer pall,
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