Living on the North Branch of Two Rivers made for something to do when the work was done. From learning to swim to catching crawfish to fishing in the summer. Ice skating, with or without skates, to sledding in the winter. Swimming was interesting as there was a large rock in the middle of the river from which to jump off. How I learned to swim was by asking a couple of my brothers to teach me how. They said OKAY and threw me in and said now swim!!! Believe me I did. The riverbank from the house was about 20 feet down, so it made for great sledding. We at times would pour water down the hill to make an ice path to the river. One time a Cousin Pinky Burnell put on his skates and attempted to skate downhill. He made it to the river before he crashed.

When school started, we would walk to our mailbox about 3/4 of a mile from the house to catch the bus. This was not fun in the winter at sometimes -40 degrees. After a couple years they came into Uncle Leonard’s yard (the original homestead) and eventually into the farmyard. Sometimes if the weather was good the bus driver would drive across the pasture to pick up the neighbor kids. This included someone to open and close gates as the cattle were in the pasture.

School was fun as we had a lot of classmates, about 30 if I remember right. I was proud of my spelling abilities and did well except for one girl who could outdo me every time. As time came to start Junior High, which was grade 8-9, and then on to High School grades 10-12. Sports came in the form of basketball and football. Being one of the tallest, I would play end in football (offense and defense) and center in basketball. We played 11-man football the first year I was on varsity. Until then it had been 9-man. Consequently with 11 boys in our senior class they were all on the team. Our Junior year was memorable as the chorus teacher came to several of us guys and asked if we would help start a mixed chorus, Up until then it was girls only. We did great the first year taking second place in the district match. Along with sports and chorus was the class play. I participated my Junior and Senior years. The Senior play was memorable as in one scene a was patient in a hospital bed that rolled. It was in the middle of the stage and I was standing talking to the Dr. when a madman was to come running onto the stage and jump on the bed to stab the patient. The wheels hadn’t been locked and the bed rolled toward the edge of the stage. Fortunately we caught the bed before it rolled off and of course it was the biggest laugh of the night for the audience not knowing it was NOT part of the planned scene.

Graduation was great as I was the 6th to graduate from our family. Six more followed over the years and as the last one graduated Mom’s brother Ross presented her one dozen roses in front of the community symbolizing the 12 that brothers and sisters that had graduated from LHS. As was the custom our parents gave an expensive wristwatch to each as we graduated.

Stay tuned for Vo-tech and on.