January 20, 1972

(click on the article to enlarge)

I didn't attend the assembly that is mentioned in the article I posted. What I recall was walking down a dark empty hallway with my books in my arms and finding the door to my history class still locked. I stood in the doorway as the riot descended down the hallway towards me. A black (is that politically incorrect? I apologize if it is) classmate hollered at me to get the 'H' outta there. I think I was in shock. Another girl that I did not know grabbed my books and started pulling on them. The classmate I knew came to my rescue telling her to leave me out of it. But as she walked me out of the fighting, her arm around my shoulder another girl hit me over the head with a combination lock. The fighting only extended about halfway down the hall. Further down at the intersection was a gathering of students and teachers. My classmate handed me over to them and headed back into the fray. Being a head wound, by the time we got to the nurses office I had blood down to my waist. They put ice and pressure on my wound and by the time my dad got there to pick me up it had stopped bleeding. He had picked me up on the way back to his office and had a client with him so we had to make a detour to drop off the client before going to the hospital. We didn't hurry. I was the unnamed student mentioned that went to the hospital. They put in stitches, don't remember how many, 3 or 4? By the time we got home, rumors were flying. My locker-mates were concerned because they found my bloody books. Someone was saying that I had gotten my throat slit.

Later, back in school, I asked my classmate that had helped me to introduce me to the person that hit me over the head. She set up the meeting in the student lounge. I went alone, the other girl didn't. I held out my hand and told her, "no hard feelings." I know that she didn't hit me personally, because she didn't know me. I just wanted the fighting to stop.

Treasures in my Attic

Today I was finally putting my Christmas tree up in my attic and I decided to spend a little time cleaning and sorting while I was there. I have been putting off doing this because it is a major undertaking. Ever since my son shored up the roof and floored the attic (he did this when he was in high school) I have been moving things up there to store. It had been in need of going through for some time as is evidenced in the blog post from November 2007. I think I can pretty well say that nothing more was moved up to the attic since that post and some of the boxes were thinned out BUT then we had the house re-roofed. They didn't just add another layer of shingles, they couldn't, we were at the limit. Since they were having to strip off layers my husband pointed out to the insurance agent that the very bottom layer was wood shingles and REALLY needed to be removed. They were a fire hazard. Well, when the wood shingles were stripped off there was wood and dirt and nails that fell down into the attic. I had attempted to staple plastic and cardboard up underneath and did manage to divert a good portion of it to the sides. But it's still a mess. I get nice and dirty when I get up there moving things around and sweeping up the roofing material. So today I decided to at least attempt to clear an area in the center where I could work, somewhere to sort things. In the process I came across the Commencement Program for my South High Class of 1974.

(right-click on pictures & open in new tab/window to enlarge)

I enjoyed reading through the names, realizing how many there that are familiar to me.
And also realizing the names, like my own, that aren't there.

For myself, on May 6, 1973 I became a married woman. On May 13, 1974 I gave birth to my beautiful baby girl. So by the date of Commencement I was a young wife caring for a two week old baby. I'm happy to say that thanks to Facebook I have reconnected with many of my classmates that DID make it through to graduation. So here's to the Class of '74! Well Done!!!