Woodson News: First Days of School

Sometimes the first day of school can seem, as Margaret Mathiews remembers, “so routine.”

Perhaps, as Seth Brockman remembers, nothing stands out, “off the top of my head.”

Or, maybe, as Jim Overcash said at first, we “don’t remember any excitement about school starting. It was just another day.”

I remember the first day of first grade, and my teacher in Abilene, Mrs. Martha Vletas, who was the sweetest lady I knew besides my mother and my grandmas. She saw tears as my mother left me and she provided comfort and spoke with me about my interests… the next class day, she had a small, china, black horse with her. She gave me that horse, showing me that she listened and that she cared. Her daughter let me know that Mrs. Vletas had passed away a little over a year ago, after I had sent a letter of thanks to her for being the first building block of a love for education and for teachers. I still have the little china horse; its name is Martha.

So, as we enter this year, I hope there are many fond memories made of the first day of school.

My grandson will be attending his first day of pre-K at Woodson, my daughter will begin the eighth grade, and my daughter-in-law teaches in Woodson.

Last year, the first day of school was on my birthday! Which reminds me, Happy August Birthday to Alene Forrest! Sabrina Siebert! Vicki Carruthers! Derrick Robles! Josh Hewlett, Gayle Dyer, Bucky Kuykendall, Dennis Peacock, and Upton Dean! If there are more, send me the names!

Happy Anniversary to Eric and Mary O’Dell! Happy Anniversary to Randall and Shirley Forrest!

Please pray for James Potts, Earlene Bellah, Alene Forrest, Brody Mathiews, TD Shawver, Thora and Paul Thurn, Misty Lawson, Jean Brockman, Dale Deaton, Sr., Treon Thompson, Carolyn and Dee Tate, Susan Ayers, Ada Smith, Dean Singleton, Kelvin Singleton, Linda Dean, Aletha Creech, Charlene Kite, Frankie and Minerva, Janice Devenport, June and Arliss Willingham, Py Brown, Greg Dunlap, Otis and Delorah Hibbitts, Jeannie and Johnny Stoker, Ron and Vicki Saddler, Pam Allen, Barbara and LB, and Johnny Vickers. If you have others for the list, please let me know at tacylte@gmail.com.

Please pray for the family of Dee Tate. Please pray for the family of Reuben Cortez.

Turns out that Jimmy O did remember some things, “First grade wasn’t eventful because I had been going to school since age 3. In those days kids could bring someone to school with them and they could spend the day. I went with Karen quite often when she was in the 2 and 3 grades. All those kids were basically my friends all the way through school until they graduated. I was a little different because they treated me like I was their age.”

One other memory of Jimmy’s, “In the 50s the cheerleaders would pick a girl and boy to be mascots to go to all the football games on the bus with them. I think I was 3 when they picked me. Three of the cheerleaders were Betty Daws, Dorothy Sullivan, and Sarah Whitmire… I don’t remember ever not being at school.”

Mayor Mathiews remembered, that he “got to ride the big yellow bus for the first time. Oh, that was quite a thrill! That bus was long as a freight train and by the time we got to school, it was ‘standing room only.’ Every size kid, plus some that were plenty ‘ornery’. This was in 1954. There was no prepre-K, and no kindergarten. It was just first grade. Mrs. Guy Ellis was my teacher. The part I remember about first day of school was at lunch, we marched in line to cafeteria, got our tray and plate of food and a choice of white or chocolate milk. Now who would not want chocolate milk? It came in a little wax-coated carton. This my first encounter with this kind of milk carton. This is the part I remember so well: as I was trying to open carton, which was very hard to open, it slipped out of my hand and splashed chocolate milk on my white tee shirt.

“As it turned out I was trying to open wrong side. Some older kids came by and said ‘Hey, you didn’t read the message on the other side that said ‘open this side.”

“’Duh!” Said a young Mayor Mathiews, “This is my first day at school, in the first grade, I don’t know how to read.’

Luckily, he finally mastered that cantankerous milk carton. Our mayor ended with, “The moral of this comment is: learn how to read, you don’t want to open the wrong side.”

This first day of school, make a memory! I am with Mayor Mathiews: Learn to read!