Junior High

This part of my life story I have been putting off as long as possible. But now is the time to suck it up, quit feeling sorry for myself, and just write it!

We were moving into our house in East Mill Creek when I started 7th grade at Evergreen Jr. High. The first week or two was ok. I met some good future friends. Don Cowan and I kind of raced walking up Evergreen Avenue. I was ahead of him, walking alone. He decided he wanted to pass me. I heard him coming up behind me and I decided to not let him pass. We ended up almost running up the hill until we started laughing at the situation.

Jeff Anderson and Charlie Nielson stopped by the house and introduced themselves. They ended up being some of the best, most loyal friends I had for the next 8 years.

I started going to church regularly. Sister Barney was my first teacher. I was still in Primary for the first few weeks, and she saw to it that I completed my requirements for Primary graduation.

I also walked past the East Mill Creek library on my way to and from school every day. I got a library card and made it a habit to stop there and check out books on a regular basis. My favorite author that first year was Jim Kjelgard. He wrote about dogs, Irish setters mostly, and forest animals. His stories made their lives sound very interesting.

My study habits in 7th grade kind of slipped. I read a lot, and I watched a lot of TV. But I didn't organize myself and didn't apply myself very consistently to my studies. In my English and history class I succumbed to teasing from a boy who sat near me. It seemed that I always retaliated against him just as the teacher turned around, so I was frequently in trouble.

In my first Home Room I was seated next to Bill Haskins. He and I became good friends for the next several years. I even nominated him for 7th grade president, the class voted for him, and I became his campaign manager. I had no idea how to do that. I was also too shy to ask for help, so the campaign didn't go very well. He didn't win.

I don't know why I suddenly became shy. I had not been that way before, but I became terribly shy. I guess it had something to do with teenage hormones. I was afraid to talk to girls. I was afraid to talk to adults. I was afraid of my teachers. All the things I'd done successfully before then left my memory, and I lost all self confidence. Things were not very good at home. Dad was not acting nicely. His friends became more important than his family. He seemed to get very hard on me and I was always in trouble at home. He wasn't interested in helping me with any of my school work, but would yell at me and punish me if I didn't do it right. He became antagonistic toward the Church. I couldn't seem to do anything right. I was still basically happy. Happy was my natural state. But I was also quite miserable much of the time.

I kind of withdrew into a shell. I read a lot, and watched TV. I went to school, church, and not much else. Withdrawing was not the best thing to do. It just made things worse.

I made my first enemies in 7th grade. There were a few social groups, and I didn't seem to fit in any of them. The group I was most afraid of were the 'greasers'. I thought I could befriend them by combing my hair like they did. Mom was my barber, so I was not able to carry that out well. The 'greasers' just laughed at me. A couple of the worst of them started bullying me, and my shyness put me at a great disadvantage. The only time I tried to retaliate, I just made them mad, then I became even more afraid.

The other groups were the 'betas', the 'brains', and the 'jocks'. The betas were the rich kids who set the fashion trends. Mom bought all my clothes, and I was not 'in' with the expensive fashions the betas wore. Beta was derived from the Greek letter and indicated that these kids were destined to be fraternity members in college. They also were the kids with the most self confidence, so I didn't fit in with them in any way.

The brains were the top students. I fit in with them socially, but my study habits made me so I didn't fit in with them very well, either. They were the guys I hung out with. I ate lunch with them. But they left me behind when it came to grades. I just had no self discipline at this time in my life.

I didn't fit in with the jocks either. The other boys started filling out and getting taller. I was short and skinny. And I was kind of a weakling. I was afraid to try out for any sports. I lacked coordination. I started practicing basketball in our driveway, and eventually got to be a pretty good shot. But I felt I was too short to actually participate.

Mr.Walker, my 7th grade gym teacher, organized a baseball league for the summer. I was encouraged to participate. All who came were guaranteed positions on a team. I played shortstop and got to be a pretty good fielder. I was still afraid of too many things, especially failure, and that made me very nervous when I played, so I was not able to perform at my best.

There were a lot of others that didn't fit with any of these 'in' groups. I started hanging out with some of them. We kind of formed our own group, the 'losers'. Anyway, that's how I felt. Staying just on the edge of the 'brains' group kept me from becoming a total loser.

Toward the end of 7th grade I got to be friends with Hugh Coleman. He was popular because he was often the class clown. He made people laugh. I invited him to go fishing with Dad and some of Dad's friends for the opening day of fishing season at Moon Lake. Fishing was Hugh's favorite activity so he readily accepted. We had a great time, and Hugh became a great friend.

Hugh and I were locker partners in 8th and 9th grades. At the end of 8th grade Hugh ran for student body office. He used his ability to make people laugh to good advantage and was successful in his campaign. A result of his popularity was that I was no longer 'in' with his new group of friends. We started to drift apart. Toward the end of 9th grade some of the greasers who were bullying me started to intimidate Hugh, also. That pretty much ended our friendship. He no longer wanted to be associated with me if it meant he would be one of their targets also.

Eighth grade is just a blur. Things got worse at home. My grades did not improve. I withdrew even more socially.

Ninth grade was a little better. I was assigned to Mrs. Herman's English class. Mrs. Herman was a short Jewish lady. Many of her students were taller than she was. She also had a reputation of being the toughest teacher in the school. But she really challenged her students to do their best. I accepted her challenge and started to improve my study habits, if only for her class. She singled out those in her class that were doing well, and we kind of became members of an exclusive club. We spent time with her outside of school on special projects. I really enjoyed the attention and I responded with much of my best work.

Some of my classes served me well in later years. As I worked as a handyman, I remembered many of the lessons learned in shop classes. Woodworking shop, sheet metal shop, and electrical shop were all good learning experiences.

I actually started dating in ninth grade. No one at that time had suggested we wait until we were 16. The dates were just to school dances. My first date was with Marian Florence. She was a good friend. Mom had to drive us, since I was still a couple of years away from having a driver's license. I only remember one other date, it was a group date to a girls choice dance. I had never met the girl before she asked me, but she was a friend of Kathy Harrington. I think every boy in the class wished that Kathy would ask them, but she made arrangements for all of her friends to have dates. We all went as a group. I don't remember how we got there. The girl who asked me was a very cute blond. If I hadn't been so shy, I would have had a much better time with her. Now, I can't even remember her name. I did remember. It was Jane Rasmussen. She is now married to Kathy's brother Bob.