Over Thanksgiving, Dad talked about his first day of Kindergarten (1945). He went to the little red school house down the road. When it came to stand up for the pledge of allegiance, he did not know what to do. Instead of showing him what he needed to be done, his teacher pulled him up and yelled at him.

From then on this teacher did not like him and she treated him accordingly. He said no wonder he was not good at school. He was just a naïve farm kid. He simply did not know. He went to school in a one room schoolhouse. The teacher should have been experienced with such things.

That teacher didn’t like him. It didn’t help that there was an older girl that was mean to him. The rule was that you didn’t cross the road. However, she threw Dad’s hat across the road and when he went to get it, she told on him.

She also drew a dirty picture on the girl’s bathroom and told the teacher he did it. He got punished for it. Again, he was a naïve farm kid. He did not know about such things.

Yet, he said there were good memories. There was an older boy and the other children didn’t like. The boy and my dad dug into the snow drifts to make forts. This boy and my dad made one high up on the hill. The mean girl came and ruined their fort. Then the boy put dad up on his shoulders and dad said it was a great feeling- to be that guy (Dad knew his name) and him against the world.