Car Accidents While at HHS

Car Accidents

I just read over Terry Crowell's piece and if you have not read it, go back one or two posts and read it. She covers so much. Actually, if you ever get one her emails, they are about as long.  Informative as she takes a long time between emails!

My wife used to have an Aunt that lived in the country of Missouri. Aunt Dean was her name and her husband was Uncle Ruby. What a pair. Anyhow Aunt Dean used to write us a two or three page letter and it was all one sentence. She talked about everyone from the mail man to the gas station attendant just like we knew them all!  What a gas!

Anyhow...back to my memories and my car accidents.

Accident One

My first one was actually on a Vespa scooter. You could get a license to drive one of these at 14. This was much faster than the mopeds we have now. Mine would go nearly 60 mph.  A lot of guys in the early 60s had these. About 64 and 65, the Honda and Suzuki mini motorcycles came out and that was the end of scooters.

One day after school I was up on Catchall Tower Road, between Hillcrest and Shaw. I was visiting a female classmate who moved away soon after this. I remember her last name was Edwards, and she had a younger brother, but Chappie probably remembers her name. So I left her place in '63 and was flying down the road towards 441. I was going about 45 ( fast for a 14 year old) and came over a hill and saw that 441 was coming fast. I hit my breaks and the scooter fell on its side and I skidded right through the stop sign , across 441 into the ditch on the other side.  Not hurt too bad, but one of the times my pants needed cleaning afterwards. Have not told this to anyone!

Accident Two
      I was dating Marian Jackson at the time. She lived way out between Horatio and Stateburg. I had to come into the town of Horatio to get home. One night after a good date somewhere...maybe Big Jims, I was coming home kinda late and after getting through Horatio, I hit the gas in my beautiful white '55 Chevy, when I noticed a strange light up above in the shadows of the trees. I did not slow down until I got a little closer. It was pitch dark out there, just this kinda flashing light. At the last minute, I realized that it was a train light that was moving back and forth from the engine ahead.

      I slammed on the breaks and my truck skidded sideways down the middle of the road and the train lights were getting brighter. My truck stopped parallel to the tracks about four feet from them. Just then the train went flying by. It must have been a 40 car train and I just sat there in wet pants again and shook all over. Might have been my closest to death ever and maybe until now. Did not tell my parents ever. Really scared the Shit out of me. I had never, never seen a train on these tracks for years and now there are no trains on this track.

Accident Three
      I was coming back from an event at school one night and crammed in a Covair that Peppie Scott had. It was a cool car, red I think. Peppie did not know how to drive slow. I think we must of had a contest going on to see how many we could get in his car. It held four, But I think we had six or seven boys and girls. Now that was fun. I can only remember Peppie and me!

     We were coming from HHS down 441 towards Shaw, probably too fast, and about where Linda Council used to live, a dog or something crossed the road and we started spinning . Luckily nothing else was coming toward us. We spun around about four times and then went over a hill landing in the yard of Linda Council's house. The car was not damaged. Since we had so many in the car, crammed in there, no one was hurt. It was amazing..I do not think we were drinking either.
      Someone called the police and ambulance just in case. I am sure an observer thought we were all going to die. Anyhow the best part was to come.
      The ambulance folks from the base, said that their procedure required the driver to come with them to the hospital. Peppie complained to them that he was fine, but they made him get in anyhow.
No one got hurt in the spin out, but as Peppie was getting in the ambulance, they slammed the door and caught his hand in the door and broke one or two of his fingers!  HA!  We laughed a lot after he left!

Accident Four
     I was riding with John McTamney in his Simca convertible one night going to a party at Beth Segar's house. We had never been there but it was somewhere out in the country beyond Hillcrest. I still cannot remember where, but it was dark, we had three guys in a two seat car and John was drivin' fast.

 About that time a dog, fox or probably a possum ran in front of us and John swerved and we spun around no telling how many times till we stopped on the side of the road. No one hurt and car was ok. But, once again, it really scared the hell out of me. Even to this day I think of it while driving in country roads at night.




Accident Five
     This one caused the most damage to my 55 Chevy,  my beautiful white Chevy. I was coming back from a show and dance in Camden featuring Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs. It was the night before Thanksgiving in 1965. I was dating Marian Jackson that night and we were traveling down Highway 261 on a beautiful night with my radio tuned into WNOX from Knoxville that I am sure was playing some great soul music.

   Not far from the Rembert road, I looked up and saw a deer in the field way off on the right ahead of us. I mentioned to Marian to look at that beast, when all of a sudden, it started to run toward the highway...fast. I first thought about slowing down, but then I thought I could beat it, so I sped up. That damn deer's head crashed right into my right headlight, crashing its body along the side of my car and passenger door. I stopped and saw all my lights were off. Pissed at the damage to my beautiful car ( I think I worried more of the car than Marian who was not hurt luckily).
      I jumped out and did not see the deer, but in the dark, could hear it stumbling around in the dark in the field next to the road. I grabbed a knocked off piece of chrome from the car and started yelling at the deer really pissed off and wanting to finish it. Smartly, Marian suggested I come back and get the lights working and we leave. I opened the hood and found a loose wire for the lights and got them working and drove her home.
     My future brother in law was at my house that night and said we would go out in the morning and find that deer. We went out early on that clear frozen Thanksgiving morning and found the dead deer in a ditch, frozen. We put that 7 point buck in his truck and took it to his uncle in Dalzell. who skinned and butchered it. We ate venison for the next six months. But the taste of it never took the foul feeling out of my mouth or my memories of that night.

Accident Six
     I think this was in the spring of '66 and I was going to Sumter one night in John McTamney's father's '57 Cadillac.

Now this was a classic and John had never been allowed to drive this car, only that little gray Simca. So this was a big night for us guys to drive to Sumter in a big Caddy. This was a ship too. It was a solid steel animal like none other I had ever ridden in. Don Roberts was riding shotgun and controller of the radio. John driving and I was in the back seat with _______, I cannot remember. We had gone by the base beer store at the base station and bought a six pack of something cheap at probably $1.25.
    We just opened our beers and were driving towards the Sumter Highway on 441 down near the Wiljon's store when all of a sudden a huge cow walked right off a field and slammed into the front of the car. I was in the back seat behind John, and in a slow motion act, the big tank quickly slowed and the cow still standing, passed by my window. John pulled over and the first thing the rest of us thought was all the beer we had in the car. While John cussed the cow and almost cried about what his dad was going to do to him over the Caddy, the rest of us were throwing the cans over the hill next to the road into a field.

    In almost no time, John Frank Williams, the owner of Wiljon's, the owner of one of the largest mobile parks in Sumter and owner of the farm all around where we crashed into the cow, showed up. He was telling us that this was not his cow and he had no idea how it got out and hit us. He really did not want to have to pay John's damage. But quickly, he pulled out his hunting knife and cut the throat of the dead cow as he said it would preserve the quality of the meat if we bled it out quickly. He was thinking he was going to get all this meat for him. But the police came and told us that in this case, the meat would go to an orphanage in Sumter as was the law.
   We were able to drive the car and he dropped all of us at our homes and he went to deal with his dad. We never saw John in this car again. I think he got grounded for sure. There was more to this story, but that will come at another time. A horrendous night but made for great story!

Reunions

Today is Monday April 30, 2010 and I am planning on attending my seventh Hillcrest Reunion this weekend. Yes, that is a lot of reunions, but I am here in SC and have had the responsibility of helping organize a few of them. When Linda Council was alive, she, Patti Wright Stubbs and I would plan the reunions for our class and later work with other class years to have multiple class reunions.

I do enjoy them as my HHS buds are some of my best friends for life. Our HS days were our growing days, both personality and physically. My first year at HHS was just learning the folks as I just transferred here from Newfoundland, Canada. I hung out with some of my older sister's friends like the Cox boys, Jerry and Bill. I still see them at reunions. My sophomore year was a breakout year for me. I was playing three sports ( sucked at football), joined some clubs, was active with my Holy Cross Episcopal church crowd and really became more social with the girls. My junior year was great as I was pres of the class and had the responsibility of raising money for the prom and putting it on.

In past reunions I have had fun seeing folks that I worked with on the prom.... Don Roberts, George Woodsby ( only one reunion!), Roland Alston, Marian Jackson Fowler, Mary Pam Gaylord,  Connie Neal, Beth Ann Casey, Ernie Wilkes, Terry Crowell, Patti Wright, Linda Hankins, Bonnie Cole, Herman Ford, Linda Council, Liz Riddle, Sherry Artrip, Dot Way, Dave Shelton, Kris Shekitka, Barb Dunn, Chappie McCown, John McTamney and Adrianne Rockhill.  My date that year for the prom was Kathy Harris and I think she will be at the 2012 reunion.

My senior year was a blast. I have continued to see folks from this year at the reunions. One great thing about these is that even though our class was small, I did not get to really know some folks. At the reunions, you get to renew friendships and learn about what you missed at school.  I was always busy every afternoon my senior year as I was playing four sports and always had practice and then game nights. Much was going on while I was playing. Yes, I knew my sports buddies, but missed much playing around with friends after school.  So, in the reunions I had found out other activities.
Some of the reunions I have linked up with my senior classmates like Anita MacLellan, Freddie Johnson, Pam Jackson, Susan Eckweiler, Ginny Fisher, Vic Cabas, Jean Byrd, Kathy Burrows, Kay Hooper, Nora Harris, Joyce Benenhaley, Charlie Stubbs, Clarence Strickland Gary Murphy, Rae Griffin and Molly Bush.

There are some folks I have never seen at reunions: Lou Ann Busselle, Louis Galvin, Mary Holsopple, Billy James, Don Wilson, Dot Way, Bruce Shelton, Glenda Schojdt, John Ryan, Mike Pearson, Chris Drnjavic, Rita Hatfield, Terre Volkmar, Joe Mazurick, Sylvester Smith,Mary Holsopple, Lana Jerden, Linda Matheson, Leo Abate, Ed Pearcy, Linda Mathis and Mike Pearson.

Now we have been in touch recently by email with Linda Matheson, Lou Anne Busselle, Lana Jerden, Bruce Shelton, Ed Pearcy, Louie Galvin, Frankie Skinner and John Ryan.

The folks that I can always count on attending are Don Roberts, Nancy Bradshaw and husband Rusty, Ernie Wilkes, Roland Alston, Bonnie Fisher, Marian Jackson, Linda Council ( while alive), Chappie McCown, Kay Hooper, Patty Wright Stubbs and husband Charlie.



Now if you are still reading, I hope those names raised a memory with you. It may be a class you were in with one of these folks, you dated one, went to church with one, road a bus or hung out at the bus stop, played a sport with one, fought one or made love to one! ( or wanted to)

Some folks do not like the reunions as their HHS days were not the best. I can understand this. Many of you were there for just a year or two and our folks were not hospitable. Personally, I wish I had time to date about 20 of you classmates of '66. I hated asking girls out. I hated being turned down or thinking that I was going to be turned down!!!

So we have a reunion May 3,4 and 5 2012 in Sumter and it looks like a very small crowd for '66. The reunion is for classes 60 - 66. I am not planning as it is mostly the class of '62 who are having their 50th and they have about 40 classmates and spouses coming. It still will be fun!

In 2016 we will have our 50th. I guess we should be planning for this one.  Last year was our 45th and it was at the beach and I think only 4 showed up from our class. I did not make it. Now put this on your calendar and we will probably have it in September or October during a Homecoming weekend. Hillcrest is a Jr High School now and the new high school, about 15 miles away is Crestwood. Still... we will have a HHS reunion and with your help, it will be glorious!

My next blog will give some updates on our folks.

Terry Crowell Kindley ( she now calls herself Lily sometimes)

MEMORIES

* Couples: The red-headed guy you mentioned with Patty Davis was Steve Smith.  I know this because I "dated" his brother Bruce in junior high and our freshman year until his father retired and they moved back to Tennessee. Steve came to one of the reunions I missed because I remember seeing his picture on-line later. Bruce was voted Freshman Class favorite with Susan Carrison my freshman year.  (OK. a little clarification here.  I started with the class of '67, but ended up skipping my sophomore year. At Shaw Junior High, there were about ten of us who took Freshmen English, Algebra I and one of the history classes when we were in 8th grade, so by the end of our freshmen year we had enough credits to be juniors the next year. Tommy Jacobs was in that class with me. As far as I know, we were the only ones who stayed at HHS and graduated in '66.  That's funny because I haven't thought about that in a long time. That's actually how Kathy Burrows and I became such good friends. I was in her English II class my first year and we hooked up like long-lost sisters and remain close still today.)

*Hot Cars: You left out the 64 1/2 Mustang my father bought--gold, white top, black interior.  Even though you lived around the corner, you probably didn't see it  a lot because I was usually in Don Wilson's car.  I mainly drove the white Lincoln Continental Marian Jackson and I nicknamed "The Tank".  It was so huge and seemed to "float".  It was like trying to drive a boat down those narrow country roads. After Daddy retired, he took over my grandfather's aviation business in Charlotte and he ended up parking "The Tank" at the airport where his plane was.  It was so big that he eventually turned it into a gigantic tool box for all of his tools! You did mention Don's parents' car, and it reminded me of a night when for some reason his father let him drive it for our date.  It must have been a special ocassion or something because I remember that both of us were dressed up.  Don's back yard connected to my back yard (which was very convenient!), but he always drove around and picked me up. We had only gone past the junior high school when Don lit a cigarette and immediately tossed the lighter out the car window. He was used to using matches in his car since it didn't have a lighter, so we spent a good part of that date walking up and down the road looking for the lighter since we weren't supposed to be smoking anyway. Yes, we did find it, but I laughed so hard while we were looking for it that I almost wet my pants.  (Nowdays, at this age, that would have been a certainty.)  And this reminds me of one more funny incident with Don and cars---the drive-in movies. As we were getting ready to leave after a movie one night, they made the standard announcement about remembering to remove the speaker from your window before leaving. I can still hear Don saying how stupid it was that people had to be reminded as he drove off ripping the speaker from the post (since it was still hanging on his window)!  I also remember a stretch of the road going to the HS that measured a perfect quarter of a mile and the late night competitions that sometimes happened there. I remember almost all of the cars you mentioned. I know I remember John Kelly's daddy's T-Bird (?) with the hard top because I vaugely remember that in messing around with it one day, one or more of us were almost trapped in the trunk since that's where the top went when it was lowered.  Actually, John probably did it on purpose. I do remember it being a very cool car.  I think I also remember one of your cars being totalled by a deer--- is that right or another figment of my imagination?

The Teachers:

Dear Mrs. Sanders---I, too, remember her predictable digging of the elusive bra or slip strap and when I first started teaching and felt the need of an adjustment of my own, all I could do was giggle thinking of her. BUT, I'm still not sure how or when it happened, but we had several individual conversations about history and one-on-one, she was a wonderous source of information. She could actually make it very interesting with the individual stories she told, rather than dates, names of battles, etc.  One influence I know she had on me was her insistance in calling the Civil War the War Between the States explaining that in a civil war, one side was trying to take over another the other side's government,. Her contention was that the South was trying to create their own government, not take over Washington's government. Be what it may, I still call it the War Between the States much to the entertainment of some people. I had already developed an interest in history in elementary and junior high, but believe it or not, I'm actually glad I had Mrs. Sanders because she kept my interest alive. 

Of course, it was an experience having Mrs. Jackson since Marion and I spent so much time together. I remember that at one point, we were in the same class together. I had spent the night with them, so I rode into school with them that morning. When we got in class, Mrs. Jackson told us to get out a sheet of paper because we were going to have a pop test. Marian screamed, "Mama, you didn't tell me. That's not fair!" Mrs. Jackson just gave her a smile and began with the first question. She was always the epitome of professionalism.

Mrs. Gantt was the cheerleading sponsor, so I saw her a lot out of class at practices. She was definitely one of the sweetest ladies I can remember. Her husband, Mr. Gantt, was my 6th grade teacher and a great one, too. One of the fringe benefits of having him was the fact that he used to play American Legion ball with Bobby Richardson and they were great friends, so in the off-season for the Yankees, he would come back to Sumter and visit. He always spent a half a day or more in the classroom with us. Boy, did we think we were special!

I remember a lot of other teachers, too, but I can't remember the name of the long-haired, guitar playing Spanish teacher who taught me to sing about a cockroach in Spanish!

Mr. Merritt was a special person to me. He had been my principal in elementary school as well as high school. I think in the back of my mind I felt like he was being promoted with me. Anyway, over the years, he came to know me and my family well. I always thought highly of him.

I remember other teachers I had, but can't seem to be able to recall any incidents in class or whatever.  There is one teacher I will always remember, and that, of course, is Mrs. James. I had her for my junior and senior English classes,  I worked on the annual my junior year and was editor my senior year so I had quite a lot of contact with her. I loved her classes (with maybe the exception of split infinitives!), but her strictness with the grammar paid off in college. More important than that was her approach to literature.  I come from a family who loves to read. (I remember when I was younger, my mother decided that my brother, my father and I would not be allowed to read at the table anymore. My father always had the newspaper, and my brother and I always brought a book, comic book or something to the table since we thought it was the norm to read while you were eating. After all, we didn't do it in public or when we had company. Well, the new rule didn't last too long because a fight broke out on who was going to get to read the cereal box at the table! My mother gave up and said we were beyond hope, but at least she had tried.) My point is that I entered Mrs. James classes as an avid reader, but I left as a lover and student of literature with a desire for more. (At this point, I'm sure there are many of you gagging, rolling on the floor, or at least on your way to mix a stronger drink, but Hell's Bells, if I can't tell the truth now, then when can I? At this age, I have no shame!)  Mrs. James was the teacher I needed because she did expect so much from us and held us to such high standards. She is the reason I majored in English, and continue reading and learning even in retirement. (Or maybe I just have too much time on my hands!)

*Places and Happenings:  There are so many places  and things that bring back memories that I'm just going to list some now and tackle descriptions, incidents, etc. later!

 Big Jim's, Lilford's ( ?) Restaurant, Wateree, the store across from school (?), the base pool,  the tennis courts, base theater, and the Teen Club (You made me remember that one and I spent a lot of time there---must be selective memory or something.)

The Pines,---Am I crazy, or did we really meet somewhere in the woods called "the Pines" to party?  And if we did, where was it???? 

I can't remember the name of the store that was built in Sumter that had the first automatic doors , but they attacked Marian and me. We had gone to the grand opening of the store, but were more fascinated with the doors that would open and close all by themselves when someone came up. We stood on the sidewalk a while watching them operate and then decided to get a closer look at how they worked.  Well, while we were studying the doors, someone came up, the doors were activated and because these doors swung open automatically (instead of sliding as they do now), Marian and I discovered ourselves penned behind the doors up against the stores glass wall. We laughed to the point of tears at which time the manager came out to see if we were hurt. We explained that we were just thoroughly entertained and would come back to visit again.  Where is a camera when you need it? The visual of the two of us smashed between the doors and the wall like bugs still makes me laugh.

All of these bring back memories, too:  cheerleading, American Legion games, fund raisers, Oakland Plantation, Thomas Sumter's Tomb, Sam Young's Riding Academy, Stamey's Auction, Carolina Cup, Dinkens Mill Pond and intergration. These are all things I've started writing about and maybe I'll actually finish them.

The most special place to me was always Pawley's Island beginning in the second grade. It is the one place I won't ever allow my mind to forget regardless of everything else it loses! I'm sure so many can share memories of Pawley's or just the beach. I'll enjoy writing about it.

The train just left the station. (That would be my train of thought again.) I'll let you decide if you can use any of this, but I'm having a ball doing it just for my own sake. 

Once again, I'm really looking forward to Friday, and who knows, maybe my communication skills will improve enough to keep up with you and others better than I have been!

                                                                           Peace Out Brother! 

 (Sorry, just another one of my flashbacks!---Not really. I may not remember everything, but I know for sure I never said, "Peace Out, Brother!"  I just couldn't think of a way to close this thing, so I'll just sign off WITH LOVE AND LAUGHTER---Terry)

Best Friends

We all look back and fondly remember our best friends from high school. These are the kids we learned about life together. We learned how to talk to and get dates. There are so many things that helped to develop and mold the rest of our lives that could not be done without best friends. I am just going to mention a little from my first years at Hillcrest.

Lake Wateree

I move to Shaw the summer between my 8th grade and freshman year. My folks bought a the third house built in Oakland Plantation, the first belonging to the Oakland's first realtor, Bobby Livingston's mother. Since no one lived there, it was hard to meet new friends. Luckily I had an older sister, Glenda, who was attractive and boys found our house in no time. So my first friends that summer and year were older for a while. Jerry Cox, a jr, was one of my first friends. A fun guy with a vw bus that would haul a bunch of us summer and weekend nights to Big Jims and Coles in Sumter. We went to the Base Lake Wateree site, Butches and the old Teen Club. Frank Davis was in that mix too as was Rusty Simenson. As school began I started hanging out with some more kids my age like John Kelly, Jim Crosson and Chris Conlon.

Holy Cross Episcopal in Stateburg

I was interested in girls my freshman year, but they were not really interested in me, mostly upperclassmen. So as a freshman, we just flirted, met up at the Teen Club, skate rink nights, the base movie and the pools. My sophomore year things picked up. I bought a Vespa scooter that gave me some mobility around the base and between HHS and home. I played football, basketball and ran track this year so I was with these guys the most. I tried to be with the cheerleaders as mush as possible. My folks joined Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Stateburg and I became close friends with the boys and girls there. Chappie McCown and Tim Gipe were going there and we became friends.

My junior year I became good friends with John Kelly and later Don Roberts and then George Woodsby. I helped John rebuild a old 1953 Jaguar that year that we later took to the beach. Don and George and I became best friends mid year and to this day Don and I are still best friends. Don's wife Mary Lynne and my wife Kim, moved to Shaw after we graduated from HHS, and we have been best friends as couples all of our adult lives.

My friendship with George and Don was great. Here we really learned about adolescence, girls, parents and cars.George and I both had 55 Chevys and Don had a 1962 MGA... very cool! We hung out at Big Jims, Teen Club, each other houses and on various jobs. George and I worked on the Gillespie farm together and Don and I worked at a steel mill in Columbia. We had many great times... too many to talk about in this blog... I will save some for later posts!

Buses

I was a school bus driver part of my junior and all of my senior year. I really had some great experiences doing this and it was something I wanted to do from my freshman year. It seemed all the cool people drove buses. I think it was only boys who did it, although Mrs. Freeman, the cafeteria lady drove one of the midget buses that was always the first to leave the yard.

Bus driving training was three days and for me it was held in the little town of Pinewood, where Furman High School was located. The first day we had classroom lessons, then took a written test. If we passed, we continued the next two driving test days. We also had an eye exam the first day. I knew I needed glasses, but hadn't gone and gotten them yet. So I memorized the eye chart, forward and backwards down to the 5th line. I could only see the third lines without glasses. I passed, but could not really see. I did get glasses sometime the next year, but did not wear them... too geeky.

Most of the kids got newer decent buses. I got a 1956 Ford. Now in 1965 that was not too old, but most of the kids had buses from the 60s. I think we were paid $37. a month no matter how long your route was. Some of us had bunches of kid and they told us to take two trips to get them home safely. I always had football or basketball practice after school, so I did not have time for two trips. So I crammed nearly 70 kids in my bus that was only supposed to take 38.  Kids were crammed in so much that I joked that babies could be conceived in the back and I would have no clue!

I basically only had five stops. Like everyone going toward the base, I stopped at the Jr High and the Elementary Schools. I then continued down 441 and stopped at the Opa's grocery store, then out to Hiway 76 and dropped off a ton at Cherryvale Trailer Park and one more trailer park about a half a mile down 76. Nothing exciting.

I parked my bus on my street in front of my house in the Oakland Plantation subdivision. We were supposed to check tires, oil and gas every day. I never did as the mechanics were at HHS every day doing this. So one morning, the bus was knocking bad. I picked up my Hiway 76 crowd and it was really raining. I should have stopped and checked, but it was raining to hard. By the time I got to Opa the engine was shot and I "blew an engine rod" and the bus was dead.
The next day I was given a substitute bus. It was a 1953 Chevy clunker. I had that piece of crap for a month while they fixed mine.... such punishment.

The day mine was finished, they took me to the bus garage in Sumter to pick up my bus with a new engine in it and they told me to break it in slowly. All buses had a govenor on the carburetor to keep them going no faster than 38 miles an hour. As I brought mine back to HHS that day, I noticed that I could go 40, then 45 and then 50 mph. They forgot to put a governor on the carburetor!!!  Now I will not get into the stories about my bus, but I had it up to 84 mph once with only a couple of boys. Now I never went faster than 50 with kids on board. In the last three months of the year I had it with the new engine, the mechanics never noticed! My bus became the bus of choice to drive baseball and track teams to away events. I do have many stories, but think I should save these for campfire,  barroom drinking or reunion times!  Ask me!

Cars

It seems that high school boys know all about cars. I don't think my son knew all the cars' models and engines when he was in high school during the 90's. BUT during the 60"s I knew all the cars, by year, model and engine size.
My first vehicle was a motor scooter.... a Vespa. They are still around today... a hit on the college campuses. Scooters could be driven at 14 and many folks had them. They were replaced by Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha mini motorcycles. I never did that route but bought a 1954 Vauxhaul.... a little English Ford. But then as a Jr I bought a 1955 Chevy Two Door Belair Coupe.... white with black and red interior. It was hot! I loved that car with it's 265 cc eight cylinder engine with 3 speed on the floor ( I installed it).  George Woodsby had a yellow 55 Chevy Belair, but his was not a coupe!
Before I bought my Chevy I drove my parent's cars on my dates. Studebaker and Chevy.... big front seats but really family!
Don Roberts had a 60 MGA that he shared with his brother, but for dates, he used his parents Pontiac Catalena. This was a great car that I double in several times and his brother Tom still own it today. Sometimes when I was without date, Don would borrow my 55 Chevy, with the big front seat and give me the MGA since I had no girl to smooch.
Let's see what I remember...
Marian Jackson's folks had a big Plymouth with a 383.
Roland Alston had a small Dodge Dart that hes swore would beat me in quarter mile...( did not show up to race)
John McTamney had a small Simka that he and Adrianne would fold down the front seats all the way.
Don Wilson's family had a hot 1965 Chevy.
John Kelly and I help rebuild a 1954 Jaguar that we took to Pawleys Island. He also had a 1964 Ford with a 406,      4our speed and his dad had a 59 Ford hardtop convertable. Very cool cars.
Tim Gipe had a big Thunderbird and Bruce Thomas a small old white one.
Pete Aynesworth always had VW Bugs
Gary Murphy had a white Dodge convertible... hot!
Lou Ann Busselle had a burgundy Olds 442.   very hot!

I know more but will have to think about this

Teacher Memories

Now all of us can remember our favorite teachers or teacher. As a former teacher myself, I tried to emulate my favorite one, Mr Elmore. He was great in the classroom. He had a great sense of humor and made learning fun. Now he was algebra and did I struggle at Hillcrest and college too. So maybe I had too much of a good time and did less learning. Maybe I was not destined to use algebra in my life. I did major in science, political science and later picked up a masters degree in library science. But no one ever asked me about algebra.

I remember when I was first teaching ( it was Hillcrest) there were a bunch of young teachers there. When we were at HHS, I got the feeling our teachers were just days away from social security. In this category I put Mrs Sanders, Mrs Jackson, Mrs Cuttino, Miss Gaston,  Mrs Kenny, Mrs Estornelle, Mrs Cooper, Mrs McCutchen, and maybe Mr Merritt. ( I did cheat and look up three of these teachers in the annual)

I do not have many memories of these, but just snippets. My homeroom teacher in 9th grade was Miss Gaston. She made us all read a verse from the bible each morning. John Kelly really objected and refused, but she persisted. When it came John's turn, he said the shortest verse in the Bible...."Jesus wept!"  Ha... she went speechless!

I had Mrs Riley Bradham for world history. Now she made this real boring. Later  I learned she was an excellent golfer and left every day to hit the links after school. Well her mind was elsewhere. My class was mischievous and maybe I played a role. She locked the door always between class so she could run and have a smoke. Several of us took turns putting a pencil in the lock and breaking off the lead in the door, so a key would not get in to open it. She never was really pissed, but tried, called Charlie the janitor, and he got it open. Once they had to take off the door.  No one ever caught!  ( later I taught world history at HHS and she was teaching the same down the hall...we never talked)

Mrs Sanders brought her husbands Ku Klux Klan outfit to class one day. She said it was not his but a neighbor's, but we all knew. I loved US History and Government. I wish we would have had someone to make it come alive more. I just remember her reaching down the top of her dress and pulling up her bra or slip strap every day... we would wait for it and giggle!

We had a Latin teacher that died during the first or second year and then we had Mrs Stevenson as a long term sub. I do not think she had Latin since high school. We learned little. Thanks to Kris Shekitka for being a Catholic acolyte and  knowing all the Latin... it saved us. Later we got Mrs Cuttino. She was ok, if you liked Latin.
My senior year some of us needed another credit, so a couple of us took French under Mrs Kerfoot Kinney.
Now she was footsteps away from the nursing home. John and I had a great time there. We had some freshmen in there that were in awe of us and we took advantage... especially with the girls. Mrs Kinney would have us take a vocabulary test every day. First she gave us 15 minutes to learn the words and then she wrote on the board the french  words and never looked back at the class. Every one was talking, sharing ( cheating) and then we gave the papers to someone in the isle next to us and we graded them in class. What a waste of time and education.

A quick note to some others...Mrs Estornelle loved my experiments... alcohol effects on hamsters ( my dad's Canadian Club) and the liquid oxygen one I got from the base. She loved off the wall stuff. She did not love me blasting glass everywhere while making hydrogen.  (her grave is 8 ft from my spot at Holy Cross Church in Stateburg... scary!)
I never had Mrs Jackson, but I did have her daughter... not in the sexual sense...but we did date and had some excellent times making out in her living room right next to Mrs Jackson's bedroom!  I never made out at HHS. I might be in the minority here.
I do remember and may come back later and talk about Mrs James, Mrs Shuler, the coaches, Mr Alston, Mrs Gantt and one more that I cannot remember her name in 9th grade, but she was beautiful!
Oh yes.... Mr Merritt and Mrs McCown!