Third Grade - Miss McDougall - Indian Village

Time for another class photo!

If you click on the photo, you'll be taken to where it's hosted (on Flickr) and the image is MUCH larger and easier to see.

So here are the usual (and usual) suspects. If you go back and look at my first and fourth grade photos - you'll see a lot of the same kids (i.e. usual suspects). Mind you, this is all from memory (or lack thereof). If I've mislabeled someone - I expect to be told!!! And for gosh sakes if you know the last names, let me know. I seemed to be having major issues with the names from the third grade.

Row 1: Errol Stech, ?
Row 2: Dean ?, Karen Brezette, Doug White, Billy ?, ?
Row 3: Kelly Miller, Eddie Hyde, Eric Busenberik, Zetta ?, Joyce Lloyd, Eugene ? (my cubbie hottie from Kindergarden!!!)
Row 4: Melanie Davis, Danny Gould, Marla Magditch, Steve Saylor, Adam ?, Glen McCourt
Row 5: Tom Stinson, ?, Chrissy Boner, Lori Schmidt,?
Row 6: Kristina Frazier, ?, Stuart Williams, Ralph Barva
Row 7: Beth Fruechtenicht, ?

P.S. And speaking of class photos - I have ZIP ZERO from my second grade. In 1974-75, Mrs. Judith Edwards taught a split 2nd-3rd grade class. If you know of anyone that has this class photo, please let me know. I was out sick that day (I think I had the measles or chicken pox).

First Grade - Indian Village Elementary School

Say hello to my first grade class from Indian Village Elementary School. The year (according to the picture) is 1973 and Mrs. Marci Lawson is the inspirational teacher - keeping us all in check.

We were located in Room 19 (yes I know - scary that I remember this).

Our desks were simple, in a complicated way. They weren't the fancy ones that opened up on top. Oh no! They were the kind that opened up to your waist area.

Many things could get lost (and subsequently - GROW) in this area. Emptying these types of desks out at the end of the year was always an anxiety-filled moment because one never knew what people like Brian Blazer and Ralph Barva would pull out of the nooks and cranies of these wooden hothouses.

ANYWAY

If you attended Fort Wayne Community Schools (the elementary ones) in the early to mid 70's, I bet your class pictures looked just like this.

Every year, the photographer would come into our classroom and he would bellow out instructions to our teacher that went something like this.

Okay. Move dem desks to the middle. We gotta make this look like a real classroom

What he meant was that the lens was only so wide and therefore - if the desks were required to be in the picture (by the way - I'm still trying to figure out who made this rule) - then - in order to get everyone in, we had to move all of the people and desks into a small area, sit behind them, and smile for maybe 3-4 shots.

In other words, it took much more time to move the desks around then to actually take the frickin' picture.

The boys really liked to scrape the desk chairs as hard as they could across the concrete (but hey - it looks "tiled" - floor).

I have a ton of great memories from first grade. My first grade experience was extremely profound and I can't even begin to tell you how lucky I was. I think I was just in the right place, at the right time.

Anyway - there will be a lot more to write on this subject of first grade. But for now, let's get scary for a moment. I remember just about everybody's name.

So here it goes. And if I'm missing someone, or if I have spelled their name wrong - please let me know. By all means, if you know where any of these folks are today - let us know!

(Left to Right)

Row 1: Rusty Cramer, David Nelson, Melanie Davis, Kristina Frazier-Henry

Row 2: Skip Shock, Rita ?, Jody Ellis, Bruce ?, Chrissy Boner, Brian Rice, Kathleen Caldwell

Row 3: Ralph Barva, Wendy Shipley, Tracy Nimbles, Betsy Barrett, Kelly Miller, Billy ?, ?

Row 4: Eric Busenbaric, Brian Blazer, Kelly Biddle, Lisa Smith, Tom Stinson, ?

Row 5: Beth Fruechtenicht, Karen Brunette, Stuart Williams, Marla Magditch, Chris Starn, Mike Sharp

Row 6: Tom Malott, Brian Butcher, Janice Smith, Kim Spore