Red School House memories of Pat (Benoist) Garthoeffner

Pat Garthoeffner garthgallery@comcast.net	Jan 28 (1 day ago)
to me

Hi:  Just looked at the photos of the red school house!  What a delightful surprise!!! I lived one block over on Garfield and went to Berkeley from 3^rd grade on and graduated in 1958.  I played at the school during the summer and fall months and actually, whenever school was out!  Many times I sat at the top of one of the slanted concrete forms on either side of the steps and acted like “Cleopatra” – my friends in the neighborhood were my “slaves” and would bow down when I clapped my hands!  I loved the play yard and especially remember the Merry-go-round that was hung with chains and bars and you would run around and swing thru the air!  I remember the swings were “huge” and went very high!  There was a story that a girl swung so high that she went over the top and had a pair of scissors in her pocket and was impaled by them when she hit the ground!  (I’m sure that was to keep children from swinging too high)! 

I thought I was the only one who remembered the school house so well…………..so glad to know there are others who have special memories of it.  I didn’t know anything about its history but it was there where I met Margie Oesch, Carole Tepe, Ronnie Coles-?, Hazel Puronen, Marilyn, Joe  Haley, Stevie Fletcher, Richard Tullock,Leroy Rhodes and so many others.  My first teacher was Miss Smith and I corresponded with her for many years.  My daughters have heard many stories about my good times at the Red School House and tried to find it one day when they were in St.Louis visiting my Mother –unfortunately, they ended up in Kinloch and never got to see the school or saw it and never recognized it from my description versus how much it had changed when they saw it!

Thanks for memories and I hope to see you all at the Luncheon if not the reunion – Pat Benoist Garthoeffner