What a relief to go into the sophomore year in high school. We were no longer the newbie’s and the bottom of the barrel anymore. A whole year of that was more than enough.
We started in the fall in 1963 and ended the year in 1964. I would have been looking forward to the new year because I would be old enough to get my real drivers license.
At the beginning of the sophomore year most of us were still only 15 and couldn’t drive by ourselves. That is all but the country kids and they had been driving to town alone since they were 14.
The fall of our sophomore year I took Home Economics that lasted the whole year. In the fall we learned to sew and then in the spring we learned to cook. Well we attempted anyway. Some of us couldn’t even boil water.
Sewing class taught me that I had no patience, none at all when it came to making mistakes. Our teacher was very insistent that we put the pieces together as perfect as we could.
My first piece was a denim wrap skirt. When we made that I actually thought that I might be able to do this sewing thing. After all I had sat and watched my Grandmother sew lots of dresses for me; I must have learned something on her knee.
The wrap around skirt was lined with a red bandana print fabric and had strings that tied around the waist. It was pretty easy to put together and I really liked the skirt, then we made a button up shirt out of the same bandana fabric. A cute outfit to be sure.
That was just the beginning, after that we went into a skirt or pants that had a zipper and that is where the trouble started. Our teacher thought we had to put the zippers in with the 3 step method.
I could never see the point of doing it that way because if you lay it in the seam and then stitch around it, it looks the same and works the same as far as I was concerned. After I got out of the class I dropped the 3 step method for the easier one.
I can remember one zipper that I had to take out at least 4 times and put back in so it would please the teacher. I was ready to throw the whole project away after the 3rd time of ripping the zipper out.
That fall was also the time I started to work in the drug store soda fountain. It was one of my favorite jobs. The drug store in our little town was the center of everything and after school it really was the gathering place.
Even though I had to work, if you want to call it that, I was in the middle of it all and I would have worked there free I think. Of course I was only making 75 cents an hour so it was almost working for nothing.
Fall of the sophomore year, I was asked on my first date. I was not 16 yet as my dad had always said I had to be before I could go out with a boy, but I got up the nerve to ask him after a couple of days of putting it off.
The date would be on the 16th birthday of the guy that asked me out and was only 3 months before my 16th birthday. It probably was a red flag for my dad because the boy was just turning 16, but surprisingly he said I could go. But then he laid down all the rules I had to follow all the way through the rest of my school days.
In January I passed the test to get my drivers license which I am sure put fear into my parents hearts because they both knew that I would be the same kind of driver as my dad, especially speed wise, and they were right.
In the spring of our sophomore year the Junior/ Senior Prom that was run by the junior class was titled: Quiet Village. The sophomore class would be the ones to serve the banquet meal to the upper classes. The prom was an island theme but I don’t remember much about the decorations, all I can remember is the outfit the girls had to wear.
The only choice the girls had in what they wore was the color. I chose a hot pink floral fabric. It was cotton and we had to make a top that had elastic around the top above the bust line and it hung straight down from there to just above the waist of the shorts.
The short shorts were made of the same fabric. On top of the shorts was a grass skirt. We had a Lei that matched the top. We were all barefoot during the serving and that was the best part of the outfit to me.
The shorts were cute and I had no problem with them but the top didn’t want to stay up. Did we not get the elastic tight enough or did I not have enough to hold it up? That is the question.
I spent the whole evening, when we were serving the two classes, pulling it up and getting it positioned. I just prayed while I was in the banquet room with my hands full of plates that it didn’t fall down, and then on the way to the kitchen to get the next two plates I would be pulling it up and getting it where it needed to be.
The guys had it easy, they wore straw hats and t-shirts and cut offs and all the girls were envious of their outfits that were so easy to wear.
So our sophomore year was a year of firsts for most of us and ended on a high note; serving the upper classmen for the Junior/Senior Prom. To contact Sandy: [email protected]
