Showing posts with label 3/16. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3/16. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Monday, March 16, 2015
Destination: Wichita Falls
Next stop on the family heritage tour: Wichita Falls, where I attended elementary school, junior high, and high school, and graduated from childhood to full-blown adolescence.
We lived here at 2015 Victory (sans awning and sans fountain) from May 1978 to January 1982. Mom, Dad, Lisa and Brian actually moved here before I did. I stayed with Grandmom in Fort Worth so that I could finish out my fifth grade year at Tanglewood Elementary. She picked me up before the end of the last day (I hated to leave and produced a lot of tears on the occasion) and put me on a Greyfound with a jar of dry-roasted peanuts.
Brian and I shared the front, northeast bedroom and studied the 1977 Dallas Cowboys team photo/poster on the wall. I still remember the name of almost every player (#76?).
It was in this house that we first got cable television installed on a school day when I just happened to be home sick. When I came home from school every afternoon, I made a platter of cheddar cheese and Triscuits for myself and watched Gilligan's Island on the old black and white TV that was in my room. Aunt Evie had given it to us. At night I listed to the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre on my clock radio.
During our first year in Wichita Falls, the church youth group draped the trees in our front yard in toilet paper. Dad was delighted.
This is the only school that all the Benton children attended. My tenure at Ben Franklin was not happy. The highlight was leading the music class in a truncated version of Queen's "We Will Rock You," featuring me as Freddy Mercury. I'm guessing that was the spring of 1979.
I got my first 8-track player here at a surprise birthday party in 1979. My first tape was Seals and Crofts: Summer Breeze (1978). Other 8-tracks to come included: ABBA's "The Album" (1977), the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever (1977), "Dynasty" by KISS (1979), the Beach Boys's "Endless Summer" (1974), and REO Speedwagon's "Hi Infidelity" (1980),
I got a slow start at Barwise: trumpet in the "B" band and a lonely split end on the football team. I played, but was never thrown a pass. My first great triumph was making the 7th grade basketball team. My next was earning a spot as the third leg on the mile relay team.
In 1980, Glen Brookshire and Eric Dibble spent the night here on my thirteenth birthday. We watched fireworks at Carswell Air Force Base and played RISK when we got home. In 1981, we had a slumber party at the church.
On my birthday in 1980, Mom and I watched Foul Play at the Sikes Senter Mall. It was a Wednesday, and Dad must have been at summer camp.
In 8th grade, I blossomed: first chair trumpet and President of the Band, President of the "A" Choir, soloist at the spring concert, and editor of the sports pages in the single edition of our school's newspaper. I started at strong safety on the football team in the 8th grade, imagined myself to be the sixth man on the basketball team (though I don't remember scoring), ran the first leg on the 4x100 relay, third leg on the mile relay, and set the school record in the 300-yard low hurdles.
I had one semester at Wichita Falls High. I was in the marching band but hated it. I started at cornerback on the football team, nabbed two interceptions in a game against Gainesville, and returned one into the opposing team's red zone to set up our only score of the game. I scored a touchdown against Iowa Park by advancing a teammate's fumble, and a had a long gainer on a play-action pass in our season-ending game against rival Rider. Leaving Wichita Falls for Odessa in the middle of my ninth grade year was gut-wrenching. My performance in the classroom was unremarkable.
Many of my best memories of these years are associated with church: the Wizard of Oz and simulated Dungeon and Dragons parties I organized, a birthday slumber party in the gym, and each year's summer camp experience at Lake Brownwood.
We lived here at 2015 Victory (sans awning and sans fountain) from May 1978 to January 1982. Mom, Dad, Lisa and Brian actually moved here before I did. I stayed with Grandmom in Fort Worth so that I could finish out my fifth grade year at Tanglewood Elementary. She picked me up before the end of the last day (I hated to leave and produced a lot of tears on the occasion) and put me on a Greyfound with a jar of dry-roasted peanuts.Brian and I shared the front, northeast bedroom and studied the 1977 Dallas Cowboys team photo/poster on the wall. I still remember the name of almost every player (#76?).
It was in this house that we first got cable television installed on a school day when I just happened to be home sick. When I came home from school every afternoon, I made a platter of cheddar cheese and Triscuits for myself and watched Gilligan's Island on the old black and white TV that was in my room. Aunt Evie had given it to us. At night I listed to the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre on my clock radio.
During our first year in Wichita Falls, the church youth group draped the trees in our front yard in toilet paper. Dad was delighted.
This is the only school that all the Benton children attended. My tenure at Ben Franklin was not happy. The highlight was leading the music class in a truncated version of Queen's "We Will Rock You," featuring me as Freddy Mercury. I'm guessing that was the spring of 1979.
I got my first 8-track player here at a surprise birthday party in 1979. My first tape was Seals and Crofts: Summer Breeze (1978). Other 8-tracks to come included: ABBA's "The Album" (1977), the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever (1977), "Dynasty" by KISS (1979), the Beach Boys's "Endless Summer" (1974), and REO Speedwagon's "Hi Infidelity" (1980),
I got a slow start at Barwise: trumpet in the "B" band and a lonely split end on the football team. I played, but was never thrown a pass. My first great triumph was making the 7th grade basketball team. My next was earning a spot as the third leg on the mile relay team.
In 1980, Glen Brookshire and Eric Dibble spent the night here on my thirteenth birthday. We watched fireworks at Carswell Air Force Base and played RISK when we got home. In 1981, we had a slumber party at the church.
On my birthday in 1980, Mom and I watched Foul Play at the Sikes Senter Mall. It was a Wednesday, and Dad must have been at summer camp.
In 8th grade, I blossomed: first chair trumpet and President of the Band, President of the "A" Choir, soloist at the spring concert, and editor of the sports pages in the single edition of our school's newspaper. I started at strong safety on the football team in the 8th grade, imagined myself to be the sixth man on the basketball team (though I don't remember scoring), ran the first leg on the 4x100 relay, third leg on the mile relay, and set the school record in the 300-yard low hurdles.
I had one semester at Wichita Falls High. I was in the marching band but hated it. I started at cornerback on the football team, nabbed two interceptions in a game against Gainesville, and returned one into the opposing team's red zone to set up our only score of the game. I scored a touchdown against Iowa Park by advancing a teammate's fumble, and a had a long gainer on a play-action pass in our season-ending game against rival Rider. Leaving Wichita Falls for Odessa in the middle of my ninth grade year was gut-wrenching. My performance in the classroom was unremarkable.
Many of my best memories of these years are associated with church: the Wizard of Oz and simulated Dungeon and Dragons parties I organized, a birthday slumber party in the gym, and each year's summer camp experience at Lake Brownwood.
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