"Why, Doc?"
"Moore is going on another trip to the past!"
"Back to the past?"
"Shut up, you'll make me lose my place!"
Anyhow, continuing on my journey through the 80s as I saw them (with a certain mix of joy and jaundice), we come to the mid 80s. So far, I have covered 2nd grade through half of 5th.
1984
With a lot of my earlier years involving a move to another neighborhood or another state altogether, it is pleasant to reflect that the Moore family was finally in a long-term comfy zone. We lived in a good neighborhood, my sister and I were in a great school system, and my parents were pretty happy in their jobs.
In early 1984, my dad gave me an idea through one of his bosses to join the boy scouts. It was something different and exciting, though I had not risen in the ranks of cub scouts or webelos. One thing I can definitely say after three years in scouts is that I still sucked at tying knots! We went on a lot of neat camping trips and saw some cool stuff among the many hikes we did.
In school, 5th grade proceeded as normal. one big thing I remember is that Ms Kalbach was out sick for an extended time, like 2 or more weeks. And we all know how great kids are with a sub when subjected to them for more than one or two days! I do not remember getting that bad in behavior, just complacent. I also made a decision that year to not do homework as I was getting sick of it...spelling and math grades went down a hair due to that attitude. When Ms Kalbach returned...well, I believe we got a tongue-lashing that no other teacher had ever given to my memory! In fact, I recall having some class therapy sessions where Ms Kalbach was trying to bring us back as a class community. No other huge events for the rest of the year, apart from a fairly light winter! In fact, we got out on June 5, much earlier than usual, making for a good-length summer!
I remember one weekend, my parents went to New York and her coworker Nancy watched me and my sister. We went and got a bite to eat, then she let me play at the Berkshire Mall arcade (making me trust her implicitly!) for a bit, followed by seeing the movie "Splash".
That summer was very busy for me! First up was a week of scout camp. Now, I had been to other scout camping weekends as well as sleepovers with a friend. I was not quite as prepared for a week away as I had thought, giving way for some homesickness. One or two others had it a bit worse. Apart form that, camp was a lot of fun, with merit badge session, meals at the dining hall, hikes, swims, and general campsite nonsense. I shared a tent with someone I didn't really care for in terms of personality, Jason Huckabee. That acquaintanceship got worse as time went on, and I learned long after graduation that he had been found dead in a car trunk...that one was never solved.
ANYHOO, after scout camp, we hosted a French excahnge student named Manuel Abelan. It was like having a brother for a few weeks. I bombarded him with my nerdiness and we also took some trips, both day trips. One was to good ol Hersheypark and another was Washington, D.C....the latter is always tough in one day! My mom, sister, and I took a trip to Michigan while my dad stayed behind to get Manuel back to his departure site the same day we left. What I recall of that Michigan trip specifically is that I was now a bit taller than my grandma!
In terms of entertainment, we saw some good movies that summer: Ghostbusters, Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock, Revenge of the Nerds, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Apart from that, I played and biked with my friends. Jeremy and I generally biked around Whitfield and Drexelwood, stopping at Mr Food for a hot dog and drink. He made a deal with me once that if we rode by a certian girl's house (I do not remember the name), he'd spring for my snack forever after that...as Mr Food changed ownership sometime after that, the deal appears null and void! Rats!
Come fall, it was time for 6th grade, the final grade in elementary. The way things worked was, about a week before school started, you went to the school where there were a bunch of papers on the doors saying who was in whom's room. I was delighted that I got to be with Mrs. Southworth again! She was as high-spirited as ever, though a bit sterner at times with the 6th graders. We had an interesting crew that year. If my teacher had some struggles with Marcus Turner a couple of years back, she had about double that with a 5th grade retainee named Curtis Ebeling, a guy who gave me a hard time often. Had I the gumption then, I would have risked detention just to kick the crap out of him. Alas, a geek is a geek, so on the back remained my target. Thankfully, I wasn't a constant target. Jason Huckabee was in that class as well, making the teacher's life even more itneresting.
We switched classes all day: Mrs Zellers for social studies, focus was on Canada and Latin America that year; Mrs Smith then later Snyder for English and writing, Mr Frantz for science (probably our favorite time all day) and Mrs Southworth for math. In the afternoon we did reading with whomever we were put with, for me it was Mr. Frantz.
Two big things happened that year. First, my voice was no longer a sweet squeak, it had lowered an octave or 2. Second, I joined the 6th grade chorus, which ended up being the majority of the 6th grade population. Under the supervision of Mr Peter Sunderman, we had a really good time and put on both a Christmas and Spring concert.
Friendwise, I was playing with Jake Birmingham, Mike Eisenhower, and Mike Stout quite a bit that year.
Another development that fall was my mom moving from Penn State's library to Kutztown, going from part to full time. It was further cementing of where we were for some time to come! Plus, my sister was dating a slightly older high school student named Chris. I remember liking him quite a bit!
At Christmas, my mom's parents came. I am not sure exactly what I got that year aside from more Atari games and clothes...at that point, it was probably enough.
1985
I remember this being a year of some changes here and there, but just to make life more interesting. In terms of school, things kept right on going as usual. It is here that I want to take a pause and rate the wonderful specialists we had over the years.
Mr. Sunderman: a pretty good music teacher who handled the piano well. He was open to singing some new material aside from the classic folk songs we sang over and over....songs which would likely NOT be allowed today!
Mr. Gehman: a good gym teacher who exposed us to lots of sports, track events, and, my favorite...GYMNASTICS! In the cold witner months, we were not outside. Instead, the cafeteria tables folded into the walls and he brought out the mats, horse, and trampolines. We also played basketball and volleyball in there on rainy days. Mr Gehman also kept track of our physical fitness through calisthnetic exercises. I was proud when i was finally able to do a couple of pull-ups in 6th grade!
Mrs Shaefer: I will give her this, she really tried to teach me art, I just wasn't getting it. Not the most patient person, we just didn't click over time.
Mrs Hasson: As a librarian, she was decent. She taught us the card catalog system for finding books, especially when it later came to research. Our class visits to the library were only about a half hour once ever couple of weeks, and often independently during reading time.
On the homefront, my mom was enjoying her new job at Kutztown quite a lot. My dad was starting a long period where he was being sent out of town for jobs, as Gilbert Commonwealth was not able to keep a lot of its work at home anymore. Three Mile Island 6 years previously had really damaged the organization. In this particular year he was being sent to either Bethesda, Maryland or Crystal River, Florida.
Sixth grade ended quite nicely with a graduation ceremony. It really does anger me how our current situation deprived our fifth graders of their rite of passage activities. That is something we can never make up to them.
Come summer, activities included more scout camp, though I was more ready for it this time and had a lot of fun! I also for the first time got a crew cut, which grew to be a favorite hairstyle for a long time.
My dad also decided to bring me and my sister to Florida on one of his trips. I was pretty excited about this trip since I had not been on a plane in 4 years. However, my sister and I in a crmaped hotel room was not always the best of situation. Talking with her about it last year, she remembers it as not being so bad, since she always had a book to read. Perspectives are key! On this trip we went to see "Back to the Future" and also traveled to Sea World in Orlando after my mom joined us. When we left, my dad had to stay on a bit longer.
Some excitement was in the air as junior high approached. Yes, we were really going to enjoy the rewards of switching classes...8 times! The rewards of learning a locker combination! The rewards of rushing to get to a class! The rewards of changing into gym clothes on those days! Yep, the new time in life had come upon me! It was pretty neat, though, once you learned the school's layout. It was all one story, so that helped.
For social studies, I had Mr. Miller. An older guy with a dry (almost none) sense of humor.
For Advanced English, I had Mrs.Gillmore. She was great with poetry and Greek mythology. A very nice person she was.
For science, I had Mr Gerhardt, a pretty pleasant guy, though I don't remember exactly what I learned there.
For math, I had Mr Schweigert. This guy had personality, sometimes good, sometimes not, but we got along pretty well.
For reading, I had Mrs Frebel, though I remember doing our first research(term) paper for that class.
P.E. and swimming was conducted by Mr. Thomas Ruth, a fairly young guy with a good sense of humor and not putting up with adolescent excuses. The art teacher was Mrs Pettis(a slightly more personable version of Mrs Schaefer). What was cool about her class was her kiln!, Half a year of that and a half year of music with Mrs Deatrich. The shop teacher was Mr. Witman, we did half a year of shop and half a year of home ec with Mrs Wardrop. Health with Mr Nye, a man with a bit of a central PA twang. Mr. Weidner was my homeroom teacher as well as an English and German teacher, but I had him only for homeroom. I also got to experience something called study hall at the end of most every day...a good time to sneakily get homework done, draw naughty pictures, and generally be quiet for the teacher who had the bad luck to draw the study hall short straw.
It was a new experience to be sure! I also met a lot of kids who came from other elementary schools. A few that come to mind are Jeff Stump who became a pretty good high school football player; Marcy Klontz, Tara Snyder, Casie and Stacie Matchicka, and Jack Ledbetter, among others I saw fairly frequently in classes. The kids from Southern Junior High were bussed in for swimming.
One thing I must say for swimming: I finally got over my odd fear of the pool's deep end that year after so long...and just in time to learn the fine art of swamping a canoe just to climb back into it!
It was the first year I was not walking to or from school with Jeremy or Eric, both still in elementary.
Another new bit was Friday dances. Being a bit socially awkward then (as if I'm Dean Martin now!), I didn't go at first. Then I slowly got into it, not really getting the hang of them except to hang with friends and then maybe pizza later.
In October, our family went to a Fitzmorris reunion in northern Michigan. We flew to Detroit and met up with my grandparents, Aunt Terry, and cousin Erica, the latter 2 I had not seen in 4 years. We drove up to the northern part of the lower peninsula to a palce called Canada Creek, a family timeshare. Once there, we met with my great Uncle Bob and Aunt Phyllis, their kids Mike and Tim, Mike's girlfriend Lisa, Tim's wife Terri, and kids Jeff and Brad. We had a lot of fun for the long weekend, then headed back home on a Monday.
Before Christmas break, we as a school went to the high school auditorium ( a small walk) to watch a movie, I believe it was "Return of the Jedi" that year. When it was over, we grabbed our stuff and went home!
At Christmas, I got the first of many 'mystery gift' ruses by my dad. He puts all sorts of messages all over the living room saying "look here", and "check this palce out"), and finally I open up the door to a room and see the big payoff. In this case it was a Commodore 64 computer! The printer sucked but all else was great. It was the mouseless age, where everything was typed in., although you could plug in an Atari joystick to play games. And through my dad's work's computer room, I got a TON of games on floppy disc! That was quite a great way to end the year!
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