Remembering Mrs. Bruce and Hi-Teen in the 1950s and 1960s by Chuck Ledbetter

The Baptism of Billy Ireland by Gary Wiggins.

When I was around 10 years old, a group of us boys who lived around the intersection of Halcyon and Clark Roads in the project got inspired by a visiting evangelist and decided to be baptized at the First Baptist Church of Charlestown. Full immersion was required in the Baptist Church in order to wash away any sins that might have been hiding between our toes or in other parts not so thoroughly cleansed in other religions. Naturally we didn't want to wear our Sunday best during the baptism, so we were told to bring some old clothes and change into them before the ceremony.

Billy Ireland was one of the boys to be saved that day. Billy was a mischievous youth, and he decided to have some fun at the baptism. The baptismal pool at the First Baptist Church had dressing rooms on either side, one for men and the other for women. Billy told us that when he came up from the full immersion, he was going to fake drowning and make a mad dash for the girls' dressing room in hopes of catching a glimpse of some of the young girls in various stages of undressing. The minister at the time was Reverend Blick. We all waited with great anticipation to see if Billy would really carry out his plan. Sure enough he came up flailing and spitting and made straight for the girls' dressing room. When he got within two steps of his goal, the long arm of Reverend Blick interceded on God's behalf and kept Billy's baptism pure and wholesome. Thus, an otherwise solemn ceremony had an element of humor injected into it that I have never forgotten.

Miss Ross's Wild Ride by Catherine Hobson Katrovitz.

The CHS school year had ended, and Miss Ross, our Librarian, enlisted Patsy Cassetty, Patsy's sister Kay, and me to help with book inventory and other chores needing completion. It was tiring, repetitive work but we plugged along, succeeding after a couple of days. Relaxing in the Study Hall to catch our breath, we chatted about the summer ahead. Then, for whatever reason I can not recall, Kay jumped up and began pushing Miss Ross (in her chair, of course) toward the hallway door. Miss Ross protested--though not loudly or angrily. Patsy and I were immobilized...still trying to process the information of this event. We finally rushed into the hallway and gawked at the scene.

Kay had Miss Ross aimed toward the school office. Then she whipped the chair around and headed back toward us. Miss Ross, her legs straight out in front and her fingers clutching the chair's arms, continued her plea to Kay to stop. The sound of her voice echoed down the hall...but there was no one, except Patsy and me, around to hear her (thank goodness). Our very proper, always neatly dressed librarian could not hide the hint of a smile. She was, after all, just a pretty nice person.

Jewell and Judy's Ride Story by Judy Cummins Waller

In our Junior year, Jewell Thomas was fortunate enough to have a car. (and I use that term loosely) It was very old, and very rusty, but it ran, and we were able to run around town in it. One evening we had gone to Dairy Queen or some such exotic place, and realized that we were late heading home. There was a curfew in Charlestown at that time, and we were afraid that we would be sent to jail. We tried to hurry as fast as the old car would take us. Unfortunately, part of said rusty places were under my feet on the passengers side, and in my haste to get going, I had left my purse unfastened. The car chugging along caused my purse to fall upside down, directly over the hole in the floorboard. We were heading up the hill on Clark Rd. and had gone several yards before realizing the contents of my purse were strewn all the way up the hill. By now we were laughing so hard, we could hardly get our breath. Jewell turned the car around, and followed me down the hill, so the headlights would shine on the road, and I could see what had fallen through. (We were on the wrong side of the road mind you)! I recovered all my possessions, and we headed home. Amazingly we did not get arrested, or have another car going the right direction hit us. We could not have possibly had more fun in a shiny, new car with no rusted out places as we did in that old rattletrap.

Albert's Wild Ride Story by Albert Combs.

I had Mr. Myers for driver training as well as an elementary basketball coach. On our first day in the car, Mr. Myers placed a clipboard on the car dash under the front window. He then stepped on the gas pedal in a manner that caused the clipboard to fly off the dash. He then announced that the clipboard would be placed on the dash when students were driving and if the student caused the clipboard to fly off the dash, that student would automatically fail driver training. Later that day, it became dark, the scheduled class period was about over, and we were a long way from Charlestown (I think we were in Madison). Mr. Myers announced that he would drive home. He turned the dash lights off such that the speedometer could not be seen. Since we had been given a lecture about speeding, I questioned Mr. Myers as to how he knew how fast we were driving. He responded that he was an excellent judge of speed. I can testify that we were driving a lot faster than 60 MPH. All the traffic cops must have been on break because there was no speeding ticket. I think he tried to get even with me my senior year, but that’s another story.

Reminiscences of Jack Risinger

Mr. Risinger was one of my favorite teachers. Who can forget a teacher who insisted on calling us "Mr. Wiggins," "Miss Francke," etc., while teaching us government and economics?

Occasionally the CHS band was unavailable to play at a basketball game, because Mr. Schoen had a paying gig with his dance band that night. The band's trumpet section was very weak during our junior year. Since none of the trumpet players was up to the task of playing the Star Spangled Banner, Mr. Schoen asked me to do it. I protested that it would sound really weird for a lone trombone to be playing the national anthem, so I asked if I could stand behind the stage curtain when I played it. This went off without a hitch, so Mr. Schoen asked me to play again the next time he was unavailable. He said that he had heard that people wondered where the music was coming from during my debut performance and that this time I should stand out on the stage in front of the curtain.

When it came time to play, Mr. Risinger was standing on the basketball court near the spot I had chosen. He looked up at me and said with a smile on his face, "Mr. Wiggins, why don't you screw up that tune. I never liked it!" "Sure," I said, "screw up the Star Spangled Banner." Sure enough, I forgot to repeat the first strain. I was about 3 measures into the final section when I realized what I had done and went back to repeat the "Oh say can you see" melody so the "Whose broad stripes and bright stars, etc." could be sung. Too late! The audience was thoroughly confused, since I had already shot off "the rockets' red glare." When I finished the piece, Mr. Risinger looked up at me in disbelief and said, "My God, you really did screw that up!" I'm sure he thought I did it just for him. (Gary Wiggins)

I don't remember if Jack Risinger called me Miss Bourne in his class, but I do remember that he was a gentleman and a handsome, intelligent man. I have a little story of a memory of Mr. Risinger.

I worked in the Tobias Drug Store part time during my senior year. One Saturday morning, while working behind the soda fountain (which also had a grill), Mr. Risinger and John Bowen (president of the Bank on the square) were seated at a table together. Mr. Bowen ordered two eggs, sunny side up. That was not something I was accomplished at preparing. When I set the plate down in front of Mr. Bowen, I apologized because I had broken the yokes and said, "I'm sure these eggs will taste better than they look."

At that point, Mr. Risinger stood up and walked back to the grill with me, and proceeded to demonstrate to me how to fry eggs sunny side up on a grill. I'm sure we had a good laugh about it. And I will never forget that experience. Yes, Jack Risinger was a special teacher. (Mary Bourne Bradley)

Mrs. McLemore by Judy Cummins Waller.

Do you remember Mr. & Mrs McLemore? They both taught at CHS while we were there. I was never actually in a real class with either of them, but one semester I had Mrs. McLemore for Study Hall. I was " dressed up", for some reason, one day....even had on my pantyhose. Study Hall was in the Library, as I am sure you know. As I sat down in one of those big ole clunky chairs, I snagged my pantyhose on a rough edge. Since the chair was so heavy it was not about to budge, but my leg, obviously had to move. Before I could get the tiny thread on the stocking detatched from the chair, it had torn a hole the size of China in those rascals, and the bottom part of the leg was being held on by about an inch of nylon. It was only a few minutes until class change, so I went up and showed Mrs. McLemore the woeful state of my hose and asked her if I could go to the restroom and take them off. She said "no". I knew that I would be late for my next class if I waited for the bell, and so I had the audacity to ask her "Why Not?". She looked at me with that glassy eyed, harried teacher look, hesitated, and when nothing else came to mind said "Because you might catch a cold".

Wrong Way Bettler by Budd Bettler.

I was looking forward to the high school cross-country meet in New Albany because it would be on a golf course and I would be able to run barefoot. I had done that a few times before at a large invitational in Seymour and wanted to try it again. There could be an issue with sand burs that could stick in your foot and cause pain and possibly making you have to stop to pull it out, but it was worth the risk. Because of a late December 23 birthday I was the youngest boy in my class and among the smallest for sure. Didn’t make the basketball team, which was the most popular, but I did make the cross country team. Coach John Wood had encouraged me to try out and I was pleased to make and be part of the team. My junior year we “went to state in 58” which was a rare appearance for our small school. Bummer, we get to New Albany and they say we cannot run on the golf course but must run in a city park. It was a small park and the course was convoluted with small loops that intertwined together. They did lead us in a walk around showing us the course, but I paid no attention as I lagged along in the back. Why do I need to learn the course I would be happy to finish in the top 10 or so, there would be plenty of runners to follow. Well the old saying of “every dog has his day” was true that day as I had the race of my life. I had never run this fast! So fast that I was in the lead! As I came down this hill I ran straight forward thinking I had to do one lap in the far field. Suddenly, I heard a lot of screaming and was tempted to turn my head to see what all the commotion was about. But no I couldn’t do that as coach Wood had told us to “never look back, keep focused on going forward”. Well after a few seconds I couldn’t resist so I looked back and saw the rest of the runners had made a sharp left turn and were heading towards the finish line! Cripes! I couldn’t see the finish line as I came down the hill as it was off to the left and there was no one to direct you. So I cut across the field and finished 8th. Bummer! Insult to injury occurred the following week when the Charlestown weekly newspaper, “The Leader” had an article titled “Wrong Way Bettler”.

Life is Not Fair by Budd Bettler.

Every small town had a local movie theater where you could go typically on Saturday to a matinee for a reasonable price that included popcorn and a coke. Up to the age of 11 you paid a lower child’s price and this was the one time I was glad I was small for my age as I could pass for a child and have more money for candy. The Charlestown movie theater was the Venro. It was run by a classmate of mine Tommy Allen’s dad. He frequently worked in the ticket booth and was involved in what I believe was my first lesson that “life is not fair”. You see Tommy and I both went to the First Baptist Church Sunday school and were in Boy Scouts together. Well Tommy was in the ticket booth one Saturday when I stepped up and ordered a child’s ticket. To which Tommy replied “wait a minute you are in my 12 year old Sunday school class, you have to buy an adult ticket.” Bummer, because I go to church and Sunday school, I’m forced to pay more to go to the movies? Man, life is not fair.

Rocko by Budd Bettler.

I didn’t like to be called Charles, so I was called Buddy. That is until I got into high school when I picked up another nickname “Rocko”. You see we were playing whiffle baseball in the gym during gym class one day and I begin mimicking a baseball player when it was my turn to bat. I would hold the bat over my head and lower it behind me like “Rocky Colavito” of the Cleveland Indians. Coach Wood picked up on it and started calling me “Rocko” and it stuck. The only time I’m called Rocko is when I go to a class reunion

Selected Reminiscences from the 30th Reunion Booklet

Mary Bourne Bradley: Ms. Middleton (our class sponsor) dropped in while we were decorating for the Jr./Sr. Prom. We were hard at work arranging paper carnations on chicken wire to spell out the theme of the prom. She was shocked to see that we were misspelling one of the words! What was the theme of that Prom??!! Was it "Mystic Isle"; ... or "Misty Isle" or what?!?! I don't remember, but the decorations were gorgeous. [The program for the 10th reunion says it was "Mystic Isle". We also honored the seniors that year with a banquet that had the theme "Deep Purple". --GW]

JeaNette Gafnea Frazier: Someone invited me to his Senior Prom, and I was a Freshman. I remember well that none of the upper classwomen spoke to me for weeks! Things have changed. Now I prefer a younger man. IT WORKS FOR ME!!!! At our age, who gives a sit? Right! (No I didn't misspell the "S" word).

Betty Gibson Snelling: Special memory: Barbara Barton and I stepped off the bus in Chicago. She thought it was raining, but in fact a bird had crapped all over her.

Charles D. (Sonny) Standifer: Mrs. Lundey gave me a paddling (she didn't even cry).

Gary Wiggins: The CHS Band played the special number "Trombrero" at a basketball halftime show. After an 8-bar introduction, the trombones were to come in with a big smear from sixth to first position. Ronnie Tobias was so pumped up for the big intro that he lost his grip on the slide, which zoomed off the stage, sailed right over Student Manager Charles "Buddy" Bettler's head, and went clanging across the basketball floor. Despite Ronnie's valiant effort to retrieve the slide and rejoin us before the end of the piece, he was unable to play. The spit valve had broken off the slide when it hit the floor, so the only sound that emerged when he blew was "P-W-A-A-K"!!!