Kindergarten

I started kindergarten one month before I turned five years old. The cut-off date to start school was you had to be 5yrs old by the 30th of September. With my birthday on the 29th, I was up to a year younger than the other kids in my class all through my years in school. Although that didn't make much difference after about the third grade, at first it did make a difference. I started at a very young five, maybe even closer to four in maturity.

I started kindergarten at a public school, while Kathy was enrolled in a private catholic school for the third grade. The private school was Mary Magdalene and they did not have a kindergarten.

Kindergarten in 1950 was mostly socialization---learning to play nice and get along with others. Learning to share and that sort of thing. I didn't have any problems with that stuff because I was a social butterfly. I don't remember a whole lot about it but I do remember painting on a large pad of paper that was on an easel---I had my own apron or smock to wear. We also had to lie down for a while to nap or at least rest on a rug of which we all had our own. I know the school wasn't far away because I walked to school. I also know that an older girl walked me to and from school---I can't remember who she was but assume she was probably a neighbor girl that also went to that school.