I was in the St. Thomas Daily News (a Pulitzer Prize winning paper) a total of four times.
This is me in 1966 accepting those pearls for catching that barracuda.
In the summer of 1969 I was a volunteer in a summer school program working with elementary kids. The little blurb that went with the pictures reads as follows:
“Caribbean Summer House activities are being enjoyed by 210 children in the Savan area this year, with average attendance of 185. Co-sponsoring the program with the V. I. Youth Commission is Pastor Ronald D. Lokhorst, of St. Thomas [Dutch] Reformed Church. Other scenes show tots and teens happily engaged in courses which emphasized reading, arts and crafts, music, and recreation. Privately supported by gifts, the project received half of funding from the Community Chest. The five-weeks project ends Aug. 15.”
Here’s the group. I am 3rd from the left, front row. Note buffalo sandals. I was the only local volunteer. All the other kids came down from the states.
In this picture I am the white head to the left working with a group of kids in the reading class. That summer was also memorable because all of us went to a house that had a TV and we watched the Moon Landing.
In 1970 there was an inter-scholastic Speech Arts Festival in which five schools competed. I think one of my proudest moments was when I won first place in the poetry reading contest. What, you might ask did I read? Actually I “read” it from memory; “The Stolen Child,” by William Butler Yeats. If you can’t pick me out I’m the one towering over the other two. That’s a little jingle bell around my neck. That little tiny mini-skirt was in shades of orange and was one that my mother made. I’m surprised my school let me wear it since we were hosting the affair.
The fourth time I was in the paper was as part of a group shot with my senior class as we were getting ready to leave on our Senior Class Trip, which I wrote about here, and where a picture has already been posted.
Ahh, trips down memory lane. Ain't they a hoot?
Wow that's very cool!
ReplyDeleteYou have everything so organized. I can't find my grocery list I wrote five minutes ago (so I use my cell phone for everything ... at least it is all unorganized in one place!)
Do you still have the pearls?
Cool--you had a few fame moments, I see! Four times--Wowsers!!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if I still have my picture when I was in Grade 12 when I did a Starvation for Education (our teachers went on a two month strike right at the end of my last year of High School) and we decided to strike ourselves to force the School Board to use a mediator with the teacher's union to end the strike. We were on TV, radio and in several papers.
Wow! What great pics and articles...
ReplyDeleteI'm lovin' these "all about the past" type of posts on the blogs...
Way cool! I loved seeing all of these! I have one more I might post sometime soon, of me & Rick when he graduated from high school in '81.
ReplyDeleteLoved the pearls -- too cool!
Yes Angela (of the tiger)My mother suggested a scrapbook and I seem to have a propensity for saving papers/books and photos. Yes, I still have those pearls and was, several years later, give a pair of earrings and ring to match.
ReplyDeleteAngela (of the Jolly Roger)YOUR experience was TRULY news worthy! I hope you still a picture, I'd love to see it.
Brenda, I'm enjoying posting. My sister is doing some research. She has a suspicion the man giving me the pearls is someone "famous."
Rena, This was a fun exercise. And it sort of fits with the loose theme of my blog, which is telling stories about growing up in the islands.
Thanks all.
What a neat life you have led!
ReplyDeleteI once unknowingly swam with a barracuda (near the Virgin Islands), but luckily did not know until I was climbing the ladder up to the ship!