Let's Give a Cheer...for RNRJHS Teachers - 1961

(click on photo to enlarge)

If you went to Ross N. Robinson Junior High School, try to see how many of the teachers you recognize in this 1961 photo.

If you didn’t go to RNR, you still may recognize several faces. Some of these teachers also taught at D-B and at Sevier and before that at Junior High.

I could identify 17. And every one reminded me of a story.

The only teacher I didn’t recognize was Mr. Hicks (Sam Hicks), my seventh grade math teacher. That’s not how I remember him.

I still have a story about him. He told us that during the war (WWII) you would see cars in Kingsport driving backwards down the street. He said it was a way to beat wartime mileage rationing. Mr. Hicks was also famous for his wooden yardstick. He had mastered the technique of slapping the yardstick on a desk for maximum noise effect. It sounded like a gun going off next to your head. He knew how to get the class’s attention. (I sat behind Donna Davis in that class and she would jump every time.)

Check out the picture. Then look at the captions.

Mr. Scott (Jim Scott) gave me the photo in 2005. He was my eighth grade math teacher. I was in the first wave of advanced math students who took eighth grade math in the summer (a year-long course squeezed into half-day sessions over four weeks).

The captions are courtesy of Miss McCammon (Gerry McCammon Frazier).

My stories follow the captions.

Row 1(l to r)

Tommy Hill, Hazel Stewart, Johnnie Wray, Rowena Johnson, Maude Dishner, Mildred Kozsuch, Lucille Massengill, Shirley Garrett, Don Stevens, Delbert Webb (principal)

Row 2

Jack Campbell, Nancy Randall, Sarah McKee, Gerry McCammon (Frazier), Margaret Melton (Tunnell), Wanda Bledsoe, Lorena Hoover,  Hope King

Row 3

Oscar Dalton, Nell McLean, Bea Gilbert, Sarah Spracher, Mary Tuggle, Faye Neergaard, Madelyn Thomas, Ruth Sauer, Mary Riley, Wilma Snyder (Bunting), Dolly Wallen (behind Mr. Webb)

Row 4

Reba Robinette, Jim Scott, Jo Ann Emmert, Sam Hicks, Charles Flanary, Bob Shepherd, Don Little, David Wise

Mrs. Wray (Johnnie Wray) was married to the Sevier football coach. She introduced me to the word “underachiever.”

Sarah McKee, then Miss Gouge, was my ninth grade Civics teacher. She was famous for threatening miscreants with “20 lashes with a wet noodle.” She had taught at another school before signing on at RNR. She told us she had lunch room duty one day and a kid refused to finish his meal. She used a common admonition of the fifties, “Finish your lunch, children in Europe are starving.” She said he looked up at her and said, “Name one.”

Mrs. McLean taught Special Ed and was famous as the mother of Mike McLean, who was a year ahead of me. Mike and Ann Boyd ran for Student Council President in the spring of my 7^th grade year. Ann’s slogan was “Mike Might But Ann Can.” When they gave their speeches in the auditorium, Mike concluded his with, “Remember, Mike might.” Everyone roared with laughter and he won. He later became the weatherman at WBTV in Charlotte (which was on Kingsport’s cable system) and changed his name to Mike McKay because Charlotte already had a weatherman named Clyde McLean.

Miss Spracher (Sara) was my seventh grade Language Arts teacher, a wonderful woman and a wonderful teacher. She had a complete set of “Arizona Highways” magazines on the back table. None of us read them, we just looked at them for the spectacular photography.

Mrs Tuggle (Mary) was my 8^th grade homeroom teacher and Science teacher. She was the first divorced woman I ever knew. She was also a wonderful woman. I danced with her at a party at, I think, Gretel Case’s house. The record was “Poetry in Motion” by Johnny Tillotson. For several weeks – owing to Miss Spracher’s love of the poem “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer – I thought the lyrics were “Oh a tree in motion.”

Mrs. Thomas (Madelyn) replaced Mrs. Eason (Eleanor) teaching Algebra after Mrs. Eason’s heart attack. I don’t think Mrs. Eason ever returned to teaching, going into real estate, where she had a very successful career, Who would have thought real estate would be less stressful than teaching junior high students? Mrs. Thomas filled in without skipping a beat. I sat with her at a Lynn View reunion seven years ago – her husband was a long time teacher there. She passed away a year ago at age 88.

Mrs. Sauer (Ruth) taught 9^th grade Latin. “Italia est paeninsula.” She was a much better Latin teacher than I was a Latin student. Mrs. Sauer retired after her year with me. I don’t think I had anything to do with it. She turned 70. She died in 1978 at age 86.

Miss Riley (Mary Erim Riley) was a legend. She was my eighth grade Language Arts teacher – two periods a day, five days a week with her. She was a great teacher. She dressed every day as if it were a job interview: perfect hair, perfect makeup. She lived at the Kingsport Inn until they tore it down.

Miss Snyder (now Wilma Bunting) was my 9^th grade English teacher. She also taught Spanish. Remember the Spanish textbook: “El Camino Real?” The hoods at RNR penciled in a revised title: “Elvis’s Camino Is Unreal.” She and her husband won the lottery in the late nineties. Honest.

Mrs. Robinette (Reba) was the librarian. She kept a close eye on the reference books (think about who went to RNR – those hoods weren’t going to steal books) keeping them in a closet. You had to check them out. Her student helpers were none too swift. One day I went to check out a book. Joan, the helper asked, “What’s your name?” “Vincent.” “That’s too long. I’ll just make it Vic.”

Coach Shepard (Bob) was my 8^th grade gym teacher. He was a former Marine and he took no flack from the overage members of the class (we had guys who were 16 and driving to junior high). When he demonstrated pushups, he didn’t stop with 20 (in 20 seconds), he would then switch to one handed pushups (two handed were tough enough for weaklings like me) and then on to clap pushups (he would push up, then clap, and back down).

Missing from the photo: Mrs. Dempsey (study hall), Coach Boyer (coach), Mrs. Taylor (study hall, science). Mr. Buchanan (art), Miss Deck (Bible) and, I’m sure, others. Mrs. Goad was the office secretary.