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By JO LEE
FERGUSON, The start of the school year always makes me feel a little
nostalgic for the friends of my childhood. That feeling has been even stronger this year because of
the changes taking place at my alma mater. Pine Tree's new Middle 5/6 campus
opened a week ago, and the aging building where those classes previously met
at It was the district's main school when the first wing was built in 1932. More wings and a gym were added throughout the 1930s. It was always a beautiful building, but it was old and
failing even when I went to school there some 20 years ago. I understand that time moves on, but I'm still sad that the places where so many of my childhood memories are based will be gone. I wish I had recognized the significance of those days then. I would have taken better notes, maybe even some photos. I drove by the campus this week and was hit with a flood memories. There was the fourth-grade wing, where my teacher, Miss Parks, always signed her name with a heart. I felt so special when she sent me a postcard from her honeymoon that summer. I remember my fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Rash (who also
taught my older brother, Craig), standing beside me, smiling, when she let me
announce the birth of my sister, Sara, to the class. Our school celebrated the Texas Sesquicentennial in the field behind the campus. That's also where we played kickball and Red Rover. Sixth grade was the year I sealed some of my dearest childhood friendships. It was on the field in front of that building that we labored over games of four-square and tetherball; where we told secrets and giggled over crushes. Since we're past the paddling age, I can now freely admit
that my little circle of friends and I sometimes snuck into the gym before
school and during lunch. We'd play hide and seek in the girls locker room, or
— my favorite memory — sing and dance to the Nair "we wear short
shorts" song. I remember Mrs. Harder and Mrs. Mallory, for the smiles and inspiration they dished out along with daily lessons. I remember Terre Dunn — who is now a school board member — coming to the campus to teach us how to mime. (I think it was a Junior League of Longview project.) Today, I understand the value of that exercise, but at the time I was only mortified that I had to wear a leotard while performing my mime routine. I'm sure my math teacher, Mr. Anderson, was a wonderful teacher, but my favorite memory of him had nothing to do with school lessons. It was the way he spoke about his wife. He always called her "True Love." "True Love and I" did this, he would say, or "True Love and I" did that. It was the most romantic thing I'd ever heard, and from
that time forward I aspired to marry a man I could call my True Love. I thought of Mr. Anderson on Wednesday when I celebrated
my ninth wedding anniversary with a man I'm happy to say is my true love,
Longview News-Journal Design Director Randy Ferguson. It makes me sad to think about that campus being gone, about the disappearance of the hallways where so many people have made so many memories. But I can imagine what's happening now at the new campus,
and it's probably not so different from what occurred on Lots of teachers are probably busily mixing in a dose of inspiration while they educate. Undoubtedly, girls are signing notes with promises of "BFF" (Best Friends Forever) or "LYLAS" (Love You Like a Sister.) And there are probably teachers sharing a part of themselves that will come to mean much more to their students than good grades. I hope someone's taking notes. Jo Lee Ferguson is
city editor at the |