SCHOOL_DAZE
RITZMAN GRADE SCHOOL YEARS: 1954-1960

Kindergarden: I remember really liking Mrs. EVANS...she was a very nice teacher. Recess, snack time and spreading our towels on the floors to take an afternoon nap come to mind...

First Grade: Mrs. ROSS...another favorite teacher.

Third Grade: One morning before class began, someone near me told a joke. Immediately after I heard the punchline, the bell rang. I was laughing loudly and Mrs. RULEY reprimanded me by rapping my knuckles with an 18 inch ruler !??? Being punished for being happy??? I didn't understand...it was not like I interrupted her...???!!!

Fourth Grade: I painted a picture of a crocodile (alligator?) and the Art teacher thought it was VERY good...{:-) It ended up hanging in the Principal's Office...don't remember what happpened to it after that...??? I also began taking piano lessons that year. Mrs. McCLELLAND was my teacher.

Fifth Grade: I became a Red Cross Monitor...attended the weekly meetings and brought the topics back to my class afterwards. Our class was split down the middle: Mrs. REICHENBAUGH taught Fifth AND Sixth grades. We did homework while she taught Sixth Grade and vice versa...learned a LOT that year.

Sixth Grade: Again a split class. I was one of three artists (Linda DAVID, Karen BOEHM and myself) who drew/painted all the class murals. The Art Teacher: Mrs. X: Long white hair, dark red-orange lipstick, tailored dark suits and black hairpins in her white hair...a real Harpy. Smoked and reeked of that foul smoke. We knew more about color than she did !...We drew a mural about the South American Gauchos(Sixth Grade) and North American Cowboys(Fifth Grade)...lots of horses. The teacher had us repaint the horses so many times that they all ended up a muddy black/brown color...we were MAD ! I began taking violin lessons that year. HATED IT ! That continuous high pitch sound close to my ears DROVE ME CRAZY ! Mrs MARTZ was our Music Teacher. She had taught both my older brothers (Dan & Bill), so my name was Dan/Bill/Paul for five of the six years !...When I finally proved to the Violin Teacher that I DIDN"T LIKE THE VIOLIN...I'd always "forget" to bring it to school. He eventually got angry with me and got very upset with my lack of effort...I was crying and RELIEVED at the same time. That ended my violin lessons. Two weeks later, Mrs. MARTZ said..."You have such long fingers...why not try the Cello?"...So I started Cello lessons. The Cello lasted 7 years! I began to play Cello in the Akron School System's Annual "May Festival Orchestra". I'm on at least three records, as they recorded the Festivals. I was 12th chair in Sixth Grade and 6th chair the next year. After that, I switched to singing in the Choir until my Junior year in high school. I was still taking piano lessons from Mrs. CLELLAND a very gentle black woman, who played piano very well. I remember her curved fingers (that was a MUST for playing piano well) and have always stressed that to my piano students. I learned a LOT from her.

Throughout our 6 years of grade school, at recess time, on sunny days, Linda, Karen and myself were always pretending to be horses and running ALL OVER the large playground...but we ALL wanted to be the Alpha Stallion...so we always had three separate herds of "horses": other kids would follow us around and occasionally all three herds ended up together, whinnying like crazy and LOVING the feel of wind on our faces!

The school had two sets of swings...one set was very tall and had long chains, the other had shorter chains. The more energetic kids, myself included, liked to climb up the end support bars until we could reach both bars and shimmy to the top of the bars...or see how high we could swing...I usually swung higher that anyone, so high that I'd be horizontal at the apex of the arc...

We had what we called "Monkey Bars"...a metal horizontal ladder supported by a vertical ladder on each end...my arms were rather long, so I could reach every other bar and get across in record time. We usually had "timed" races and I usually won.

We had a basketball court with six hoops, one on each end and two on each side.

We had a large field and baseball diamond in one corner of the field. My sixth year, I was playing baseball with the other kids. When it was my turn to bat, I let a friend, Dana BRYANT, "pitch-hit" for me and I was going to run the bases. Even though Dana was taller than I was, I could run faster than the all other kids in my class. Dana was left handed and I neglected to take that into consideration...he was swinging the bat from left to right and I began running from behind him on his right side. He began his swing which caused his bat to meet my forehead. I blacked out. I eventually came to as I was being loaded into an ambulance. They took xrays at the hospital. I must have been ok because they let me go home that day. A large lump covered half of my forehead and the area around my left eye turned a stunning shade of black & blue. I knew then that I never wanted to repeat that "performance" again !

We also had a large paved section wherein we could play "Four Square" with a basketball...LOVED that game: Four kids...one per quarter of a square. We bounced the ball and hit it into one of the remaining three quarters trying to get the others to miss the ball. If they did, another kid would take their place. ! I was also adept at that game. I could usually stay in my square longer than most kids.

HYRE JR. HIGH SCHOOL YEARS: 1961-1963
1961(Age:13):7th Grade:
  • Mr. ? :Wood Shop

    Miss GOSEN was my favorite teacher. She had long black hair worn in the style of Elizabeth TAYLOR in "Cleopatra"...she wore colorful clothes and elaborate earrings...and was very "Bohemian" when compared to all the other teachers...Linda DAVID, Karen BOEHM and I were her "shining stars" because of our previous art experience at Ritzman...we had a double class period three days a week. LOVED IT !

    Mr. TOTH was from Czechoslovakia and was somehow associated earlier with the Olympics as a Gymnast. He introduced hiself as Mr. TOHDT. When he read off my name the first day, he said "Paul ROHDT!" (long "O")...I said, "that's ROTH (RAWTH), sir"...to which he replied, "That's what I said...ROHDT!" Since there as only one letter in our surnames that was different: TOTH-ROTH, I was Paul ROHDT for the next three years !!!

    Mrs. GOODMAN, God Bless her, had trouble remembering which class she was teaching...She'd come into the classroom for English and begin speaking in Spanish and vice versa. She reminded me of my grandmother in appearance.

    Mr. ELEY was a quiet, tall, thin man...sort of a "Mr. ROGERS" type. I liked him. There was one other cello player...Larry BLALOCK, a tall, thin, intelligent, devout Baptist who as always trying to "convert me". I was a "Heathen Presbyterian" ...we had many heated discussions about religion. It was impossible for me to stay away from him since he sat next to me in Orchestra! For some reason, he never seemed to believe that I was happy with my religious beliefs. He found my website, much to my surprise, and apologized for being so adamant in his beliefs back then. He says he's mellowed out quite a bit since then and more tolerant of other people's beliefs...{:-)

    1962(Age:14):8th Grade:
    1963 (Age:15):What would have been my "lowly" Freshman year at High School ended up being my early "Upper Classman" experience while at Hyre!:
    ELLET SR. HIGH SCHOOL YEARS: 1964-1966
    1964(Age:16) :Sophomore:

    Since I had signed up for the orchestra because of my playing cello in Jr. High School, I had to raise fuss when the school administration wouldn't let me also sign up for choir, as well...God Forbid I should have TOO MANY elective classes ! I was also surprised and disappointed to discover that I was to be in Symphonic Choir instead of A Capella Choir...I was in the school choirs all through grade and jr. high schools...???

  • 1965(Age:17):Junior:

    Sally THOMPSON, the daughter of Rev. Ralph THOMPSON of the North Springfield United Presbeterian Church (the church I attended while growing up in Ellet; also wherein I was baptized), and also a good friend of mine, was seated in the first chair in the first row as you enter the Chemistry room and I was seated in the first chair in the last row farthest from the door. One day Mr. SMETTS told us to read the chapter in our chemistry books, about "Acids, Bases and Salts"...within one or two hearbeats of his last spoken word, Sally and I leaned over in our seats, looked at each other, smiled and began chanting : "ACIDS !, BASES ! AND SALTS ! OH MY!!" over and over again until the whole class was chanting with us. {:-) We were paraphrasing Judy Garland in "The Wizard Of OZ"..."LIONS ! TIGERS ! AND BEARS ! OH MY !!" Mr. SMETTS couldn't help but smile. He let us go on for a minute and then said : "OK...OK...settle down, kids..that's enough."

    1966(age:18):Senior
    Graduation Photo
    Patty URBAN & I pre=Prom. Patty was the Senior Class Valedictorian
    Paul in Ellet High School Graduation Cap & Gown

    Miss LaDonna KOLEDIN was of the opinion that there was no such animal as American Literature..."The ONLY REAL literature was English Liturature." For my term paper, I wrote about Elizabethan clothing and drew several illustrations with colored pencils...She loved my drawing of Henry VIII. I got a B+. She was also of the opinion that a term paper should be written by typing EACH and EVERY sentence separately on a small strip of paper, so you could ARRANGE them PROPERLY before typing it out for the final version...most of us thought that was simply EXTRA WORK, so some of us didn't hand in the strips/sentences of paper. Had I done that, I would have received an "A+"...

    Here is a school related story told to me by Larry BLALOCK (former Jr. High Orchestra mate : Cello):

    Ahmed TAHIR's "near death" experience with LaDonna KOLEDIN

    [Ahmed played the violin in the school orchestra.] Ellet High is shaped like the letter C. The inside corners let you see from one classroom to another when the weather is very dark outside. My mechanical drawing class faced LaDonna KOLEDIN's English class, and my drawing table was near the window. My teacher was out of the room and I was bored, so I walked over to the window, and whom did I see in Miss KOLEDIN's class but Ahmed. I have always been able to make Ahmed laugh. He didn't see me. I wondered what would happen if I could make him laugh in Miss KOLEDIN's class. That was my mistake. For no particular reason I stuck my tongue out and waved my hands like moose antlers at him. He did not notice. Everbody was looking at Miss KOLEDIN.

    Suddenly he glanced out the window and saw me! His whole body shook. He burst out laughing uncontrollably. His mouth was wide open and his face turned red. I know this is physically impossible, but it looked like his whole body rose up several inches from his desk and settled back down. Ahmed started shaking like jelly. And he didn't stop! He kept on shaking and laughing loudly and vigourously.

    My whole life passed before my eyes. (Well not really, but I was petrified with fear.) I immediately ran back to my desk so anyone else looking out the window wouldn't see me. I fully expected to see Miss K's portly form rushing to the window to stare daggers at me before my execution. I waited in breathless dread casting furtive glances at the window. He was still laughing! Where was Miss K?

    Then the horrible truth dawned upon me. She was coming to the Mechanical Drawing classroom. In mere moments I would probably be beaten to death with her cane or her viscious tongue, the former death being preferable. I thought about running away. Could I join the Marines before she got here? Or take the bus to Canada? I had only moments to escape until Mr VINCIGUERRA, the boys counsellor, arrived with her, and they assigned me permanent detention and "frames" for life (remember those English workbooks?)

    I waited in fear. It is amazing all the dreadful things you can imagine in a few minutes. I waited and waited and glanced out the window. Ahmed was still laughing uncontrollably. And I kept waiting... but nothing. She never came. She never went to the window. Nothing happened. What could be going on? I glanced over to the window during the remaining 20 minutes of the school day, and Ahmed laughed continuously for the rest of the class! His mouth was open a little less, but he was still shaking and laughing out loud in LaDonna KOLEDIN's class! How could this be? Didn't anyone notice? How could they not notice? What was happening? I was totally baffled.

    Immediately after class Ahmed ran around the corner and rushed down the hallway to me and yelled, "Don't you ever, ever do anything like that again. I nearly died in there. Don't do it ever again. Please, please promise you won't do it again. Promise!" "Okay", I promised. And he told me what happened. Ahmed was both angry and laughing as he told me.

    LaDonna KOLEDIN had just told one of her boring English literature jokes at the very moment Ahmed saw me. When she reached the punchline, he burst out laughing. LaDonna looked over at him and smiled. She was so pleased that someone finally laughed at one of her jokes that she never considered another explanation.

    It would have been great had it ended there. If only poor Ahmed had been able to quit laughing, everything would have been fine. But when Ahmed realized what had happened, and why we had gotten away with it, the twisted irony was too much for him, so he laughed harder. Soon other students were looking at him funny as if there were something wrong with him. That made him laugh more, because he couldn't tell anybody why he was laughing. Then even LaDonna KOLEDIN started looking at him funny. ("My joke wasn't THAT funny, boys and girls. What's the matter with this student?") The irony of all these different layers of misperception overwhelmed him, and Ahmed kept laughing. He knew all this but couldn't tell anyone. The painful thing was that nobody confronted Ahmed to put an end to his misery. Nobody dares speak in Miss KOLEDIN's class, so poor Ahmed sat there suffering in silence... no, not silence, just isolation. Ahmed was anything but silent.

    This is a true story, Paul, and it really happened just as I told it and as Ahmed told it to me."

    A Gym Class story: All the jocks would make it a habit of snapping the backsides of the less muscular gym mates with wet towels after taking showers. I was no exception, being 6' 1 & 1/2" tall and weighing in at 145#...we geeks Stoicly endured the abuse. Until one day in summer when Mr. VINCEGUERRA had us all run the 440m and 880m races on the running track. I managed to beat everyone, including the class track star in the 440! AND I was .6 of a second under my brother, Dan's school record in the 440! Dan graduated in 1957 and no-one had broken that record run. You can imagine how happy I was at that achievement! Tim MOY, our class Football Star, came up to me, clapped me on the back and said "Great Job!" After that day, I was exempt from towel snapping as apparently, Tim had spread the word to the other jocks to leave me alone!!! How happy was I?!

    Then came the 880...twice around the track. This time I barely made it and was breathing so hard, that I thought I was going to pass out! I couldn't get enough air and the world was spinning around me! I had to lie down on the grass until my breathing returned to normal. You can bet I would NEVER run the 880 again!!

    Had I not had my best friend, Dale BECKETT, as a lab partner, I would not have passed Physics...Once I could SEE the lab applications in operation, I could understand the process, but simply READING about it just didnt sink in.

    Senior Year Musical: "My Fair Lady": Double Cast (Mr. THOMAS promised the lead female part to two girls...Patsy KURA and Charlene BALL. Second Cast: after the / )