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Those were remarkable years at U.City High. Especially memories of Augusta Gottlieb, turning slowly back and forth, eyeglasses tucked in her hand, gently smiling, drawing us out to exchange thoughts and observations; Charles Procasky, towering above the keyboard, thundering out directives, who gave us the amazing transcendent flights of singing in concert; Wesley Kettlekamp, who ended only at "a logical stopping place", never at the mere clanging of a bell; Ed Menges, who patiently taught the skills of drawing and painting, showed us that there was aesthetic value and excellence, mystery though it be. Washington U. followed graduation as naturally as Hanley had followed Flynn Park for me. I was living still at home, and many were the familiar U. City faces that I saw on the walks and in the classrooms of the Hilltop: a comfortable setting. But I had no clear vision for my future; so I paused a year and joined the Army Reserve, a stint that turned out well enough (when I was discharged, luckily, on the eve of LBJ' s big call up of reservists for Viet Nam). Meanwhile, I returned to campus with an enthusiastic desire to invest my learning time in what I truly enjoyed: that was history, mainly European, especially Ancient and Medieval. And here I began a second round of Latin courses, which eventually seduced me into full-scale graduate study of Classics. At Washington U. I met, Elizabeth Hellberg (a Cleveland High grad and WU math major), who was to become my wife in 1963. We've been together now for 43 years. After we married, we played educational leapfrog around the country, taking turns teaching for the money and getting graduate degrees. We lived in four different places, three states from 1963-69 (Cornell for Classics doctorate, 1966-69), until I began my full-time teaching career in Ohio. It was there that our only child, Katrin, was born in 1971. In 1975 we returned to U. City, and bought a home on Pershing, about a block from the little house in which I'd grown up. Our daughter even attended that same good ole Flynn Park. I began a very long career in the Parkway Schools, six different schools in twenty-six years, teaching Latin and occasionally history. They were very rewarding years. At times I taught the children of friends and acquaintances from my U.City past, occasionally met colleagues from U.City too. |