[GH85Carrera]

I never went to a single air conditioned school. I went to 11 different schools and not one had AC. Heck the schools in Hawaii did not have heat! That sounds funny to complain about but it does get to low 60s and 50s on occasion. Try to sit in a chair for an hour in a 58 degree room with no coat. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Honolulu is 52 degrees, marked on Jan. 20, 1969. I was there for that. Our house was not heated and it we did not have much for blankets. We finally loaded up in the car and drove around with the heater on high.

I was there when Hawaii became a state. It is one of my earliest memories. We lived there from 1959 to 1962 and 1967 to 1970.

No doubt the biggest culture shock was going from Radford High in Hawaii to Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, AL. At Radford as a 10th grader we had one hour and 5 minutes for lunch. We could go anywhere at all as long as we were back for the next class. We moved to Montgomery and for lunch the bell rang and no joke, the teacher lead us to the lunch room like first graders. I had to sit at a certain table. After I ate I figured I would go look around at the school. A teacher blocked the door. We were not allowed to leave the cafeteria and we had just 25 minutes.

The boys were allowed to smoke in the bathrooms on all three floors. If I did not get in there and finish peeing in short order I could not see the door through the thick smoke. Really! The girls could only smoke in the second floor bathroom. I betgged the principal for just one smoke free bathroom but he refused.