 Candis Crater (Berge) |
- First of all, to all soon-to-be parents, my advice is to think about the name you choose for that sweet infant as to how it will sound when they are, oh, say 40 years old… and beyond…. That being said, “Candy” doesn’t pass the 40 year old test in my humble opinion. (Not to mention the 67 year old test!) Yes, you may all call me “Candy” at the reunion but if you should want to class it up to “Candis” I will certainly not mind one single bit. Most folks here in the small Minnesota town we have lived in since 1983 call me “Candis” but I can always tell those who knew me before 1983 because “Candy” it is. So be it. Just don’t tell my Facebook friends I was once called Candy….
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- It has been wonderful to read all the memories so far; and the more I read, the more my own memories surface and swirl around… What to share? How to be succinct? Is it even possible for me to not be overly wordy? (Ask my sons, the answer would seem to be “no”, I’m quite sure.)
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- I moved to Basking Ridge in 4th grade, from nearby Harding Township, attending Liberty Corner School. I can still picture where in the building my classroom was and the cafeteria was in the basement, I believe. Miss Melisky? was our teacher, if my memory is correct. I remember Mr. Palmer teaching us the flutophone. I loved that, even though I got in trouble with Miss Melisky because I misplaced parts of my flutophone in my messy schoolbag.
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- We were the fortunate class to enjoy a brand new elementary school for 5th and 6th grades and then again a brand new school at RHS. I remember 5th grade, the Blue Streak in Miss McCartney’s class, and the unique hand washing fountain. In 6th grade we must have had a talent show and I considered trying out singing. I have a distinct memory of being in our classroom before the teacher came in and being encouraged by my classmates to show them what I might sing… I did and got the necessary encouragement to try out. Thank you, classmates, your encouragement that day actually set me on a path of singing, not being afraid to try and believing in myself. I sang “Stupid Cupid” in the talent show (Cheryl Inshaw, did you play the piano for me??); I wore a red silk fabric chemise dress with fringe and twirled long beads around as I sang. Too bad iPhones with movie capabilities were not there then! Or maybe it’s a good thing they were not there…
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- In Miss McCartney’s 5th grade classroom we often played “7 up” – 7 students were up in the front of the classroom and the rest would put their heads down on their desk, their sweet little thumb up and the 7 students would walk around the room and press down the thumb of someone. Then after the 7 students went back to the front of the room, everyone raised their heads and they had a chance to guess who pressed their thumb. If they were correct, they got to go up front as one of the 7 students. Well, I was one of the 7 students once and decided to press the thumb of Ed McGlynn… but I didn’t want to press it soft like a “girl” so I thought I would throw him off the track by being “macho” and pressing HARD. Oh, and guess what! There was a hammer nearby since we were building the “Blue Streak”…. Well, yes, you can see what is coming here. I used the hammer on Ed’s thumb… (I am really sorry Ed!) and DREW BLOOD. I didn’t take into account that he would cheat and open his eyes and see who did that!! And yell “ouch”…. All in all, it was a bad experience and I am surprised that I married a building contractor since I have a certain aversion to hammers. (Miss McCartney had left the room for a few moments when this episode took place. When she returned, she was not impressed. Happily, my parents were never informed.)
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- In 7th grade we had a classmate named Gudrun Haid. She was only with us for that year; a quiet girl whose family had actually escaped from Germany when she was about 5 years old. She came to the US somewhere around 3rd or 4th grade and for her 7th grade year was in our school system. In 1983 we (my husband and 3 young sons) moved to Fergus Falls, Minnesota from Saskatchewan, Canada; previous to living in Canada we lived in Westchester County, New York. At the same time, Gudrun Boe and her family moved to Fergus falls with their young family. She went by the name of “Goodie” and I had met her a few times while living in Westchester County as we were in the same church synod. I did not know her well having only been with her on one or two occasions. Since we moved to the same small town at the same time with children the same age we got together for coffee at her home. Chatting away we discovered the we may know some of the same people in New Jersey as she graduated from West Morris Regional High School and some of my church youth group friends went to that high school. (I went to a church in Chester for a while.) Goodie instructed her daughter to go find her high school yearbook. BY MISTAKE her daughter brought out the blue “Oak Street Jr High Yearbook”…. I immediately recognized it and said “what are you doing with MY junior high yearbook??” Yup, you guessed it. The conversation was soon filled with phrases like “You’re Candy Crater???” and “You’re Gudrun Haid???”… Oh my, oh my. Gudrun and her family and ours have remained close friends for all these years now; her life and story of her family’s escape from East Germany is gripping. I felt a bit ashamed that I did not befriend her well in 7th grade but I hope I have made up for it now.
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- I remember the freedom of free play outdoors in our neighborhoods as so many have mentioned. Skating on Ron Sakele’s pond (remember when Mrs. Talbot(?) (a 6th grade teacher) broke her leg there and had to tell us what to do to get help for her?). Did we do a play called “Fried Eggs and Ham” once? And in Jr. High apparently I will my loud voice to someone in the class below us. Hm.. my hubby would say I still have it though!
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- Music became a big part of the following years with both Mr. Grossman and Mr. Birnbaum playing a significant part of my life: choir, band, musicals (The Pirates of Penzance and The King and I), BAND CAMP was the best part of each summer, twirling and leading the band onto the football field; the big bonfire before the Thanksgiving game with our rivals Bernards High, all fabulous memories.
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- The summer prior to my Junior year I worked in summer stock at the Grist Mill Theatre in Andover, NJ, following what was then my dream career; musical theatre. It was great fun but the realization that the “high” of applause was rather short-lived, I wondered if that career goal was all it was cracked up to be. I came back to RHS feeling a bit too cool for school for a while. Someone invited me to Young Life Club that met weekly at Fay Baikie’s home. Another life changing moment for me as I got my faith squared away and my life took on real meaning.
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- Other memories: sitting on the steps in the hallway after lunch with lots of classmates talking.. our Senior year gymnastics show (see the hysterical comments and drawings that Inge Storberg wrote!).. basketball play-offs… the death of President Kennedy… fire drills and the humidity ruining my hair….the play “You Can’t Take It With You”… Miss Murray’s corvette…. The Christmas eve caroling in the center of the town…
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- After graduating I had little if any contact with classmates until just a few years ago. It was wonderful to re-connect and the internet and Facebook has played such a big part of that. It is a real blessing to contact now as adults putting aside some high school angst and embracing our shared history.
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- One last comment: a song: Sine Nomine. How many remember that was our graduation march song? As a brand new high school, Mr. Birnbaum decided that Sine Nomine would be our graduation march. I played it in the band (baritone saxophone) for three years until it was our time to march to it. I love that song: mostly it is know as “For All the Saints” and I sing it with joy and also with good memories.
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