Eventually, it was time to say goodbye to Harmon and move into our new house in Lowery Hills. After retiring from the Navy, daddy got a job as a diesel Mechanic at Campbell Motors on Lee Highway which was where the Falls (exit 5) are now. He let his hair grow out and he looked like Sonny Bono.
My brother and I went to High Point Elementary, our third school in one year. I must have had the meanest third grade teacher alive. She made me cry almost every day. Moving around so much had put me a little behind in school and this teacher was mad, I guess, because she had to spend so much time to help me catch up. She even threatened to hold me back a grade. I don’t know what changed her mind but she let me move on, probably because she got tired of me crying or maybe she retired. She was pretty old (or it seemed to me she was). By the time I went to fourth grade, everything was fine. I went from having the meanest teacher to having the nicest teacher, Miss Sorah.
I was a little shy back then, mostly because I had moved around so much and also because I was so small. I don’t remember ever not being the shortest person in my class. Other kids would give me a hard time about it. “Why are you so short?” Sometimes it would bother me and sometimes it wouldn’t but I was always self-conscious. One day in the fourth grade we were taking turns spelling words out loud. Wouldn’t you know that when it was my turn, my word was shrimp. Of course, everyone laughed, even my sweet teacher. I brushed it off and spelled the word correctly, but I’ll never forget how embarrassed I was.
My brother and I absolutely loved living in Lowry Hills because there were kids everywhere. Recently, my mom and I drove around the old neighborhood. Our house was in the very back next to a vacant, wooded lot that is still there today. We were always building forts in those woods. We had hammers and nails and old rugs we had confiscated from our parent’s garages. I would sweep the paths with an old broom and swing on the huge vines. I don’t know how we didn’t get hurt or end up covered in poison ivy rashes, but we didn’t. The worst thing that happened to me was when my brother and I were playing King of the Mountain. He pushed me and I broke my wrist when I fell backwards.
Brother came home once smelling of cigarette smoke. Mom lit into him and he finally admitted that he and his friend picked up some cigarette butts on the road and smoked them. First of all, gross! Second, he should have known that mom had a nose like a hound and would find out. She was relentless too. She would not let up until you confessed everything and then some just so she would leave you alone. My father gave my brother a pocketknife one time and didn’t tell mom. When she found it she had Kenny all tore up and had him convinced that he stole it!
The house across the street from us had this old Basset Hound and she was the sweetest. Every day we would visit her and play with her. I loved her unlike the Irish Setter that lived down the street that was mean. I was on my way to visit my best friend Mary when it caught site of me and chased me around the cars in the driveway while I screamed bloody murder.
Mary and her brothers lived a couple of doors down from us. All the kids on our street met at their house to catch the bus for school. We would play games like Red Rover or Dodgeball on the driveway next door because it didn’t have any cars on it. We would be all sweaty by the time the bus came to pick us up and cart us off to school. Unlike kids today, we were always outside. We didn’t have cable or video games so outside was the most fun.
Our mothers would pack our lunches so that Mary and I could go exploring during the summers. I still can smell my white lunchbox with Woodstock on it. You know that smell. They all had it. One time, we ran across some teenage boys in the woods that were up to no good. I thought they were nice because they were being extra nice to us. I didn’t have sense enough to tell my parents but Mary did, thank goodness.
One of my best memories is swimming at the Springlake Swim and Tennis Club. Boy, did we have fun there. Our moms would drop us off and Mary and I would hang out all day long. If we were lucky our moms gave us money for the snack bar which had the best cheeseburgers that you ever put in your mouth. KC and The Sunshine Band was real popular which was pretty cool since those were my initials. We would put quarters in the jukebox and play Shake Your Bootie and would laugh and laugh. We didn’t know anything about the sun being harmful and sunscreen certainly wasn’t a thing back then. I don’t remember ever having a sunburn but I do remember being very dark by the end of the summer and my hair would be almost blonde.
In 1975 Jaws was released in the theaters. My mother took my brother and I to the old Cameo Theater in downtown Bristol. I was so scared as was my brother. We both ended up in her lap before the movie was over. That was one of the first movies I ever went to that I can remember.
Karen G. Bruce 