Jim Clifford got slapped, but not Sandi Pennar

Trailboss Stan,
As the slug class president, I am exceedingly grateful for the blog. It's really fun when something comes up.

I do have a new question to pose to the 65'ers. In first or second grade at Washington, I recall that there was a set of triplets in our class. I can't for the life of me remember their names or even be sure they existed since I think they disappeared even before I got transferred to Lincoln. All I can think of are Hughie, Dewey and Louie, and I'm pretty sure that wasn't their names. I'd be interested to find out if anyone else remembers them.
Paul Strandberg

Here's your answer, Paul

Jim Clifford (see his bio in the 65Roundup archives) spotted Paul's question, above, and sent us this note. Then Sandi Pennar Bonesteel added her comment, below. The name of one of the teachers has been changed to Ethel, just in case. Pennar mistakenly thought she had the same teacher. Thanks for an interesting exchange, classmates.

Clifford writes:
The triplets were the Christiansen (sp?) brothers, Darrel, Donnie and ??? (Starts with a D, possibly Duane). I remember them as kind if impish little kids who smiled a lot. My memory of them is stuck in about second grade with Mrs. Sather (great teacher) and 3rd grade with Ms. Stoltz (sp?) who was also very nice.
How was I to know, given the kind treatment I'd received from these two, that the beast who awaited me was none other than "Ethel!" Ethel, as some might recall, was a large woman with grey hair and a genuine mole on her face, complete with protruding hair. Ethel was not a college graduate type teacher, but went the short "teacher's college" route. I think it was her overwhelming personality defects that were her primary deficiencies.
I forgo any criticism of the unnamed college, because you can't make chicken salad out of chicken ----! One of the things I recall about Ethel was that she slapped me several times. Only later was I to learn, from Sister Mary M., that there is slapping, and then there is nun slapping. In trying to quantify the difference, my mind goes toward calibers of weapons, say, a .22 and a 50 caliber machine gun round.

Ethel also would occasionally ask all the Catholic kids to stand, and say "one of your prayers." We always did, and attempted the Lord's Prayer, only to have her say, "not that one, the one about the Virgin Mary." So we said a Hail Mary, much to her apparent amusement. I'd love to find out if anyone else remembers this. I swear, this one is not drug induced, or caused by any form of dementia! I know Jim McPhee remembers this. I seem to recall Chris McCabe being in that class, as well as Terry Prine (Wonder where he is). I think Gillespie was still in "country school", and only joined us at St. Mary's -- but I could be wrong about that.

New subject
My ex-wife, Lavonne Andress, nee, Feda, lives in Edina, and still flys for Northwest. Her husband is also a flight attendant. She has two kids, not with me. We were divorced in December 1975, during my last month in my last year of law school. One never knows when the glue will fail! I spoke with her the day before her birthday last year and wished her well. She sounded very happy, and I am pleased that she is. I do not know how to get ahold of her, except she is in the Minneapolis phone book.

Sandi Pennar Bonesteel thinks she had Ethel
(The Trailboss changed the name of Jim Clifford's before posting it. Sandi Pennar Bonesteel read the post and figured she knew Ethel. It sounded like a Fifth Grade teacher she had at Washington. Apparently there were a few hated teachers there, because Jim and Sandi are talking about two different teachers. Read the rant:)

Pennar writes:
I too, had been treated well by previous teachers, and I also had Mrs. Sather for 2nd and Mrs. Stoltz for 3rd--then for 4th was Mrs. Madsen. I had always enjoyed school and absolutely ADORED my teachers...until "Ethel"!
I now found myself hating school, as she was stern and mean spirited, where the other teachers had always been warm and kind. She could never be pleased, no matter how hard one tried. I was completely thrown off guard, never knowing what to expect.
At that age I was shy, well-behaved, and what you would call a low maintenance student, almost invisible. I respected my teachers and did what I was told to do, and had yet to see the inside of the dreaded Principal's Office. I think she found some fault in every student, and even a little mouse like me wasn't safe in her classroom.

Never got slapped around like Clifford
I was (and still am) left-handed, and she was determined to break me of "that habit". Prior to this, I never knew I had a problem! In fact, my teachers had always complimented me on my penmanship. I did, however hold the pencil in the typical lefties 'backhanded" postion, and had a slight left slant to my cursive writing, and chunky loopy letters. However neat and legible, it just wouldn't do! She tried to change it by having me keep my left hand in my lap and insisted on that I write with the right. She would hover over me as I struggled. (I don't recall slapping---maybe that was reserved for the hardcore students like Clifford!)
By this age, it is a bit difficult to "rewire" your brain! This is not an easy task, to be able to master the correct grip on the pencil, let alone achieve anything remotely close to legibility. I hated my sloppy writing which looked like something a preschooler would do! I just couldn't win. Add this frustration to trying to maintain and stay on course with the daily lessons. It would have taken me months to get it right and she had no patience. I felt doomed and was not coping well (I had a multitude of "schoolitis" complaints---stomach ache, headache---anything to stay home)
Luckily, my dad picked up on it and came to my rescue. Back then, teachers weren't questioned, and your parents usually sided with the teacher, and it wasYOU who was in trouble. It didn't do much good to complain, so I had kept this to myself, accepting it as the way it was. But this was such a big change in me, that my dad knew something was up. He spoke to either her or the Principal, and she got off my back, and didn't find anything else to pick at for the rest of the term.
However, she had partially succeeded, as I now don't hold the pen in the leftie manner, and my handwriting doesn't have the leftie slant, but I am still left-handed! Whenever someone compliments me on my handwriting, ("beautiful--for a leftie") I think of her. I guess she deserves some credit.