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Posts published by “Jean Swearingen”

Looking Back, Part 9

My mother, like her four older sisters in Tennessee (one of whom, the 2nd grade teacher in Carthage, claimed as one of her most well-known students former vice-president Al Gore, Jr.), was, in the words…

Looking Back, Part 8

My parents, along with my third grade teacher, Miss Wright, highly encouraged me to read as many books as I could during my “leisure time” (when I was not engaged in those other extracurricular activities…

Looking Back, Part 7

My third grade year in Boonville was by far the most memorable of all three of the years that I lived there with my family, due, in large part, to my teacher, Miss Donna Wright.…

Looking Back, Part 5

My 2nd grade year in Mrs. Hickey’s class (the only one of my first four years in school during which my mother did not teach the same grade that I was attending) was no more…

Looking Back, Part 4

Since I did not attend Kindergarten, I had not yet learned to read when I began my 1st grade year in Mrs. Tuttle’s class. My brother, being in 7th grade, ever the helpful mentor, decided…

Looking Back, Part 3

One of the first lessons that my mother learned as a beginning teacher in Boonville in 1956 was to become friendly with as many of the staff at the elementary school as possible in the…

Looking Back, Part 2

We reached the top of the cliff, and the blue Pacific spread like infinity before us. “The ocean, the ocean!” the children cried, springing from their seats in delight. There was no place for a…

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