by Janet Shell Peterson, June 2, 2008
My name is Janet Shell Peterson. My mom, dad, sister and I moved to Park Forest in 1952. I was just one year old, so I really have no recollection of that. When it was time for me to go to kindergarten, I was assigned to Room 15 at Lakewood Elementary School. I have forgotten my teacher's name but she was very nice to all us kids.
The next year, I got a really mean, horrible teacher and I remember several parents banded together to try to get her fired! Mrs. Stringham in second grade was great! She had a "magpie" row near the window for the kids who talked too much. I ended up there for a while! For third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, I went to Dogwood Elementary. My fourth grade teacher was another meanie, and she used to threaten to smack hands with a ruler if you put the word "and" in a number, ie one hundred and sixty two. The legend with my fifth grade teacher was that her husband either fell or drove off of Starved Rock. Maybe, maybe not. My all-time best teacher in the whole world was Miss Betty Schniepp-sixth grade at Dogwood. She made learning come alive for all of us kids. I will never forget her. I understand she passed away recently. Fast-forward through Westwood Junior High School, as I must have been a rebellious young adolescent...spent many an hour in the office in trouble with Mr. Charland!
The most vivid memory was the day President Kennedy was killed. Us kids had gotten wind of what happened during lunchtime. The next period following lunch, I was in art class with Mr. Nuzzo when the principal came on the loud speaker to announce that JFK was dead.
I attended Rich East from 1965-1969. My most memorable teacher there was Mr. Patrick Walsh. He was truly amazing, and he made me believe in myself more than any other teacher in District 163!
I am a 24 year veteran teacher here in Kentucky, and I use the above-mentioned teachers (good and bad) as a guide for my professional life. My sister and I spent many afternoons and evenings at the Aquacenter. As I remember, she used to torture me by making me stay there with her late into the evening although I was freezing cold and really tired. But who could forget how good those ice cream sandwiches tasted after hours of swimming in those wonderful pools?
Going to the Holiday Theatre was a big treat each and every Saturday afternoon. Of course, we would stand in line for our turn in the Karmel Korn first. The line usually snaked down by Bramson's (fancy)clothing store, but when our turn finally came, it was the greatest fun carefully choosing candy for the show. You would get a small brown bag, and could usually get candy, blue-green gumball called Sputniks, chum gum, bulls eyes, those little candy dots on a strip of paper, those waxy red lips or buck teeth, those waxy tubes with juice in them, a box of the saltiest pumpkin seeds ever made, and last but not least, FIREBALLS! My sister like the pixie stix, but they were too sour for me! Now and then, our mom would let us go to the Chuckwagon at Marshall Field's for lunch. I really loved that.
Our summer days were filled with playing house, dress up, Mother May I, and hula hoops with other court children. When school was about to start, we would get a postcard in the mail telling what school and room we were assigned to. My Dad would always walk us and the other neighborhood kids to school to peer into the windows to get a mental head start on our school life for the upcoming year. My sister was assigned to Forest Blvd School, and her third grade classroom was one of the bedrooms of a townhouse there. She loved It! I really loved growing up in Park Forest.
Janet Shell Peterson peterj051551 at yahoo.com.
