From Junior High to High School

In 9th Grade, I entered LHS - Longmeadow High School, home of the Lancers. I became less outgoing. I did not fool around as much. It was not ladylike to do so and Mother wanted me to act like a lady! Inwardly, I still wanted to be a tomboy, climb trees, hitch rides, bum a ride on the milk truck and just have my kind of fun. Most of my friends were still in Springfield and I used to wish that we, too, lived there. But I was in high school and would make the best of it. My brother was a senior, but we did not really mingle, although I did know his friends. I became active in several clubs and even participated in a ping pong tournament and was a winner! I really don't look back that fondly on my high school days; I think I was too busy studying, trying to get good grades to please my parents, rather than just having a lot of fun. Perhaps that is why as a parent I welcomed the opportunity for my kids to participate in many activities and to have many friends. At the end of my sophomore year, my folks decided I should apply to and go to MacDuffie to finish up my schooling. Amazingly, looking back I really don't remember having a say in this decision. It was just decided that I should go and I went. In those days, MacDuffie was a highly sought after school; it was all girls and very rigorous. I was accepted and spent my last two years of high school there, studying, studying and studying!!! It was much harder than public school. In those days, the boarders were the ones who truly felt connected to the school; the dayhops, the ones who commuted, were not. Right after school, we would get into a car and go home, so we really were not active in anything that took place after school. My memories of those two years are rather dim ones; maybe that is because I didn't choose to dwell on them. In the summer after my junior year, I went to Switzerland with a friend of mine from Springfield, Sunny Blum. We stayed in Neuchatel and later in Gstaad and had a wonderful time! The girls were from all over the world and French was our common language. I had an amazing time. The only problem was that I lived on apples and water and came back home about 20 pounds thinner. Today they probably would have said that i was anorexic, but in those days, who knew? I thought I looked great, but later when I looked at some of the pictures of me, I realized just how thin I looked. When I arrived home and we sat down to dinner, my father slammed his fist on the table, looked at me and implored, "You shall eat!" ...and eat I did...who wanted his wrath visited upon me? During my senior year, I became quite ill with mono and was confined to bed for about 9 weeks!!! I did manage to finish up the school year and did okay and finished graduating near the top of my class. I remember I would study so hard to catch up that one day my mother came into my room, opened up one of my windows and threw all of my book out into the snow!!! Interestingly, when I think about it, I realize that I felt so much closer with the kids with whom I attended public school than with those from MacDuffie. Just recently, I had occasion to visit some of my Longmeadow High classmates and had a delightful time. The years just slipped away!

During my high school years, I don't remember communicating that much with my parents. My mother was busy with social events, playing bridge, sisterhood meetings at the temple and congregating with her friends. Sometimes, my mother and I would go shopping. We would travel to Connecticut to go to Loehmanns or go downtown to Steigers, the Arkay Shop, Peerless, Muriels or Forbes and Wallace. Upstairs in Forbes and Wallace was the Halls Gallery, where we would have lunch. Everyone was well dressed. You would never find anyone in slacks or jeans (dungarees in those days!). Actually, sometimes I would take the bus and go downtown with my girlfriends. I remember going to the Frances Shop, where I had sleepers put on my ears so that I would have pierced ears. The sleepers would stay on my ears for many days until they eventually made holes.

My dad was a workaholic and was usually either at work or on the phone at home. Invariably, my dad would come home late for dinner and my mother would not be happy. She would sit in the den, in a rocking chair and do her knitting and crocheting. When my father did arrive,it was then I would emerge from upstairs, join them at the table and have dinner. During the weekends, I hung out with some friends. My folks, brother and I did not really take family day trips; instead,we would take major ones during April vacation. I used to look with envy at my friends and neighbors who would be busy with their parents on weekends. They would go skiing, perhaps play golf, or engage in some other type of activity. Each day of the weekend, my dad would leave and go to play golf with his friends. He and my mother belonged to Crestview Country Club and that became their social hangout. It was not until I was a married woman that I really established a relationship with my folks. Maybe they were just more comfortable with adult children; who knows?

While in high school, I was asked to join a sorority - it was the popular sorority, Iota Phi. Looking back I remember how ridiculous it was! The pledgees wore little ribbons to signify they were not yet inducted into the group and they had to pay homage to those who were. We met in the basements of people's homes and had to memorize our creed. If we didn't do something that was asked of us, we would get demerits. I still remember when I was a bonafide member and different names of gals were brought up to be considered for induction. Those gals were verbally torn apart and some were blackballed and prevented from joining. They were not at those meetings, but certainly found out later and feelings were hurt and hearts were broken.It was at that point that I decided to drop out of the sorority. To this day, women still talk about their not being asked to join and so they joined a different sorority. There were so many cliques back then! I still remember the fraternities and sororities would have dances and it was very important to one's identity to be asked. Of course most of the members lived in Springfield so they knew each other quite well. But since I was in a sorority, I did mingle with those kids.

When I was in 10th grade, my brother went off to college. Recently I asked him why he chose to go to Western reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Not that it was a bad school; it's just that there were so many closer to home. He told me that he had no say in the matter. My dad had heard about the school, it was a good school with a nice reputation, it did not cost that much to attend,and we had cousins in the area. So my brother applied there and was accepted. Actually, Jeff is and was extremely bright so I am sure he would have gotten into many other schools if he had applied. I did go to Cleveland, visited my brother and went on a date with one of his friends, Lou. I had a marvelous time!

When I was ready to apply to colleges, it was decided that I should apply to Chatham College, a small private girls' school in Pittsburgh, PA. My folks really wanted me to go to an all girls school. I really don't remember thinking too much about it. They told me it was a great place, we had cousins in the area, our headmaster liked it, so to Chatham I went. I gotta say that it was a horrible experience! The girls were not very welcoming; they were very "Junior Leaguish" and I did not feel comfortable. Socially, though, I was invited out by our brother school, Washington and Jefferson and attended many fraternity parties. While at Chatham, I became ill, landed in the hospital and eventully left school. I had surgery in Boston, finished my year at AIC and then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania where I was very happy.