Sweet memories from BKW in the 1950s

To the Editor:

Small schools can make for good memories. Here are a few.

Inga Boudreau is a member of the Berne-Knox-Westerlo Class of 1959, as am I. In her Enterprise podcast she invoked the name of Nancy Hayden.

Immediately, I was reminded that my knowledge of punctuation and grammar are limited and without spell check, I am doomed. No doubt the spirit of Nancy Hayden is grading my work from somewhere out there. Both of my children had Nancy as students and both spoke well of her. BKW got lucky when she signed on. She  cast a long shadow.

I have no doubt that Inga can punctuate. She finished near the top of our class, maybe the actual top. Not certain. I did not get anywhere near the top.

OK, I was at the very bottom.

I blame many, including Mark Twain, who believed that you should not let school interfere with your education. Quotes there? No idea. When I myself became a teacher, I put those words on the door of my classroom, but was asked to remove it.

Inga was the youngest of our class. I was second youngest, no prize for second.

I believe we graduated on or before my 17th birthday so my guess is she was 14, or 15. Not even a close contest. My wife laughs at that story; she was among the youngest in her Long Island graduating class of around 600, and also near the top.

Shortly after graduation, I left for four years in the Marines. No doubt Inga was off to college. She did write me a few letters as I traveled much of the globe, and that was much appreciated.

Again, small schools can make for good memories.

Thanks.

Joe Golden

East Berne

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