My first memories of any type of organized school are in Gitmo. Kindergarten in 1963 and in the Fall of 1964 I started First Grade at the Sampson Elementary School run by the DoD.\u00a0 My Teacher was Mrs Dunbar.\u00a0 She had black hair and read to us from the “See Spot” type reading pamphlets they gave to us.Gitmo<\/p>\n
The school had the old fashioned individual student wood desk and chair sets.\u00a0 The kind everyone scratched up and had the cavernous open storage shelf right under the top.\u00a0 You were a lucky one if you get get your arms all the way in there to touch the very front piece of wood.\u00a0 The matching wooden chair came with two horizontal, curved slats on the back for support.<\/p>\n
Back support.\u00a0 Not to be used as a necklace…\u00a0 At some point and for whatever kid reasoning was prevalent on that particular day, I turned my head sideways and stuck it through the two slats from the back of the chair.![\"two](\"http:\/\/johnkilgallon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/two-chairs.jpg\")
<\/a> I learned then that my ears will lay flat going through, but the backs would flap out and prevent any rearward attempts to remove my head from the chair back. After being cautioned to quit trying to yank my head out my tears started flowing.\u00a0 Thoughts of not being able to go home or having to eat with a chair forever around my neck filled my head.\u00a0 Mrs. Dunbar shushed me and helped me walk through the school to the playground where she was met by a man in khaki shirt, shorts and ball cap. He was carrying a saw! It was a hack saw, exactly like my father used to cut through bulk meat! This was it! I scrunched my eyes and screamed as the sawing started! The saw did not bite into my neck, but into the joint where the upper chair slat met the back frame. In less than a minute I was free and my chair disappeared with the man with the saw.<\/p>\n