Our catch phrase is on its way.
Dear Fellow Earthlings,
I turned 16 years of age on January 10, 1964. During my 16th year I played quite a bit of basketball and baseball. I became interested in joining our yearbook staff and in the spring of 1964 was selected to be the “photo check manager” for the 1965 yearbook. Our yearbook was called “The Kahokian”, named after our team the Collinsville “Kahoks”.
During my 16th year I got my drivers license, but was unable to do anything with it except drive my mother to the supermarket. My father was always trying to force me to work with him but would never come through with any sort of reward for that. It was only natural that I resented the way he treated me.
Our high school basketball team, ranked number one in the state of Illinois, ended the season with a 28-1 record, with that single loss eliminating us from the Illinois State High School Basketball Association Trournament.
During my 16th year my summer vacation was just too busy! My father was always forcing me to work. That ate up a lot of my time. And then there was a family vacation we took. My father drove himself and seven other people (8 people altogether: Dad, Mom, Mom’s mother, my four younger siblings, and me) all the way out to Spokane, Washington where we spent 12 days, at the home of my aunt Mina Gilliam, her husband Bob Gilliam, and their three children (Marianella, Ariana, and Dorothy). The entire trip, counting travel time, was 22 days long.
I recall how my sister Rosalie, along with my two cousins Marianella and Ariana kept dancing over and over to the the Beatles’long-play record albums Rosalie had brought along on the trip with her.
After a summer that passed all to quickly, I began my junior year in high school, where I was now very busy not only working in the darkroom preparing pictures for the 1965 Collinsiville High School yearbook “The Kahokian", but also becoming very active in speech and drama.
Steve Walker, Earthsaver and Jingles Creator
© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.