I attended Oak Avenue School. I usually walked from Burns to Pendery to Oak Avenue. It was a beautiful school. We had swings and monkey bars and a baseball and kickball field. And I think my favorite memory is Mrs. Scott, who was my first- and second-grade teacher, taking us into the school ground one morning showing us how to pick dandelion greens. We took them back in, cleaned them, and put them on to boil. We had sour milk that we churned into butter while others were making corn bread. That was lunch one day and it was wonderful. School in those days had morning break where you had a half pint of milk and shortbread cookies, recess where you could play, and though we had “graduated” from nap time we still got afternoon break, then home. Home was, for me, a few chores and homework. Actually, I finally landed a job because Aunt Lil would let me wash her dishes for, I think, a quarter a week. I thought I was needed but ultimately got old enough to understand she was just trying to be a good aunt.
