Memories of Grade School

One of my earliest memories was my first day of school. My mother took me that first day to St. Xavier catholic parochial school on Sycamore street between fifth and sixth street in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. This site is now occupied by the main offices of the Proctor & Gamble Company. I remember that when she left the room I threw a fit. I wanted no part of school and I let the Nun principal know it by kicking and screaming as loud and hard as I could, I don’t know if Mom ever made it off the school grounds but my next memory is the Nun, my Mother and I sitting on the steps in the school stairwell trying to comfort me. I don’t know If they calmed me down or not. I don’t remember much after that. I guess I got over it as the memories of years after that are kind of blurred.


They knew I was from a poor family and at lunchtime (I never brought a lunch), myself and a few other kids were marched to St. Xavier Church which was 1/2 block away. Next to the church was a small room where they served us some lunch. I swear that every single day they served the food I hated most in life. Green Split Pea soup, They probably didn’t but it seemed like they served it 5 days a week. I simply could not eat it and to this day I cannot stand the taste or smell of it.
We lived on 2nd. Street about 100 yards from the river and we had to walk from there about 3 blocks west and then up Sycamore street to above 5th. Street to get to the school. That was a really long walk twice a day but It didn’t seem to bother us. In those days if something in life required a little effort because of the circumstances we just did it without thinking if it was hard to do or not.
About 1/2 way to school we had to pass through a park called Lytle park where a statue of Abraham Lincoln was. I have had several pictures taken in front of it, the one at the right was taken when I took my first Holy Communion, Florence Strickley stood next to me. I never understood why they were always taking pictures of the two of us together, I think she was older than I and I had absolutely no interest in girls, UGH! That park had other memories too. In the spring and summer there were pathways that wound through the park under many shade trees. In the evening sometimes our whole family and friends would gather in front of the Gazebo Bandstand for a concert. Usually it was a German band that was well known in the Cincinnati area called Smitty’s Band. That band marched in all the local parades as well as other appearances throughout the city. It was a typical OOM-PA-PA German band that played a lot of marches. I fell in love with that kind of music and so did my father. He used to sit at the kitchen table and hum one of the marches loudly while he held a table knife in each hand and pretended he was a drummer tapping out the beat on the table. I used to like sitting with him and sometimes hum along. I would still to this day rather hear the John Phillip Sousa band play his marches than any other music. I’ve seen the movie by his name at least a dozen times and sit mesmerized whenever I see it. My father used to march in all the parades in front of a military band while carrying the American flag.
Another school memory is when I attended St. Paul’s school on Spring Street in the Over The Rhine area of the city. I was in the 7th. Or 8th. Grade and I must have looked older because on at least 3 occasions I was called to the church’s sacristy To be the God Father to a kid I did not know and never heard from since, I don’t know what was up with that but I just did as I was told. Other memories were that the teacher made me and another kid named Ed Beckman go to the nearest library and return and pick up books for her. It was a very long walk but that was OK as we got out of school all afternoon. The library was about 4 miles away, on the corner of McMicken and Vine. I didn’t mind the walk but Ed was a real pain in the you know what. He was bigger than me and loved to show it. He was constantly teasing me and hitting me in the arm or chasing me. He didn’t hurt me but as I said he was a real pain in the you know what. Once when I was in the eighth grade Sister Mary Edwards called me outside the classroom and told me that the 6th. Grade was putting on a play and needed me to play Santa Claus. She gave me all of five minutes to learn the 2 or 3 lines I had to say. I still remember them. In a scene when children were gathered in a circle arguing about something, I was to enter and say “HO! HO! HO!, Merry Christmas! And then noticing the disagreement between the kids had to say “Come on children, Lets not have any bickering. It’s Christmas time” I felt really foolish doing it as I was just a kid myself,

We attended Mass every morning before school. I remember that every Mass was a Requiem Mass, which was a mass for the dead. We sang the entire Mass in Latin. I knew the words well and our class sang the entire Mass from start to finish. One day while singing I suppose I felt in especially good voice and was singing rather loudly in a high pitched alto voice when I felt a WHACK! On the back of my head. It was Sister Mary Edwards letting me know in her own way to quiet down. She carried a small wood Clapper thing that had a handle and a small shaft about 6” long, attached to this was a spring lever that when pressed down and let go made a loud clicking noise. Usually all she had to do was click this thing once or twice and we all settled down. This time she chose to use it as a small club. It worked. From that day forward you could never distinguish my voice above the rest. Funny thing, we sang that Mass so many times the to this day I remember most of the words, In Latin, as well as the melody.

Another memory of St. Paul’s era. We lived on Milton street in Mt. Auburn. Sometimes in the morning when everyone was in the mood for doughnuts or rolls, it seems I was always elected to go to the bakery to get some. The bakery was located at the corner of 13th. And Pendleton street, just a block from my school. I think I only made this trip in the summer when school was out, My favorite things to buy were Coconut Rolls which nobody else cared for very much or crème horns, a hollow pastry filled with whipped crème. Of course I also liked Jelly Rolls a lot, actually I like everything. Every one in the family ate these treats in the same way. Dunking them in coffee before taking a bite, except my sister Loraine who did not like coffee, she drank Milk. Our fortunes must have improved a bit because for some reason I started eating lunch around the corner from St. Paul’s school at a little restaurant on Reading Rd. I remember it was always crowded and they served Home Style food cafeteria style at a low price, one of the things I loved to get with a meal was homemade Custard pie. One day I opted to forgo lunch and bought a whole Custard pie, I think it was only 50c, probably a lot for those days. I still remember sitting there enjoying every morsel.

I hate to admit this but I had to repeat the 7th. Grade. I missed a lot of school that year due to illness, at least I remember my Mother saying that. It wasn’t so bad, I already knew a lot of the stuff. One other memory from that time, we were all required to make a large poster and all of them were to be hung in the Cincinnati Art Museum as a class exhibit. I tried and I tried and I could not come up with a subject for a poster. I pleaded with my sister Loraine to help me. At first she refused but eventually not only did she help me but she drew the whole thing which I turned in as my own creation. I don’t remember if it was any good or not but I do remember going to the museum with the class to look at it. I think it was a scene from Venice. Just think, I had art hanging in the
Cincinnati Art Museum and it wasn’t even mine.