Thursday, September 24, 2009

Central School - Greensboro NC

Central School was composed of grades 1-9, with 1-3 being called Central Elementary, 4-6 called Central Grammar, and 7-9 called Central Junior High School (CJHS). My mother didn't want me going to an inner city school (they weren't called that back then), so she fudged by listing my address as my grandmother's. That way I could go to Lindley Elementary, which was considered a high-class school. However, this ruse was found out during the first grade and I was compelled to go to Central from second grade on. The elementary, grammar, and junior high divisions had separate buildings, and all shared a common auditorium, cafeteria, and gym. Later my mother admitted I was better off at Central, because at Lindley I was regarded as a poor cousin, since my family didn't have many of the trappings of the other more affluent students. At Central, I got along with almost everyone, even the bullies, once they realized I could outrun them all.
I tended to form friendships in threes (I liked to call us the 3 Musketeers). Early on I formed the first friendship with Larry Burton, who I guess would be called my BFF, although it waned somewhat during the Senior High and college years. After college I would visit Larry when I was in Greensboro, and he visited me twice in Marietta. After elementary school, Ruffin Tucker joined us to make the 3M. Ruffin lives near Charlotte, and I still keep in touch with him via e-mail. Larry was Ruffin's best man when Ruffin got married years later. Larry died of a heart attack in 1991 in Raleigh.
Edwin Craven functioned somewhat as a fourth musketeer, and Bobby Parish as a fifth musketeer. Bobby lives near Palm Springs, CA, and I also keep in touch via e-mail. Bobby and Ruffin served in the Peace Corp at the same time. Edwin disappeared after the 8th grade, and it turns out that his family didn't want him going to a public school like Greensboro High School (GHS), so they sent him to a private school (I don't know the name). His family was the E.F. Craven Construction Company, so they could afford it. More about that later.
I believe I enjoyed CJHS more than high school, as I made friends easily (other than the 5 Musketeers), and people were more tolerant of my refusal to go along with the crowd.
It turns out that when Edwin left to go to private school, that wasn't the last I would see of him. Around the time I was graduating from GHS, my mother saw a short announcement in the paper that Edwin was graduating from his private school, and intended to go to NC State, as I was going to do. Since I didn't know anyone else going to State at the time, we put his name down as a preferred dorm roommate, so at least I would start out with someone familiar. Or so I thought. It turns out that in the four years of attending a fancy prep school, Edwin had become an unbelievably conceited snob. He insulted everything about me and my family, and living in the same room with him was an exercise in both restraint and defense. For instance, he said I didn't smoke as he did because my parents wouldn't let me. I simply told him I didn't smoke as he did because I had better sense. The intended jab went over his head. Fortunately, he took to the idea of joining a social fraternity, and he left the dorm after only a couple of months. I thankfully lost touch with him after that, but I found out later that he dropped out without graduating (too much partying?), and was living in West Palm Beach, FL (off of Daddy's money?). One of these days, I may try to get in touch with him and let him know that it wasn't just coincidence that we wound up as roommates our first year. Not that he would probably care...

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