Special Birthday Party

We had a special party for Steven’s third birthday celebration. Not only was his buddy David Gazda invited, David’s whole family was there to celebrate. Our two families enjoyed sharing time together. It is unusual to have two families matched so well together. Each family member was matched with someone of the same age and similar interests. Janice enjoyed talking with Jo about their children, and Bill and I had plenty to share about basketball. We both enjoyed playing the game. While David and Steven shared their toys, Panpan and Meg had plenty of things to excite them. Overall we had a great evening together without spending a cent!

More about WCA

Talking about WCA, one factor must be stressed. Janice took the job, mainly because the head-master, Garland Thayer, agreed that his wife, Jean, would be part of the deal. Jean would help watch Steven while Janice was in the classroom. The Thayers had a boy who was the same age as Steven. His name was David. David and Steven could play together while Janice was in class. This was really an ideal situation for both families. The Thayers also had twin boys, slightly older than David and Steven, and a girl Panpan’s age whose name was Laura. At that stage, we were happy to have some boys as playmates for Steven. Furthermore, at WCA, there was plenty of space with fields for the boys to play and run around safely. The pictures below can give you some idea of the situation there!
    

Graduation at WCA

The first graduation to take place at Washington College Academy after Janice started to teach there in the spring of 1974, was quite an eye-opening for her!  She was the faculty sponsor of the class who were supposed to get the flowers ready for the ceremony. The flowers were wild daisies and they were supposed to be picked from the field. It literally took two days for the whole class to pick enough daisies to make a daisy chain. Yes, I did take a picture. Even though it is not very clear, you can easily see the actual size of the chain, see below: 
Yes, it took four young people to carry that chain!   The graduation itself was not that unusual (see other pictures below), but we would never forget the daisy chain.

Happy Moments

As Steven grew older, he and Panpan started to enjoy each other more and more. It was very nice to see them sharing happy moments together spontaneously. It is generally difficult to catch these moments in your life on a camera. Every parent has had these moments, but it is rare that you can remember them specifically, and even more rare that you can catch them on a camera. I was lucky to get a couple of shots, and I can now show them to you proudly. I was just lucky to have my camera on hand at the right moment!
 

ACS Student Affiliates

The American Chemical Society has always been very interested in students studying chemistry. Starting in 1974, the East Tennessee State University Chemistry Students officially joined the Student Affiliates group in the ACS. The annual student meeting was held that year at the University of Kentucky, my old stomping ground. We had several students give reports there and, of course, they did not miss a beat to participate in some of the social activities. They surprised us by changing from jeans to dance clothes for the welcoming dinner! Jeff Wardeska joined me as a chaperon.  We all had a great time. From that year on, the ETSU Student Affiliate Group became very active in the annual meetings. They eventually hosted quite a number of these meetings in Johnson City. It all started at this thoroughbred horse country.   

Washington College Academy

Washington College Academy, one of the oldest schools in Tennessee, was established in 1780 by Samuel Doak. By early 1974 it was a prep school with some boarding students. The President was Henry Jablonski, but it was run on a day to day basis by the Head Master, Garland Thayer. Garland called Janice because he had just lost the Math teacher for the school, and had heard that she might be available to finish the year as a teacher. It was about half an drive from our home and Janice was then not as busy as when our children were younger. She was allowed to bring Steven to school with her, so she decided to try the job out, maybe just for a short time. Garland had a son about the same age as Steven, so they could play together while Janice was teaching. The pictures below give a glimpse of the school and Garland.

    Dorm and dining room
  Chapel

Panpan’s 5th Birthday

Oh my goodness, she was growing so very fast! At the Child Study Center, officially, she was called Lucile, but every one around her called her Panpan. She was very popular there, and started to read very fast - like her mother. It was certainly not my forte. Further, she had already noticed that her father had problems in pronouncing some words and needed to be corrected.  She was not hesitant to do so! 
That spring she had her birthday celebration at home. She was proud to have her new spring outfit. She really enjoyed her cake with her brother. It was an exciting day!