Memories of Humiston School (Mid-1960’s)
by James Fox
Growing up in Cheshire and attending Humiston School in the mid-1960’s was a truly special time in my life, and I wouldn’t trade these unique memories for anything. I spent all my days in the main building, which I still remember vividly for its wide, grand hallways and massive windows that let in so much light. We spent many hours downstairs in the “Red room”, which served as our dual-purpose space for music with Miss Dean and physical education classes with Miss Joy. Because of the low ceiling restrictions downstairs, playing basketball at Humiston was an exercise in pure resourcefulness –- we had to throw downsized balls into the trash pile instead of a standard hoop!
Outside, kickball and dodgeball were the mainstay playground games. Kickball was played on the side of the school looking out to a large pine tree, which was hit on many occasions by Paul Vogelli. Other times, we played on the baseball diamond in the vicinity of where we also used to shoot marbles.
Our principal, Mr. Perkins, was a legendary character who cared deeply about us. I will never forget the Valentine’s Day he noticed a couple of boys in our 4th-grade class had forgotten their Valentine folders. To make sure they didn’t miss out on exchanging cards with the girls, he actually drove them home himself to retrieve them!
Mr. Perkins used to visit Miss Burns’ classroom quite frequently. He would walk up to the blackboard, write out two columns of two-digit numbers, draw a line under them, and call a random student up to race him. The student would add one column, and he would do the other. Of course, he always finished his instantly! He did this to teach us as a fast-addition grouping trick he learned as a boy in his family’s store in Maine. Back then, items were placed in a paper bag, the cost written on the side, and he had to add them up on the fly at checkout by grouping numbers in tens. Thanks to Mr. Perkins, I can still do group addition very well to this day. He, along with Miss Dean, did their best to enrich the entire school by introducing us to classic composers like Bach, Beethoven, Haydn, and Tchaikovsky.
My teachers during those years left a lasting impression. I had the wonderful Miss Tiernan for 3rd grade, the memorable Miss Burns for 4th grade, and Miss Thurber for 5th grade. Being left-handed in the 1960’s came with its own challenges. I’ll never forget Miss Burns cracking my hand with a ruler because my cursive loops weren’t slanting the way she thought they should –- a common practice back then to discourage the “oddity” of being a lefty. Later that same year, I was struggling to cut construction paper with standard right-handed scissors. Then came the glorious day when Miss Burns called me up to her desk and handed me a pair of green, rubber-coated scissors explicitly stamped “Lefty”. It was a moment of pure magic and relief that still remember clear as day.
Humiston School was full of makeshift moments, wonderful characters, and lessons that stuck with us for a lifetime. To all my fellow “Humiston Pals” from the 60’s – what do you remember most about the “Red room”, Mr. Perkins, or the teachers who shaped our neighborhood?
