I don't have a lot of memories from my childhood. I probably used a good bit of that space to store 1980s song lyrics. When I started first grade in the fall of 1974, my family was renting a home from Ray and Rebecca Taylor on Liberty Road in Charlotte, Tennessee. At that time, kindergarten was not required, so I went directly into first grade.
The house we rented no longer exists. It was torn down around 1976 when the Taylors built their new home farther back on the same lot. The property is now addressed as 1171 Liberty Road. The older home sat to the right of the driveway near the front of the property, shaded by a few trees.
I remember several details about that place. A drain or gully ran along the yard, carrying off wash water. Wild apricots grew there, and my family planted a small garden to the right of the house. I loved running through the garden rows. Feral cats roamed the property—we named them Sluggo, Nancy, and Rare-Back. To the left of the driveway stood a tree with moss at its base. I used the moss to build tiny towns and lawns, with acorns serving as cars.
Because the house was surrounded by fields, ticks were a constant problem. We also heard mice and flying squirrels stirring around in the attic.
I was in Ms. Rachel Weaver’s first grade class at Charlotte Elementary, where Bill Caldwell served as principal. I rode Mr. Petty’s bus to school—possibly bus number 37.
In the fall of 1975, we moved from Charlotte to a house in the Spanish Oaks subdivision located in the Pomona community. At the time, I was in Mrs. Elliot’s second grade class at Charlotte Elementary. Since Pomona was then part of the Burns school district, I transferred to Mrs. C Richardson’s 2nd grade class at Burns Elementary. In that class they used a color coded reading program which I think was called SRA. I really loved these.
About two years later, the school district lines were redrawn, and Pomona was placed in the Dickson district. From that point on, I attended Dickson Elementary, James E. Sullivan Middle School, Dickson Junior High School, and Dickson County Senior High. We remained in Spanish Oaks until the fall of 1986.
