Donald Conley:  

School From 61-62 my twin brother and I attended Jefferson Elementary in Temple TX for our 1st grade. We were both in the same classroom, (which I thought was highly unusual). My most important memory of that year was getting to watch the start of the U.S. space program on TV with the launching of the Mercury missions. And the fact that we had popcorn machines in the hallway so that we could buy popcorn for recess! From 62-63 we attended Avondale West Elementary in Topeka KS along with my identical twin Ron. My most significant memory was that our teacher kept both Ron and me after school for the entire first semester in order to eliminate our poor speech habits (since we were from Texas we had a strong southern drawl that she believed was inappropriate). We were only there one year, because our parents moved us to the west side of Topeka and bought a house on 2549 Belle Ave in the "Fairlawn" area. Other than that life was grand at that age. After moving to the west side of Topeka, my brother and I attended McClure Elementary from 63-67 where we finally graduated from grade school. I remember from 63 to 64 that the boys would go out to the play ground and turn on our transistor radios (playing the Beatles) and lip sync to the music from one of the annex classroom porches! The girls would all scream and pretend to faint, it was GREAT! My best friend was Alan Vonderschmidt who had dark black hair, was short, good looking and way more popular with the girls than I was (boy did I envy him). I had my first girl friend around this time; her name was Phyl Larae Johnson. She had the most impressive eyes. Her pupils didn¿t look exactly round like most folks; they were more oval shaped like a cat. When she looked at you, you just went crazy. The most significant thing that happened around this period was that I met the love of my life, my first true love, Mary Jean Minchew at the age of ten. And she and I are together to this day! From 67-69 Ron and I attended Landon Junior High. The school was relatively new. I went out for football, basketball, track, tennis, gymnastics and wrestling. I got kicked off the wrestling team for being late one time too many (my gymnastics coach would always keep me too long). With all the sports I went out for, one would think those were my best memories, but the one that stuck with me was winning the table tennis intramurals championship for both singles and doubles in 69 (Gary Coswell was my partner another great gymnast). And then there was the move to Chicago in 69, specifically Downers Grove South High School (wish it had been Naperville Central). All I can say about this period in my life is I wanted so badly to go to college that I graduated a 4 year school in 3 years (as did my brother). I did create my first rock band, The Gentle Breed which had Bill Rampton, Kent Smith and the wonderful singer Pam VanSlyke in it. We had great times together. Eventually the band went on to college as Morningside; Pam and I went to College and Keith Davidson came into the band. I miss my old band mates, we had a wonderful ride! The places we played, the crowds, the screaming fans. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times! College In the fall of 72 my twin brother and I enrolled at Abilene Christian College in Abilene TX. I was there for only one reason, t...Expand for more