Louise (Lou Ann) King:  

Gee, I haven't thought back to 1961 in quite a while. It seems like another lifetime. To catch up, I first must state that guidance counselor, Mrs Eisley, was pivotal in my life at this time. I was one of youngest in our class and graduated at 17 1/2 years. I was too young to get a "regular job" and I suppose I had tested well enough for Mrs Eisley to decide to see if she could interest me in K-State and a new scholarship house on campus. She drove three of us to Manhattan resulting in fall enrollments of Judy House, Patsy Folsom, and myself. It was definitely a new life path for which I am eternally grateful. I did graduate in Home Ec Education and also met my husband of 48 years at a basketball game second semester Freshman year. We feel a bit like we raised each other, although I always say he did a better job than I. After graduation and marriage, I taught in Manhattan at the first Educable Trainable elementary class. This was a special education class mandated by legislation for children with IQs up to 50 points. I had six children who had Down's Syndrome or birth injuries. I went to KU the summer after graduation for a provisional degree. I remember a couple of the big accomplishments that year was teaching several to write their names and to tie their shoes (no velcro then). I loved the children and the class, but it only lasted a year. My husband's graduate work at K-State was interrupted by Vietnam and school roles switched with me becoming a full-time graduate student at KU while he did Basic, AIT, and Officer Candidate school. I was still into the teaching segment of my life with a resulting KU degree in Child Psychology. I mention this detail as my twin sons later were to prove I wasn't as knowledgable in child rearing as I had once thought. They truly taught me to be humble. The next few years included living at Fort Hood in Texas were I again taught special ed. This time in junior high to slow learners termed Educable. IQs from 50 to around 80. We had basic reading, writing, arithmetic in our annex and then the students had remaining subjects of gym, home ec, shop with the main student body. It wasn't so hard to find a teaching job, but it was next to impossible to find housing in 1967 at or near the army base. We were eligible for base housing but the waiting list was LONG. I just starting making the rounds and was lucky enough to find a mobile home rental. It was summertime, over a 100 degrees every day, not a blade of grass anywhere in the mobile park. It was so hot that children stayed inside and I tutored a little Japanese American 6 year old girl to read in the afternoons Her mother could barely speak English and Ruby hadn't done well in kindergarden. She was one of the best students in first grade. Shortly there after we finally received base housing until Galen's deplo...Expand for more