Shirley (Austin) Hartz:  

I was born in Chincoteague, VA moved to Charleston, SC where my brother Bill was born and then to Orange, TX where our brother Don was born. I guess you could call me a Navy brat. Daddy retired from the Navy and we moved to Maryland where I entered Wheaton Woods Elementary School. My brothers and I made a lot of friends in Maryland and loved living there. I entered the 7th grade at Robert E. Peary High and what a shock to the system that was. You had to take showers with a hundred other girls all at one time. Mom never told me about that . . . I finished up the 8th grade and Daddy came home one day and said we're moving to Las Cruces, NM for a couple of years for his job. I was devastated. I'd be leaving all my friends and starting a new school where I wouldn't know anyone. I just knew I'd hate it. How wrong I was. I started 9th grade at Court Junior High and made so many friends it wasn't funny. Everyone was so friendly and open. They were quick to point out which classroom I belonged in and how to get to the gym. Simple things true but friendly all the same. I also met my first boyfriend at Court Junior High. I won't mention his name just to save him embarrassment. Yep, we went steady for a whole month but it was fun. Then I met the love of my life and we date from the end of the 9th grade almost all the way through my senior year. I attended Las Cruces High during the 10th grade and had never seen so many people in one place. I felt like I was always running from one class to the other just to get there on time. I remember one day having to go home sick and had all my books with me and the school nurse decided to weigh them. The books weighed something like 38 pounds and she asked me how I could carry all of them at one time, my response was I just did because I didn't have...Expand for more