Robert Max Long:
CLASS OF 1955
Buckskin Valley High SchoolClass of 1955
South salem, OH
Woodlan High SchoolClass of 1955
Woodburn, IN
Frankfort High SchoolClass of 1955
Frankfort, OH
Frankfort High SchoolClass of 1955
Frankfort, OH
Robert Max's Story
My first five years in school was at Huntington Elementary in Ross County. We lived in Brownsville; a small village on Rt. 772. My Father, Carl Long, a mechanic built a garage at the corner of Turner Road and Rt. 772. He had a good business but after a couple years, sold it and we moved to a rental on Mt. Tabor Road. Dad was a mechanic at the Chillicothe Lynch Ford Garage. I remember him bringing home a new 51 Ford and we took a ride in it; it was a new design and very fast. Then, we moved to Frankfort, Ohio where I attended Frankfort Elementary, Junior High thru 10th grade; with the exception of several months at Unioto High School where I was on the Unioto basketball team We moved back to the Frankfort School District where I finished 10th grade.
Then, we moved to a farm located on Edgerton Rd. south of Woodburn, Indiana the summer of 1953. My Dad had obtained a job as mechanic for the Bohren Trucking Co. in Woodburn. Dad had gone out to Indiana primarily because his brother lived near New Haven, Ind and worked at a government depot. I worked for the Trucking garage the summer of 1953 as a truck checker and lube man and earned enough money to buy a 1936 Ford from a Used Car Dealer in New Haven, Ind. a suburb of Fort Wayne.
I was a junior at the local Woodburn High School, played varsity basketball and baseball; was class vice-president and President of the Band, and master of ceremony for our Junior Prom. Brother Gene was a drummer in the marching band and I played Tuba. The school year of 1953-54 was a great year for both of us! Being newcomers and coming from southern Ohio, the students thought we "talked funny" with a southern accent;-) One student thought I was from "Texas"...which I found very amusing! Having a 1936 Ford with a rebuilt motor bought and installed by my mechanic Father gave brother Gene and I great mobility and we would travel to Fort Wayne frequently to partake of the popular hamburger drive in and also we would go to the outdoor drive in to see the latest movies. We also enjoyed going north to Hamilton Lake to fish and swim and of course enjoyed fishing in the Maumee River as well.
One of my greatest moments was playing basketball in the Fort Wayne Coliseum. It was the home of the Fort Wayne professional team; the "Pistons" who later moved to...Expand for more
Detroit.
It was a sad day when Dad decided to move us back to Ohio late in the summer of 1954. We had made many friends in Woodburn and it was very difficult to leave them! But, we later enjoyed attending Buckskin High School where i was a member of the Ross County Basketball Tourney champion team. Our senior class also went on a marvelous class trip to Wash. D.C. and New York City after graduation. I still attend Buckskin's class reunion each year. We only had 18 in our senior class. After graduation, I enrolled in the Wilmington College Work-Study Program and worked at The Randall Factory my four years to pay for my tuition and earn my BA degree in Comprehensive Social Studies allowing me to be a social studies teacher at Cedar Cliff H.S. in Cedarville, Oh. By that time I had married and had a son. I taught another 4 years then won an NDEA scholarship to the Univ. of Pittsburgh whereby I earned my M.Ed. degree and became an Elementary Counselor for 4 years; ultimately becoming a School Psychologist for 21 years until retiring in 2003.
In July of 2014 I attended the Woodburn High School's reunion at Antwerp, Ohio which is very close to Woodburn, Indiana. I met some of my old High School classmates; the graduation class of 1955. I also had a chance to drive around the area, see the 'ole farm house on Edgerton Rd.; where we lived back in 1953-54; drove around Fort Wayne and saw the Memorial Coliseum which was much larger than when I played basketball there in the '50s. Of course I enjoyed visiting my Uncle Jim and Aunt Jeannie while I was staying at the Holiday Inn in New Haven. I also enjoyed the Woodburn Festival that was held in the local park that weekend. I was sad to see they had torn down the old Woodburn High School but replaced it with a fine very large Fire Dept. On saturday, I watched a really large parade down main street Woodburn. I was sad to see the corner Drug Store had closed as well as the IGA on main street. But the VFW still exists; that's where our Jr. Class held the Jr/Sr prom. I was Master of Ceremony at the prom. I hope to return each summer to the Woodburn school reunion It's a lot of fun to meet 'ole classmates and ride around. I have a warm feeling for the area. It was a great year being a student at Woodburn High School back in 1953-54.
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