Jim Wilson
In 1936, I started 4th grade at St. Francis Xavier. There were four boys and seven girls in my class, but we shared the classroom with 3rd graders. My favorite part of the school day was recess. We played tag and games with tops, yo-yo’s and marbles. The 7th and 8th graders even played a game with pocket knives called Mumblety-peg. Many of the boys wore knickers with high-top boots that laced up to just below the knees. Some had knife pockets. Mom let me have high-tops but not the knife or knife pocket.
In 8th grade, I was an Ogden Avenue crossing guard. I wore a white belt with a shoulder strap and a star which looked like a policeman’s star. Ogden Avenue was a very busy two-lane street in my time. I recall the feeling of power when I would step into the street with my belt and star and hold up my hand to stop traffic and let the kids cross. One of the most memorable days was the day a livestock truck overturned on Ogden Avenue in front of the school and a calf and about 10 pigs escaped. Two of the pigs were not caught by the police until the next day.
In 1941, when I graduated from SFX, there were 3 or 4 of my classmates who contracted polio, a disease that crippled and could be fatal. Parents worried every summer about polio. No one knew what caused it. I remember one summer when, during a polio outbreak, the police stopped kids from having lemonade stands for fear such stands might be contributing to the spread of the disease. Fortunately, in 1955. A vaccine for polio was discovered.