April 19, 1962 Thurs
This was my day! Now and then things just have to be good. I got up and away as usual. We had the preregistration assembly 1st hour. I got a ‘1’ on my paper—the only one in the class. Mr Mac praised it highly. I am so thrilled. All 1's this time except –ugh—chorus. Doubek won’t give me one. ‘Reen and I ate together as always. She hopes to come over and ride tomorrow. I’ve turned in my CSF application to Mrs Fitz so I guess all that is ok. I got letters from Judy C and Shirley A today. I rode Annie and helped do the chores and brought Suzie home.. She is sure a high-stepper. Dad rode her. She tried to buck a little but soon lined out. Like man, that mare is a real wow. She has got gaits like nobody ever saw. So 'n so whee! Tomorrow we’ve got to catch Cinder, Red and Ruby I guess. They are all in the dairy. I still haven’t worked on my twelve point plan. I must get with it. I sort of waver on whether or not to drop Jose. I’ll decide when I get his next letter, I guess. I wrote to Judy this evening anyway. What do you bet the next four days are busy? Ha ha. I think Dad may go to Prescott on Monday. I hope so. That would suit me just fine. Then I could go. Well its 10:30 and I have to get up tomorrow so…
The last two months of high school were whizzing by so fast. It was mad-fun-crazy-busy and at times almost overwhelming. I had kind of coasted through my senior year with no classes that were really hard for me. Engllish and Civics were no challenge and Journalism, Music, Art and PE--well, I was shooting for all As but Doubek did not like me--or at least it seemed that way--and he stubbornly gave me a B or 2 every report period until the last one when he condescended to give me an A/1 after it was announced I would be valedictorian! McLarney required two term papers; they took some time but were almost a labor of love for me since I really did enjoy writing and even research. I mildly resented having to do a second after I got the top grade on the first but that passed easily too.
Mrs Firzgerald, Girls PE and Counsellor, was very good to me and did her best to help make college possible for me; she even did that again later when after four years I was finally moving in that direction again. I know she helped many others too. She was a good teacher and a big hearted person. I met her daughter and son-in-law at one of the reunions and wish I could have thanked her in person for being a such good friend. I think that CFS was Citizens Scholarship Foundation, a local group supportiong Mingus students.
"Reen" was of course my friend Maureen Jewell. We were prettymuch besties my last year and a half at Mingus although she was two years behind me. Of course I was still doing the pen pal thing but the two I mentioned became long term girlfriends. I still get an occasional note from Shirley after all these years. I was always hot and cold on Jose, my pen pal in Utah who was affiliated with BYU and quite a character.
Suzie was a paint mare we had just bought from a guy who dealt in livestock and ran a feed store in Prescott. She was a pretty good saddle horse and did have good gaits like I noted but we rode her very seldom although we kept her for several years. She produced two nice colts, both fillies; I trained the first one and sold her in Cottonwood in the fall of 1965. Annie, Cinder, Ruby and Red were all mules. The three were in a leased pasture behind Tuzigoot that adjoined Tavasci's dairy. They had a mare over there that always seemed to entice the mules to come hang out with her!
Not a lot of pertinent photos but here is Jose with a paint he had and a photo of Susie. She was not a pretty mare but steady and even tempered. She did not have a lot of white on her but was mostly a reddish bay though the high socks, the white in her tail and a bit on her withers shows in the photo. Ginger, her first baby, was much more marked up; she was the one I trained and sold.
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