Memoir Monday, April 5, 1962

 April 5, 1962 Thurs

Up at 5:00 tonight (it seemed like nite!) I ate, dressed and was off.  The day up at Flagstaff was not too hot but it was worth getting out of a day of school I guess. I heard Suzie Pratt and Anita’s solos. They both did well. I guess the “All American Glee Club”  did okay. I spent some time uptown with Anita, Claudia Taylor and Diane VanCleave. I didn’t buy anything but I wanted to some. It was good to get home though. I almost hate to go back tomorrow. They say “Mr Rosie” arrived today and La Arabie is prettier than ever and learning fast. I got no mail—isn’t that insulting? I guess nobody loves me any more. Cuss them.  Of course I haven’t written any letters lately…  But by next weekend I’ll have my term paper done and then I can catch up on my correspondence. Sunday I must study my civics and read Macbeth. Damme—there is too much to do. Will I ever make it to graduation? As of right now I doubt it, but the race ain’t over. I keep thinking today is Sat but it's not. Well, I’ll hope to have a cool time tomorrow.

Ah, the spring of my senior year, the last few weeks of school. I was eager to get it over but also a bit of sadness was starting knowing commencement was often more of an end than a beginning. For me that was especially true. I had a four year detour in my life with some good but also many very rough and hard times.

So to pick up on what was going on. That year I took music and was in the Girls Glee club chorus taught and directed by John Doubek. I was no great singer but could learn and do the second soprano parts that I was performing.  I did not quite have the range to sing like some of the female opera singers I admired or even Anita Schwartz who was a good soprano. My voice was not deep or strong enough for alto but not quite high enough for regular soprano. Okay--sing harmony.  The whole music department of Mingus,both band and choral, went to the big music festival at NAU, then Arizona State College. Suzie Pratt played the trumpet or cornet and was very good. Our chorus did "The Whiffenpoof Song" and lost points since the judges said it should be male voices. Shrug!! We went back again on Friday the 6th also when the awards were given etc.  

I was still much into the pen pal efforts and always eager to open the post office box and see what was there for me. However, at this time I was working hard on the first of two term papers Jim McLarney had assigned us seniors so was behind on writing letters.  I did the first paper on Byron, Keats and Shelley since I was a big lover of poetry and their lives and styles were so different although they were essentially contemporaries. The weeks leading up to the final big day were packed with work and things to do. I did manage to get it all done but there were times I had doubts!

Anita Schwartz was kind of a friend. She was much into music and drama and even competed in the Miss Yavapai contest that spring. I had expected to be vying with her for the top spot in the Class of 1962 but it ended up being a transfer student, Judy Jaynes.  Suzie Pratt came from the Sedona area and was kind of a jovial, fun sort of girl and a very talented musician. . 

I also had lots of life outside of school  since my cowboy girl stuff was still basically 24/7/365. We had bought and trained a smaller red mule named Rosie the past year. A guy come over from California to ride and then buy her.  He was a geek and I did not like him at all so he became "Mr Rosie" to me rather than a name--which I do not clearly remember anyway. Guy? Gary? Gene? Shrug!! No le hace!! La Arabie was a reference to a new mare we'd just acquired. She was silver-white and looked Arabian. We shortly named her Cleopatra or Patsy for short. She was not broke but was fairly docile.  Always pretty, she later had two nice colts. 

Odd photos:  The mare Patsy--probably not too long before foaling. Anita Schwartz spring 1962.   Gaye with her "dressed up Cowboy Girl" look. I had made the shirt and liked the style and how it fit. I took a men's pattern and altered it for my versions. The Morgan kids: Gaye, Alex and Charlie-Mike. I would be about 19 so Charlie was 11 and Alex was 4. Not dressed up there but in chore clothes. Charlie and Alex were both growing like weeds and usually had high water pants! I'd probably already shrunk a tiny bit from my tallest of 5'7 3/4"