Miss McKenzie's Room

Oftentimes, you will hear people say, “ I always remember where I was when I heard about ______.
This classroom is where I was on November 22, 1963. We had been in the cafetorium, working on our “skit” for an assembly. Some of the kids were acting up…it was Friday afternoon, and we were ready for the weekend. We were hustled back into the class by Miss McKenzie, who told us that President Kennedy had been shot during a parade in Dallas Texas.
The building in front today houses the air conditioning. In 1963, we opened the windows and used fans when it was hot.

Computers were a novelty then. I am not sure I had even heard of a computer. To do the work of today’s pocket calculators would have required a mainframe the size of that classroom.
Fourth grade was quite a time. Kennedy and Oswald were killed, the Beatles were on the Ed Sullivan show, and Cassius Clay whipped Sonny Liston.
Miss McKenzie was also our fifth grade English teacher. She had us enter an essay contest sponsored by the Daughters of the Confederacy, writing about the Battle of Atlanta. One of the rules of the contest was a prohibition of the phrase “civil war”. The acceptable expression for describing that conflict was “War Between the States”.
After fifth grade, Miss McKenzie married Mr. Bradshaw, the seventh grade math and science teacher.