Fun Times At School In The Early 1960s

(Note: The following was written by Connie Pickering Carpenter, who graduated from Darlington H.S. in 1962)

“When you got past sixth grade and entered the big study hall and library, you really began to live! The biggest thing was changing classes and having your own locker. This was about the time when all the boys smelled like sweat socks, and the girls sprayed on so much perfume you could have tasted it…This was also the time we started getting “big time” punishments, like tardy slips and “conferences.” If you received a conference, you lost your lunch hour and had to spend the time studying, with a teacher in the room at all times. Too many of those…your Mom and Dad would get wind of it. I once received a conference for sneezing in class, because Mr. Pryor thought I had laughed!

In high school our class started having a lot of class parties, which included hay rides, dances, and weiner roasts. We could also wear jeans to parties, which we were not allowed to wear to school or to any school function. At school we wore poodle skirts, bobby socks, white tennis shoes, or saddle oxfords. We also wore “dog collars” around our ankles and angora yarn around our boyfriends’ rings. The guys were also sharp, wearing turned up collars, pegged pants (they almost had to jump off of a building to get into those pegged pants), white socks, and penny loafers…but it was more “cool” to put a dime in them instead of a penny. Most guys had crew cuts with lots of “butch wax.”

We knew we were in high school because the food then wasn’t good unless it was “greasy and cheesy.” Those of us lucky enough to get a note from home could go uptown at noon for the best french fries and cheeseburgers in Montgomery County. The lunches at school were good, too, though and they only cost a quarter. Hot dogs were actually real back then! And we always enjoyed going down to the subway (basement hallway) and having an ice cream bar or frosted malt sold by Mr. Brown.

The high school sock hops were always lots of fun, after a game in the gym. The lights were turned down, and the girls danced with other girls during the fast dances, and boys only danced the slow dances. We took turns bringing a record player and 45’s to spin. Also in high school, Sharol Threlkeld and I twirled our batons at every ballgame. Once the opposing side threw money at us. It made Mr. McCauley (the principal) so mad that he kept the money!

It seemed like all the boys had ’56 or ’57 cars, all with loud mufflers. You couldn’t find one bit of dirt on anyone’s car…ever! Prom time was also a memorable event for all of us. When I was younger, Connie Vermillion and I wore Hawaiian dresses that were split all the way up the side, and we sat on a rock all night as “live decorations.” Decorating the gym when we were juniors was a work of art, and we certainly enjoyed our Senior Prom, entitled “Wonderland by Night.”

My memories of Darlington School will always remain special to me from the first grade on through high school. I knew the names of every kid in school and where they lived. All the kids in my class got along really well, and we never had any major problems. It was a great time!”

(In high school, Connie fell in love with Jim Carpenter, who came to Darlington when Bowers School closed in 1959. She told me he was the cutest boy, but she thought at the time he needed “an attitude adjustment!” They both graduated in 1962 and were married the next year. Jim and Connie became the parents of four children….Staci, Brad, Cami, and Shelly. Connie served as the Montgomery County Court Reporter, but later in life she was stricken with multiple sclerosis. Sadly, she passed away in 2015 at the age of 70. Connie, we miss you…but we still have great memories of you and your school days!)

John “Butch” Dale is a retired teacher and County Sheriff. He has also been the librarian at Darlington the past 32 years, and is a well-known artist and author of local history.