Back to School Anthology

 



This back to school story is an anthology of sorts that begins with my father, Donald Smith.

My dad grew up in a very rural area of Southeastern Kentucky. His parents had a small farm in Owsley County and the family basically depended upon what they raised in order to survive. They grew most of their foodstuffs and they grew a small base of tobacco for a cash crop to purchase what they could not supply themselves.

Now, in neighboring Clay County was a boarding type school called the Oneida Baptist Institute. Dad’s three older sisters had all gone there and two of them had graduated from there. So in 1952, when it came time for Dad to go back to school and enter high school, he packed up and followed in the footsteps of his older siblings and went away to Oneida Baptist Institute.

 

Oneida Baptist Institute did have tuition but students from the surrounding area worked at the school to offset that tuition. The students all had their different jobs and Dad’s duties included milking the cows. Dad did not have a problem with milking the cows but he did have a problem. You see, supper began being served well before the milking was finished and by the time the milkers came in for their supper, most of that supper was gone!

Now, Dad’s parents never had much money, but they knew how to grow a garden and they knew how to raise hogs and chickens for eggs and meat. They also had a couple of cows for dairy products. They had no extra cash but they never went hungry and they always had my grandma’s delicious meals to eat so this going to bed with a measly supper was just not going to cut it.

Dad lasted for a couple of weeks at Oneida Baptist Institute. After that, he returned home where he attended the local Owsley County High School. He went to school on the bus every morning and returned home in the afternoon. He probably even had to help with the milking when he got home but he always went to bed with plenty of Grandma’s delicious but simple home cooking in his belly! 

My second back to school story involves my mother Loretta Nolen Smith.

My mother’s mother died when Mom was only nine. When Grandma Rachel died, she left Grandpa Boyd with seven children ranging in age from ten months to nine years old.

Grandpa Boyd loved his children but he had farm chores and he worked away at the mines. He tried for a while to do it all and keep the kids together, but in the end, he just couldn’t. He found family members for all of the kids to go live with, at least temporarily. Mom, the oldest, and Uncle Johnnie, the youngest, went to live with their mother’s sister, Alta’s family in Dayton, Ohio.

Now, Aunt Alta’s brother John was married to my dad’s sister Hortense, and they lived very close to each other with only a field separating their homes. Somewhere along the way, likely while both were visiting Uncle John and Aunt Hortense, Mom and Dad met. Their families had lived less than a dozen miles apart in Kentucky, but it took visiting mutual kinfolk in Dayton, Ohio for the two to meet.

Well, they met, fell in love, and when Mom was 16 and Dad was 20, they married. When Mom and Dad married, Mom had to drop out of high school. Mom had always loved school. When she was younger and still in Kentucky, she had read every book in the one-room schoolhouse, even the math books. Having to drop out of high school was not easy, but she loved Dad that much.

 

After my brother and I were born, Mom did go back to school; she went to night school in order to get her high school diploma. It probably was not easy for her to go to night school, study for her classes, and still do her household chores with two young children. With support from family, she was able to do it. Mom received her high school diploma in 1965 right about the time I graduated from kindergarten with my Bachelor of Rhymes degree! 

 

In the 1970s, Mom felt a need to go back to school again. She wanted to become a registered nurse and wanted to attend the local community college. For some reason, Dad was not too happy with this, but Mom was determined. Eventually, Dad quit resisting as Mom was going back to school, regardless of any resistance. Mom enrolled at Motlow State Community College and went back to school yet again.

So from having the desire to return to school to actually doing it, it was not easy for Mom. Mom studied hard and she learned many things, including the fact that getting a “B” instead of an “A” can be a blessing! Mom became a registered nurse in 1975 and she treated her patients with a caring heart, knowledge, and diligence until she retired. I do not believe that a patient could have ever received better care than that they received from Mom!

Now, the last part of my back to school anthology involves my daughter Roxanna Hajjafar McCommon, who teaches German in a Memphis, Tennessee area school.

This year, Covid-19 reared its very ugly head. The last school year ended virtually due to the pandemic. Many seniors graduated either virtually or in drive-by ceremonies. The faculties and students at schools across the nation adapted and thought outside the box to continue their educations in spite of less than optimal circumstances.

I was hoping that this school year would remain virtual, as the pandemic is still going strong with new cases and new fatalities happening every day. Alas, in spite of not having this virus under control, and in spite of many people refusing to follow logical guidelines in order to get it under control, Roxanna had to return to in-school teaching. The students could opt for a virtual or in-person education but the teachers have to be there for those students who opt for the in-person method of education.

Four weeks ago, my daughter went back to school to teach. She has worries about the safety of herself, her family, her students and their families. She is trying her best to make sure that all guidelines are followed. She says that her students have been pretty good about following guidelines but some have to be reminded to pull their masks up to cover their nose and mouths. Regardless, there have been some Covid-19 exposures.

 

So this year back to school has not been an eagerly anticipated event for many. Instead of making back to school purchases of paper, pens, backpacks, notebooks…, teachers and students are searching for hand sanitizer, masks, disinfectant cleaners…

The joy of students being able to see their friends, to hug, to high-five, to fist bump, to enjoy extra-curricular activities, and the joy of teachers to see their kids back after an even longer than usual absence will be overshadowed by the necessary precautions of fighting an invisible yet deadly foe. May God protect them all.