Arizona School for the Deaf & Blind, circa 1972
Here I was sitting on the chair. Holly Ferguson, to my left, was my childhood best friend. Edward Cantrell, behind me, shared the same birthday month with me. Billy Bateman to my left and Leon Brown, the blond kid at the far right. Leon was my competitor. We were constantly competing against each other. The Native Indian in front of Billy is someone I don't recall. He may have been a transplant from another class whose teacher was absent. There were two girls absent from the picture; Monica Lewis and Laura Montano, the eternally absent student, and whose older brother, Jesus, was my first puppy love. While I adored Jesus from afar, Leon was the first boy I ever kissed at age of 5 in our first grade, the year before. These were my classmates through 2nd grade...Casey Kilby came and joined us in 3rd grade in 1973 and we all remained classmates through 5th grade. Casey and I skipped 6th grade and moved on to 7th grade, forever splitting this class. Casey and I went on and graduated together in 1981. She was the only classmate with whom I grew up for 9 years.
Holly wore that gigantic classroom hearing aid - the primitive version of the FM system. Its recharge canister could be seen on a shelf on the tv caddy by the window. Oh how I hated that God-awful hearing aid. We were forced to wear them all day, even during recess. When we played, they moved with our bodies, hitting in our faces, chin, underarms and stomachs. Oftentimes they fell out of their pouches and smashed into pieces especially when we rode the swings. We used to love to swing upside down. I wonder why we weren't wearing them in that picture except Holly and Billy. The philosophy that we all should wear it the whole classroom time proved fruitless - it did not help me hear any better or acquire speaking skills. It was just noise to me and I would often turn it off much to the teacher's frustration. My father would tell my teacher I was profoundly deaf in both ears so why insist I wear it? Duh.
Leon and I competed about just everything. We turned recess time into a contest. Who swung the highest? Who swung the longest? Who ran the fastest? Who ran the farthest? Who rode the merry'n'round the fastest.We got into fights a lot.
Leon being ever so competitive...in this shot, he was saying "run". He challenged me to a race.
One day in 5th grade, Leon and I competed on the swing - we each said we could cirmcivent the swing. We pulled our swings as fast and hard as we could. We managed to go as high as the second floor, level to the 2nd floor of Hopi building where middle school was. The teachers came to call us back to class - we ignored them, insistent upon cirmciventing the swing bar. Then the principal, Mr Keller, came and hollered at us to "come down right now!" Me, the more sensible female species, slowly swung down to a stop, and to my horror, Leon continued to swing until Mr Keller took steps towards him to grab the chain...Leon jumped while he was up in the 2nd floor midair. He landed on both of his arms. Well, he spent couple of months with casts on both of his arms.
We remained competitive until we were in middle school. Puberty took over and childish "I can beat you" stuff gave out to hormones. I fell in love with a cute boy in 8th grade and competed for him with Holly, my best friend. I guess that's why I relate to Archie comics so well...
Tommy, Holly and my "Archie."
I slept over Holly's a lot. I first knew her as Holly Robb. Her mother was one of the few who could sign. Her grandparents lived two houses down the street. Her father was a policeman and she had a sister and a brother. Holly was the oldest. I loved her bed - a white canopy bed. She used to share a small room with her sister Debbie until her parents built another room beyond the window which turned into a doorway to give her a room of her own, and I loved that room. When we were in middle school, Holly learned that policeman Robb was not her biological father. Her mother was a 16 year old teenage mother who never informed her former boyfriend of Holly's birth. She met policeman Robb when Holly was an infant and he adopted Holly and fathered her siblings. Holly was very upset and changed after that. She was never the same person. She set out to meet her biological father - picked on her mother and grandmother to find him. Soon, her adoptive father got fed up and divorced her mother. When Holly was in high school, her grandmother located her biological father and sent Holly up to Flagstaff to meet him. Soon after, she changed her last name to Ferguson, her biological father's name. I wondered what did policeman Robb do to make her hate him so? He raised her most of her life. But I did understand in some way, being adopted myself. I had the same desire to find where I came from.
Holly, her sister Debbie and I mugged for a shot. Holly and I were 10 in this picture.
My adoptive parents were wonderful and gave me a very good home, and yet I wanted to find my biological parents. Some people viewed that as a betrayal. That is a misconception. My adoptive mother understood and tried to help me find my biological parents. She knew even if I found them, she'd always be my mother, no matter what. That finding them is not a betrayal. I was lucky my mother understood, but apparently it took time for Holly's mother to "get it." Her situation was a little different - it was her former boyfriend - she didn't want him in her life. 
Leon and I, all grown up at 17. He was giving me the football from the game his team played in my father's, who passed away the week before, memory. He was a senior in high school and I was a sophomore at Gallaudet.
Holly is now married to a hearing man and mother of 4. She is a homemaker. She still lives in Tucson. We don't speak very often. Leon has been married to Carol for about 20 years and has 3 children. His family lives in South Carolina. Edward moved to another state when we were in 3rd or 4th grade. We bumped into each other at Gallaudet. He was a RIT student. If I recall right, he lived in New York at the time, but since then has moved back to Tucson, and apparently is still single and childless. He was the one who sent me this picture. Thanks, Edward. It sure brought back some memories.
