Flashback 197?

What year was it anyway? Hmmm...1970 we moved to Ulysses, PA. I started 2nd grade that fall. I can't remember my teacher that year but I had Zurflu for 3rd, the crazy sadistic bitch that she was. Some kid probably killed her. Somebody should have. In 4th grade my teacher's name was Ms. Coburn. The kids called her Ms. Cowbarn. That was '72 I guess. We moved to a haunted house in NJ right next door to the school that I had attended Kindergarten and 1st grade. I was bussed to a different district though. For 5th grade I was back to the school next door and Mrs. Drogata, AKA Dragon Lady, was my teacher. Half way through the school year I was back up in Ulysses and my teacher was Gus Kuratomi. He used to suck on his contact lenses. That's all I remember of him. That was 1974 I guess.
Hmmm. I thought I was in school in Stuarts Draft, VA in 5th grade for awhile. Shit. Maybe that was 6th grade. I know the last six weeks of 6th grade (1975) was spent in a school in New Jersey.
Whatever. Back to 1974. I got to spend part of my day in Mr. Shimkanin's classroom. I was 11 years old. I can remember nearly every inch of that room. It was packed full of aquariums that held white mice, gerbils, snakes, and fish. There was a beehive enclosed in glass with a tube leading to the outside so the honey bees could come and go. There was a bird cage with a parakeet in it. I loved that bird. Mr. Shimkanin would let me take the bird out during class. Then one day this kid, Clifford, brought in a barn owl. I guess it had been injured. They hauled in a hollow log and propped it up against the wall for the bird to live in. Way cool. That's when I decided I wanted to be an ornithologist. Mr. Shimkanin encouraged my studies of birds, too. Kind of like an independent study. One day I came to school and this big hulking kid named Randy walked out of the classroom holding the bird. The dead bird. He told me the owl killed it and he was going to flush the bird. I was heartbroken. Well, not long after the owl was dead as well. During the night it had gone to the fish aquarium and as it was getting a drink the hood fell on him and he drowned. I still wish I had gone on to study ornithology. I still love birds. I just bought a new bird feeder yesterday at Lowes.
I remember one day Mr. Shimkanin took us on a field trip...literally. We took a hike in the woods behind the school and he showed us what wild plants we could eat if we were ever stranded. Slippery elm, dog tooth violet tubers, stuff like that. He used to read to us, too. He read The Mouse and the Motorcycle, and My Side of the Mountain. We used to do crafts in his class, too. And there was always the rumble of the rock polisher in the back room. The 6th graders would polish rocks and make jewelry to sell. For our class trip we went to Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh to see a Pirates game. Then we went to the zoo. That was an awesome day.
What brought on this stroll down memory lane? My mom forwarded an email she got from my brother which was an email he forwarded from Mr. Shimkanin. I haven't seen the guy since the last day of 5th grade, 1974. 30 Freaking years ago. And in the email to my brother he asked about me by name. Amazing. I think I still have a paperback that I borrowed from him. So, anyway, I've got his email and I think I'll drop him a line and tell him that he is by far the best damned teacher I ever had...and that he instilled in me a love of learning that is still going strong.