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Martinsville High School Alumni
Class of 1967 |
Message List
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" Sunday School" with Burt, Andy and Dicky - 14 |
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08/23/12
Debby (Davis) Gagliano
(1967)
DebbyGagliano@hotmail.com
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It was so sad to hear the news about Burt..after I got over the shock, my mind went back to the 50's when Burt Sharp, Andy Beckner and Dicky Randolph were in the same Sunday School class with me at Broad St. Christian Church...those long ago Sundays were less than "reverent" because Burt took great delight in frustrating the church ladies who took charge of the teaching. The classes were divided by grade & we were a small group of 4, sometimes 5 when Kay Lou Covington attended. The boys didn't want to be there; their mamas escorted them briskly into the common room for the opening exercises before we separated for class. Burt couldn't sit still and was always fiddling with a pencil, a small rock or any little thing that he kept in his pocket. I remember him tilting the table and watching the pencils roll across and land on the floor. This activity would distract the rest of us, Dicky would try to keep from laughing and pretty soon he and Burt were fighting over the object that the teacher tried to get her hands on...Andy would kick me under the table and smile so sweetly that the teacher never suspected he was making a pest of himself. Then, one day, Burt got bored and began eating the jar of paste that we were using for some little craft project. We sat there and watched, fascinated, as Burt scooped up the paste with one of those little ice cream sticks until half the jar was gone...we began to giggle and squirm in our seats and the teacher finally turned away from her lesson and screamed. Dicky almost fell off the chair and the teacher sent someone for Mrs. Sharp because she thought Burt would surely be sick. Well, Burt was fine...he had probably consumed worse stuff than paste at that point but the church ladies were a little afraid of him after that episode. I could hardly wait for the next Sunday because this was the best show in town. Burt was full of mischief and was never as annoying to me as Dicky was but that's another story.
At the last reunion, Burt and I began to talk about all the people who weren't there for one reason or another. Burt told me that he felt sure that some hadn't attended because they were embarrassed about losing a job or gaining weight, etc. Burt said that he wished people would just come to the reunion because we were all "the same now": everyone had suffered the loss of a job or loved one, some had lost money or position but now we were all on an "even playing field" and no one should worry about small-minded people. It seemed to sadden him that so many weren't there. I hope we can all show up for the 50th because we need to say "hello" to everyone before we are forced to say "goodbye" to someone else before his time...stay well.....Debby |
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