In September I started eighth grade at again at Westwood. I was doing good in math class that was taught by Mr. Lancaster who I really liked and doing okay in English taught by Mrs. Grose who I always having a green tongue which we thought were from breath mints but I never saw her have one and so there was speculation as to why her tongue was green.  Surprisingly I started out poorly in science with Mrs. Cannon making a F and a D the first two sessions but then B’s the remainder of the year.  I had Mr. Cline again for P.E. and made A’s and B’s the whole year.  I had to choose an elective, so I took Agriculture taught by Mr. Cake mainly because they had a nice woodworking shop in which I made a spice rack which Mom used for years afterwards.  My sister on the other hand, a year ahead of me in school, took Home Economics which they did all sorts of interesting things, sewing, cooking which seem interesting to me, but it was only for girls. In Agriculture, or just Agg as it was called, we learned sort of things about farming, different types of cows, Holstein, Hereford, Angus and so on not real useful stuff to me who wanted to be a scientist.  One of the most memorable things from Agg class was joining the Future Farmers of America, or just FFA as it was known with the real farm boys wearing denim jackets with the FFA emblem proudly displayed on the back. Although farming wasn’t my thing, I was in Agg class, so I decided to join. Joining the FFA required an initiation that took place one evening at school in which all the new boys had to go through a series of initiation tests in which we were blindfolded and were led though a series of test we had to do in which a person would tell us something kind of gross and we had to do it .  There was eat something rotten (Lemberger cheese), stick our hand in cow poop (warm Jell-O) and so on.  I passed and officially and joined the ranks of the Future Farmers of America but never to eat Lemberger cheese again. I made some new friends in eighth grade Lee Porter, Jimmy Carpenter, Ed Moulton, Bill Ritter , Brent Blomendal, Will Stewart, Mike Ponzio and still was friends with Hank Weaver that I new since I was five years old.  There were a few girls I liked Phillis Wiltbanks, Diane Correll, and Sandra Robinson but none of which I would call friends as I was to shy to talk to them much less ask out on a date. Fifty years later I became Facebook friends with Phillis Wiltbanks and told her how I had a crush on her in Junior High School.  The replied telling me she also liked me but thought I was part of the “popular” kids in school and she had no chance of dating me.  I found it interesting that she thought that for I never considered myself part of that group.

In September the Gator football season started with them beating Northwestern then losing to Mississippi State.  October was better with the Gator winning the next three games beating LSU, Ole Miss and North Carolina State. On a roll, in November the Gators beat Georgia and Tulane but lost to Miami.  On Thanksgiving giving weekend the Gators played Florida State which was in Gainesville, so Dad went to the game with Billy.  They came home happy after the Gators beat FSU 30 to 17.  The Gators did well enough to play in the Sugar Bowl which Dad watch on TV but was disappointed when the Gators lost by two points.

Updated: 09-08-2022

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