Summertime in the Valley

During the summer of 1966 and 1967, I worked for LAUSD as a Summer Playground Supervisor. It was a great job. I worked 9 to 3. On Wednesday, we had to go to an in-service from 3 to 5, but that part was fun too. We learned games, crafts, and activities to do with the kids. We did this with the other playground workers from the other schools.

When I click on this picture and see the faces of the girls, I still don't remember their names, but I remember them!!

I had fond memories of the summer playground programs they had offered when I was in elementary school, so I went into the job already enjoying it! Often I took Leslie and Donna with me. I'm sure my mom thought it was great to get a couple of the kids out of the house on a summer day! And we had fun together.

I have lots of memories. The person I worked under at each site - for those two summers I was at two different sites - was a full-time teacher. They were men who had come into teaching from other careers, and they had interesting outlooks on life. One was doing it because he said he was tired of digging ditches in the summer! When we went to our training meetings, I met up with my old 4th grade teacher, Mr. Dood. (Yes, it was pronounced "dude" and he was as handsome as I remembered him when I had a crush on him in 4th grade!)

Somehow I managed to beat a lot of 6th graders at checkers. So I became the "checker champ" and was constantly being challenged to maintain my "title." The "big kids" as in 5th and 6th graders, were always bringing around a neighbor or cousin to see if they could beat me. I got nervous, worrying that if I lost, I would let the kids down. Somehow I managed to not get beaten. Probably more luck than good management, although I'm still pretty good at checkers.

The most amazing feat of all though, was the girls' 6th grade volleyball team I coached. I know, all of you who have been around me for any length of time know that "athletic" or "sports-minded" is not a term that is ever applied to me. But I was assigned to coach the girls. And I did. And they took 2nd place in an all-city Los Angeles Unifed School District volleyball tournament! So there!!

I loved those girls. And I loved working with them. I had had a volleyball class at BYU, so I felt mildly qualified. What I quickly discovered was that they were pretty good at the game and thought I was too. But they didn't expect me to show that to them - telling them what to do seemed to suffice for them. Years later when I taught P.E. at Wildrose to 4th and 5th graders, I often thought of those long-ago days on the playground - at a school site I can't even remember the name of!

When Harry and I got married in December of 1967, I invited the team to my reception - and they came! They had chipped in and bought me a milk glass candy dish that had a circle of wood in the center as a kind of handle I guess. I used it often - so often that the wood wore out! I loved thinking of them every time I saw the dish.

Those two summers I worked on the playground have actually served me well over the years. When I worked in Cub Scouts, or Brownies, or even when I was asked to do crafts at Girls' Camp, I would remember the days on the playground. I would remember that kids like to play and win, but they like to see an adult win too - someone they can call a hero. Kids like to make things. Kids like to play games. Kids like to be taught how to do new things.

I don't remember any names. But I can conjure up a hot summer day under the trees on the playground. I can see the carom board set over the trash can. I can smell the glue in the craft room. I can feel kids breathing down my neck while I'm trying to win yet one more game of checkers.

As Beverly, who is the director of the nursery school our kids attended, often said when I was there working with her at SMCNS, "It is work worth doing."

It was indeed work worth doing!