There was only one way to get a suntan when I was young. We didn't have tanning booths or tanning lotions and when we wanted a golden tan, we got it from the sun. One summer Kris Anderson and I decided to sunbath. We cut numbers out of paper (our boyfriends football jersey numbers). We had the bright idea to tape the numbers to our stomachs and after tanning we would take off the paper and the numbers would be highlighted in our albino white skin. It was going to be so cool. Kris told me about the fireman's tower (a 25 foot wooden scaffolding frame) by the fair grounds. The fireman occasionally practiced drills there and she thought we could climb to the top and sunbath, but we quickly realized there was no ladder to get up to the first landing. Kris suggested we climb on the car, she would push me up and then I would reach down for her. Genius idea and it worked like a charm.
We sunbathed for hours, but when it was time to leave we faced another dilemma. Getting down was going to be much harder than climbing up, there was nothing to hold on to and a good six feet in between the landing and the top of the car! Kris wanted to go first, so I held onto her hand, but I lost my balance and it broke the grip! She fell and caved in the entire top of her dad's car. Honestly, it looked like craters of the moon! Her eyes bugged out like a cartoon character and she screamed, "My dad is going to kill me!" When I heard her scream and saw the look on her face I panicked! I got so scared I jumped right off the landing into thin air and landed on the dusty ground in a puff of smoke. Frantically, Kris got inside the car and pushed on the roof, it miraculously popped back into its original shape. Yowzers, I swear we had nine lives because you couldn't even see a crease or crack in the paint. Once again we had escaped the jaws of death, and a split second later we were looking at the pearly white numbers on our tan stomachs... "Sure looks cool!" I said, admiring the #65 glowing like a torch. "Yeah, looks so cool!" She replied with a tone of victory in her voice and we drove off into the sunset!
SCHOOL SPIRIT!Great experiences happened at Moscow High School. We didn't have a lot of money to spend or the high tech privileges that kids have today, so we created a life that was authentic and filled with character and imagination. Most of the students went to school together their entire lives which made it very difficult to remain anonymous. If someone new moved into our school, we quickly grafted them into the branches on our tree and they became a part of the heritage of MHS. Most experiences will never be forgotten, for our lives were constantly filled with unexpected pandemonium. Our first year as freshman; we survived a weeks worth of initiation. The freshman boys had to dress like girls, the girls couldn't wear any makeup and they had to rat their hair until every hair stood on end. We all wore signs around our necks that said, "Lowly Freshmen Deserve Punishment" and gave sticks of gum to the seniors upon command. We pushed grapes down the hallways with our noses, had to be prepared to sing the school fight song impromptu, kiss the stinky feet of the seniors, and enslaving ourselves to carry books, bags and a lot of who knows what from place to place... but loved every minute of it! Our class was indeed the best at MHS.
It was a dare that got the president of the senior class, John O'Driscoll, to stick his arm (up to his armpit) in the lunchroom garbage slop for just a few quarters and Morris Musseau who swallowed a couple of live goldfish out of the tank in the art room - to see the girls squirm. Gary Curtis won the award for having the biggest, slimiest spit wads hanging from the ceiling in study hall, until a wet and juicy one fell from the air and splattered in the middle of Mr. Little's desk... BUSTED! Cathy Brown and Suzanne Robinson's lockers were always filled with glass pop bottles and each time they opened their doors, the clanking sound would resonated through the halls as the bottles fell on the floor. We'd be sitting in class and hear the familiar sound, everyone would shake their heads and nod, knowing it was either Suzanne or Cathy! They saved pop bottles to trade in at IGA grocery store and took the money to buy donuts at Moscow Bakery or candy from Hunters; both were just a couple of blocks from the high school. If they were lucky, Mike Turk would cruise by in his 1935 Chevy and offer them a ride. He looked a little like Paul McCartney and if there was ever a McSteamy at MHS, it was Mike Turk. There were so many great things that happened the four years I was there that I can only scratch the surface.
We tip our glasses in celebration for the honorable mentions: The initials that were mowed on the side of the hill overlooking the city by John O'Driscoll and Lance Labine, the night creatures that spray painted '68 on the rocks next to Highway 95 going North (sorry about the sprained ankle David Mumm), to those who put blue food coloring in the water fountain at the University of Idaho (news paper worthy), the stolen skeleton from Mr. Harman's science class found hanging in a stall in the girls bathroom, the dead fish that someone threw in the ceiling light in the library and I am sure there are many, many more that I am not privy to or have forgotten. I don't know how the class of 1968 found the time to get an education, but we did! What is most important is that we all care for each other and have remained great friends for over a half century.
IN MEMORY
Today I got down my senior year book and I was thumbing through some pages when I read something written that brought tears to my eyes. It read: Linda, The time has really flown by, but we have had a lot of fun together. You are a real blast to be around... even if you do put snowmen in my locker! We'll see more of each other in the future, okay! Never change and have a good time in the years to come. I wish you only the best. Love, Mike Dumas
It was a moment of sadness for me when I reflected back on our friendship. Mike died in a car accident and he left behind his broken hearted fiance and his family and friends who loved him dearly. He was the man who always had a smile on his face and a dream in his heart. This is dedicated to our friend, Mike Dumas.
My locker was not very far from Mike's locker and every opportunity we had during school we'd throw pencils at each other. It got to be a real competition to see who could sneak up, pitching a pencil across the hall and hit the other one. He would end up with my pencils and I would end up with his, but I always came out ahead, because the ones I threw had the erasers worn down beyond the metal and his were always nice and new! One day during lunch hour, I slipped outside and made a snowman; complete with eyes, nose, and stick arms. I carefully carried it back into the building and put it in the bottom of Mike's locker. When he went to get his books after lunch, he opened the door to find a snowman melting at the bottom of his metal locker. It was such a surprise to him, he loved it and told me that it was so sad to see it melt away. It must have made a real impact on him, for in the ten year reunion booklet, Mike wrote that it was his most memorable experiences at MHS.
I didn't see Mike for along time after we graduated and then one day he showed up at my door. He was preparing a trip up the coast and back... riding a bicycle! He figured it would take him a couple of months and he had come to say goodbye. I was shocked that he was riding a bicycle across five states and told him he was crazy. He promised to come visit me when he got back and share his adventures. Sure enough, one day I got a call from him and he was on his way over. We talked for hours and he shared experiences about the time it rained so hard he had to climb inside a black garbage bag along side the road and wait for it to quit. One time, someone pulled a knife on him and he was so scared that he didn't know what to do, so he just jumped on his bike and rode like the wind! I could see the pride he had in accomplishing his goals and I was truly impressed. Shortly thereafter, I moved away and we lost touch. When I found out he had been killed in a car accident, I was devastated with grief. Mike was so unassuming and kind, and he valued his friends above all other possessions. Sometimes, we take people for granted, believing they will be around forever, but much like the snowman that had quickly melted away... one day, Mike Dumas was gone. by, Linda Sumner Urz, One fine day.
