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Here, gathered in our beloved South Dakota, are a few members of our Williamson / Mattson Clan. Charles and Luella are to be blamed (be kind, they didn't know what they were doing). We're generally a happy bunch and somewhat intelligent (notwithstanding our tenuous grasp on reality). I'm also proud to say that most of us still have our teeth.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Charles at School. The Formative Years....

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
Dad goes by different names to the different groups of people that know him. To his older relatives he is known as CB. To us he is Dad. To the people at WalMart he is Charlie and to the Grandkids he is Grandpa.
Oh, I forgot..... Mom has several different words for him depending on her mood or his mood. Some are as close to endearing as they can get considering their over 50 years of marriage and others not so endearing. They really know how to push each other's buttons when they are so inclined.

This is a post of Charlie, CB, Dad and Grandpa's early years in school. He attended school in Lead, South Dakota until his parents divorced. Then he and Grandma Elda moved to Belle Fourche where he attended Belle Fourche High School.

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Here we have living proof that Dad attended Kindergarten. This is his official Kindergarten graduation photo. Dad is the boy on the far right standing. His ears give him away. He doesn't look too happy. Kindergarten may not have been easy, how could it have been considering there were 34 students in his Kindergarten class! Can you believe it?! Today's public would demand a school board's head if we had kindergarten classes that size today. Back then it was the norm. Teachers had a way of dealing with large classes back then. Teachers could paddle you then. You stepped out of line you got the ruler on your palms or the board on your backside. Oh, the good ole days......

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This is the actual graduation certificate. This was the start of what was to become dad's greatest asset - his sharp intellect (according to him). Oh, he also points out the fact that he was considered the best looking guy in the school. Mind you, that statement is a hard one to prove considering most of his classmates are either dead, lost to time or suffering from dementia and can't contradict his memory of the way things were. Of course there are those in our family of advanced years that remember Dad during his school years. I wonder what their memories of Dad are during his school years? Anyone want to share?

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Here is a school picture of Dad when he was 12 or 13. That hair is what set him apart I'm sure. Didn't every boy back then want a flat top?

Cheers to ya Dad!

Simply,
Victor

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