I spent some time in Slatington Memorial Park the other day. What a nice job they did with that site! It’s a memorial to all those, from the Slatington area, who served in this nation’s armed forces. It is a beautiful little park, right on Main Street. A great place for quiet reflection.
It is also the site of some of the best memories from my childhood. On this little site was my sprawling, and grand, Slatington Junior High School. 7th and 8th grades.
It was here that our district’s five elementary schools converged. We would stay converged, like a small family of 121, through high school graduation. We shared lockers in 7th grade. I shared with Chris Green. We remain friends, though distant, to this day.
In this building I learned to dance. In the basement were Saturday night dances. I am not a good dancer, but back then I looked for the opportunity to slow dance with a certain girl. Paul Anka’s “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” was the best for slow dancing.
This was 1965, 1966, and 1967. Revolution in pop culture was all around us. But here in Slatington, boys had to wear ties and jackets for Thursday assembly programs. This led to dress code fights when we got to high school.
This grand and sprawling building had no gym. We had to walk about a block, in all kinds of weather, to Smith Hall for gym and shop classes and band instrument instruction. Sadly, Smith Hall is no longer with us either.
I have lots of wonderful memories of the junior high building and my junior high days. I think this particular memory, from junior high, sums up my feelings about growing up small town. Sitting in Owen Roberts’s Social Studies class on the second floor. Mr. Roberts is having a conversation, out the window, with Charlie Carlton the roofer. Mr. Carlton is working on the roof of the Baptist Church across the street. Of course they knew each other. This is the charm of small town life. Like Andy Griffith’s Mayberry, like Father Knows Best’s Springfield, and like Beaver’s Mayfield, Slatington is my hometown and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
If you are ever passing through Slatington, people do tend to just pass through, take five minutes and stop at this park. It is a gem.
A Semi-retired Kind of Life 