Speech Given at Salt Lake City Banquet

Saturday Evening, July 28, 2007

Good Evening,

 We welcome all of you to our 19th annual DoDDS Reunion being held here in the Marriott Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah . We are spending three days to be reacquainted with old friends and relive those overseas school experiences!

 Before I begin, I would like to ask all of you a question. How many of you remember that first day when you arrived at your overseas destination? Raise your hand if you do. Did you go by boat or plane? Were you in a hotel, a BOQ, a VOQ? What was the weather like? How many new teachers were with you? Did you think to yourself, “Ohhhhhh, did I get myself in some mess here?” Tina remembers her arrival on Okinawa, “The Rock”! As they opened the door of the plane, the heat and the humidity came rushing in and she thought they were entering the “gates of hell”! Dotti spent her first night in a BOQ in Midway and around three in the morning found Navy guys riding bikes around her bed. They were so excited to see a new female! Joyce came to Germany with her dog.“What are you doing here with a dog? You cannot have a dog in the quarters." "Well, we’re here. I was told I could bring my dog." She arrives at her final destination. Baumholder Dora (head of BOQ billeting) speaks, “We were told by phone you are arriving with a dog. We didn’t know you were coming with a dog! Who told you, you could bring a dog?” she demanded.

How many of you remember someone like Dora? By the way, the dog stayed.

 My experiences began even before I left for my first assignment. I had to travel to Newark Air Force Base in Ohio to get my physical. And there she was………Wanda……. (absolutely no training in the medical field)……..standing in front of me! You see she had to give me my eye test. She had a manual entitled, “How to give an eye test.” Now she is behind a desk and I am on the other side. She raises a sign and says, “Read this!” I did. She moves the sign further away from me and says, “Read it again!” I read it again! A third time still further…”Read it again!” Again, I read it. NOW, DON’T MOVE! She takes out a 12-inch ruler and starts measuring from the paper to me. At one point she says, “Here, put your finger here.” I did and she continues to measure until finally

SHE gets the distance. Some minor math and she declares, “You passed your EYE EXAM.”

 It’s not only the new teachers who had some interesting experiences. Do you remember the first time someone from your family came to visit? Now this one I heard about. I don’t know if it is true or not. Mother Pearl comes to visit her son in Germany . He puts her on one of those three-day-bus tours from hell while he is still in school. She is somewhere on the autoroute in Belgium and the bus makes one of its bathroom/food stops. They get off the bus. She gets in a food line and buys a cup of coffee and a candy bar. She finds a table and sits. As accustomed in Europe , someone sits at her table. He too has a cup of coffee. He pulls out a paper and begins to read. Now between them are one donut and a candy bar. All of a sudden he breaks off a piece of the candy and eats it. What is he doing she thought! So, she breaks off a piece to show him it was her candy bar! He is nonchalant and again he breaks off a piece of the candy. At this point she has had it! She stares directly at him, grabs his donut and takes a big bite, places it back on the dish and then leaves. She storms off to the bus and takes her seat. How rude these locals are, she thought, as she opens her purse to get her hanky. Instead of pulling out her hanky, she pulls out her CANDY BAR!

 All those experiences………the new country... the strange smells... having to take a drivers test... learning the military ways, waiting for your mail from home. Do you remember that first box from home? My mother sent me things like cookies and chewing gum. She packed it in popcorn! I wonder if she did the same thing for my father during WWII?

 OK, I’ve been doing the talking. Now it is your turn………It’s a pop quiz! Raise you hand if you know the answer and please yell because my hearing is bad……

 1. What year was the Dependents School Service, DSS, established? May 4, 1946

 2. What was the tuition per child set at? $4 per child for the top four enlisted ranks.

 3. Where did they get the funds to run the first schools? In 1946, the Class VI profits generated more than $375,000 in profits.

 4. On what base was the first military school opened?

Johnson Army Base in Japan on September 7, 1946

 5. What year was Dr. Joseph Mason hired? Spring of 1956. At that time Doc Mason was superintendent of schools in Skokie , IL .

 6. Which high schools (five in all) were the first to open?

I know all of you have memories of those years and I would like to put out a plug for AOSHS. They have a section on their website in which teachers and administrators have written their first-hand experiences of living abroad. Please……..take the time………..write down your experiences……..send them to AOSHS. For over 25% of you, this is your first DODDS World Reunion ….. And I know you have stories to tell.

 Do any of you remember Paul Francis? He taught in France and Belgium for over 40 years and recently retired in Palm Springs . Paul passed away this past January. The funeral home has a place where you can send a message to the guest book. Paul received nearly 100 messages, mostly from past students. I want to think these messages are also for you because you did make a difference in the classroom! Listen to what his students wrote. “Like so many while I am saddened. I consider myself fortunate to have known such a wonderful and articulate man who truly enjoyed life and loved sharing it with so many people.” “I remember Mr. Frances sitting on the end of his desk saying ‘Do not believe everything you read’, and that has followed me throughout my life.” “You shared your inspirational view of the simple and complex, and your sense of humor with us in every class.” “For all you former students, he still had every course outline, every book, and ‘stencil’ from every class he’d ever taught.” “The hat, the scarf, the smile, the stories…Paul was one of a kind.” “Thank you Paul for the extraordinary contribution you have made to my life. We will miss your light in this world. You said once that you would like your epitaph to be: “Paul Francis, lover of beauty and of truth.” No truer words were ever spoken.”

 I saw behind me those teachers who had gone, and before me those teachers who are to come.

 I looked back and saw my teacher and his teacher and all our teachers….

 And in front to see new teachers,

And the teachers upon teachers beyond.

 And their eyes were my eyes….

As I felt so they had felt, and were to feel, as then,

So now, As tomorrow and forever.

 Then I was not afraid for I was in a long line that had no beginning

And no end.

Time that was to Time that is not yet,

Raised their hands to show the link.

And we found that we were one…………..

Adapted from a poem by Richard Llewellyn