Mrs. Jimmie Bell was my favorite teacher ever! She taught first grade at Roseborough Elementary School in Mount Dora, Florida.
She wasn’t much taller than us, and always called us “little people”.
I remember being taught to read, and a couple of pages into a story, I closed the book and went to her desk. I said, “Mrs Bell there’s something wrong - when I read I see pictures in my head!”
She smiled, gave me a hug, and said, “That means it is a good story. When it is a good story you will see it in your head.”
On the opposite end of good teachers, there was the most evil teacher that ever lived - Mrs. Bolt.
Tall, skinny, with a bird-like face - she was verbally and physically abusive to children. She sat perched on a stool and would make you stand directly in front of her while being interrogated. If she didn’t like your response her hand would grab you by the throat and choke you.
All the other teachers and the doddering old-ass principal, Nelson Aldrich, were terrified of her.
One morning, in addition to milk money and lunch money, Daddy gave me money for school supplies, and that afternoon, a kid in my class, Kenny Crawford’s lunch money was missing - even though it was Miss Bell’s class, Mrs Bolt made her way over to take over the situation.
When she found out that “white-trash Johnny Berry” (her words) had money for supplies that morning, she deduced that I stole the money.
She lifted me up by my neck and threw me onto the floor into a corner and began berating me and ordering me to confess. Finally the principal arrived and I was taken to his office, where he tried to call daddy.
Since daddy was at work and my mom was deaf, he asked me for the name of the company where my dad worked. I said that daddy worked for Mr. Leonard Carter at Carter Construction.
Mr Aldrich turned white as a sheet, and started apologizing - he was shaking, nervous, and clearly scared.
I found out that evening that Mr Leonard Carter was a member of the school board, and that he didn’t mind giving daddy the next morning off so that he could come down to the school and have one of his John Bill talks with Mrs Bolt and Mr Aldrich…
I never had any more trouble out of them.
