Reverie of Roger William Junior high school circa 1962

My memories of this school go back to the year 1962. Then it was called Roger Williams Junior High School. The front view of the building on Thurbers Ave. - those four tall columns - always reminded me of the architecture of those splendid government buildings in ancient Rome. By the way I studied FIRST YEAR LATIN there and FIRST YEAR ALGEBRA and yes, there was also a class in ANCIENT HISTORY. In vain I tried to concentrate on " Ivanhoe " in the English Literature class. Funny I was nicknamed " Wamba " after a character in Sir Walter Scott's novel. Later in life I got around to finishing " Ivanhoe ". I recall GYM CLASS followed by hot showers in the shower room. Then a hot lunch ( for $.35 ? ) : a favorite of mine was fish cakes with mashed potatoes and gravy , string beans and Butter Scotch pudding for dessert. I went to Roger Williams at the same time as my younger brother Ray. We laughed at the popular music back then which could be heard on any of those transistors radios that were coming out . Crazy lyrics like " You'll be happy for the rest of your life if you make an ugly woman your wife .. get an ugly woman to marry you " . And Pat Boon's now very politically incorrect " " Speedy Gonzales " : "You better come home Speedy Gonzales, away from tannery row. Stop all of your drinking with that floosie named Flo! ". I think the song " Monster Mash " also came out at this time: " I was working in the lab late one night when my eyes beheld an eerie sight .. " A pillar of ORDER back then was one DONALD W. OLIVER ( later a public school official ) On my very first day at Roger Williams he spotted a kid with ATTITUDE . My legs were crossed in the auditorium . " Are you comfortable ? " he shouted in a very irate tone. When I replied " Yes " he evicted me from the auditorium . Later on Oliver and I got along just fine. I enjoyed striking out at soft ball games in that large recreation field behind the school. One day a light went on in my head in the ALGEBRA I class. After that I excelled in high school mathematics [ something connected with " factoring " - the F-O-I-L method ?] .