Blog Post by
Cheryl Rainey, Ruling Elder
Pacific Presbyterian Church
Presbyterian Women of Giddings-Lovejoy Coordinating Team Member
Synod of MId-America Commissioner
Does anyone still ride bicycles? In the 10th summer of my life, at the end of the school year, I received a brand, new bicycle! Ahh! The world was now at my disposal or at least the small, rural community in which I lived! I lived less than a mile from our local, Public Library, and now I could ride my bicycle to the library every week to get new books! The first library was a small two-room house, transformed. Our librarian, Miss Kimbler, was wonderful in helping
us to find mysteries, or biographies, or books about friendship and adventure! After a few years, the library was moved to a larger facility which happened to be near a small-town grocery store. My friends and I would meet to purchase fire sticks and red licorice. We would go next door to the library, find a couple of great books, and whisper while sharing our contraband candy. I loved books! And I loved my new turquoise bicycle! That was the best summer!
A few years later, in 7th grade (does anyone remember Junior High School?) our English teacher, Miss Mitchell, was also our Drama director. The summer after 7th grade, Miss Mitchell took the Drama club to the Muny Opera (my first trip to the Muny). My Fair Lady was playing there in the summer of 1967! Does anyone remember back to 1967? It was a wonderful play and a beautiful evening! It was the best summer!
I had many more amazing English teachers throughout my years of schooling! (And all my teachers!) But, Grammar wasn’t my favorite subject! Is it anyone’s? But Literature was amazing! We were lucky to have so many wonderful teachers sharing their passion for reading with us. We were also lucky to have some amazing school librarians. Does anyone have a favorite English teacher? Or Algebra, or History teacher?
Does anyone still read books? Most are on I pads, electronic books, or computers. Many bookstores have gone out of business, as many read on their electronic devices. I still love to read real books, with pages to turn, as the mystery or the adventure unfolds. Hopefully, people still have a hard copy of the Bible? You may have numerous versions of the Bible? I can’t imagine reading over 2000 pages of the Bible on my laptop! Does anyone remember back to Sunday School classes when our teachers would ask us to read scripture from the Bible?
Our small town, rural church has had a Book Club for over 20 years! In all those years we have read over 220 books as a group, under the leadership, of Mrs. Headrick. She is no longer with us, but she was also a school librarian! Go figure, right?
In closing (do you close blogs?) I would like to thank my grade school teachers for teaching me how to read. Thank You to all my teachers and all the librarians who have touched my life and so many others!
Cheryl Rainey, Ruling Elder
Pacific Presbyterian Church
Presbyterian Women of Giddings-Lovejoy Coordinating Team Member
Synod of MId-America Commissioner
