One of my best high school memories was doing artwork for the Hanford High School newspaper, the Meteor.  Doing a regular comic strip was the most fun. It made me somewhat of a celebrity in high school.

Wendell Wilkie was running against FDR for president, and I did an editorial type cartoon for the front page. That was 1936.

I didn’t save any of the copies of the Meteor. One day, my son-in-law, Dick and I were out at Dick’s workshop. Dick was going through his cabinets throw ing out stuff, and he said: “Here’s a bunch of old Meteors.” They were all Meteors from 36 and 37,  the years in which I did these drawings. 

Dick gave them to me. After six decades, I finally saw my old cartoons again!

I was Sergeant-at-Arms for the Mickey Mouse Club

We all were together a lot like that. Then my mom and dad – the school I went to, this house school, there were only two white kids in the school and that was my cousin Calvin and me. The rest were all Mexicans or black. I had complete tolerance with Mexicans. I grew up with them and played with them and everything. I don’t feel that way about them now, as you know.

So, my mother and dad moved to get me out of that environment I guess. We moved up to what they call Harris Street. They bought a house up there and the Old South School was across the street and that’s the one I went to then. Then my classroom was full of all the kids from rich families; the daughter of the big undertaker in town and the daughter of the big Chevrolet dealer. They were all there and I fell in love with all those girls. (Laughter) I didn’t know what to do about it though. I think I was about nine or ten years old.

Then I was appointed traffic control director and I got to wear an armband and a whistle. I would go around and check all the intersections around the school to see the people working for me were doing their job. I must have been 10 years old. Then when school started I would blow the whistle and they would all come in. That made me feel really important. About the time too the Mickey Mouse club in Hanford was pretty big. The theatre would be full on Saturdays and someway I got elected to Sergeant at Arms in the Mickey Mouse Club and I got another whistle. If the kids got too loud and everything I would blow my whistle and the theater would just, shhh! It was an important job!

There were probably…I can’t remember, but I would say probably 100 or 150 maybe. High school at the time when I went from there into high school I think the high school had about 800 students. There was 135 in my graduating class. That just kind of equates out.

High School
Well, when I got into high school I was still overweight. I was a fat kid, you know? I wanted to play football and the coach wouldn’t let me. He said I was too young and I’d get hurt so I went home sobbing to my dad. “We gotta go up and get me on that team!” So, he went up with me and the coach said, “Charlie, I’d love to let him play but I can’t do it to you because he’ll get hurt. He’s just too young.” So, I really didn’t develop physically enough until my senior year and then I played football. I got to play some but not a lot.

The bowl, now they call the Neighbor Bowl, where all the games are played, I played in the first game in that stadium. So, every time I see it I think of that. Jacob Neighbor; he was really an authority figure. He was a handsome man and heavy jowls, square jaw, snow white hair and they called him Jake. Boy nobody would want to get in trouble and go before Jake because he was really……He was a principal.

My coach, Andy Anderson, I remember him. When I came back to Hanford Virginia told me that he turned into a wino. He just killed himself drinking wine. I didn’t have anything spectacular in high school. I don’t think I went on a date when I was in high school. A lot of girls I liked but I never went out on a date.

Why I was the Youngest Kid in my Class
I played baseball for a year, but I was too young. I was a year and a half behind everybody. When we lived down on Forest Street my cousin and I went to the Old South School. It was the one that had all the Hispanics and black people in it. Calvin went about a year to a year and a half sooner than I did. He was older.

So, I went over to school and my mother took me over and I started in first grade and the teacher said, “Oh we’ve got too many students in here so we’re going to move over to this other room.” So I went over and sat down in front of him on the second grade side. So then shortly thereafter the teacher said, “We’re moving to another room.” So the second grade moved to the third grade room and so I just got up and moved with him and I told my mother, “I’m in the third grade!” (Laughter) I was about seven then.