Life and Times of Ann Williams (8)

Early School Years

Ann writes, “My childhood years were spent in what I would consider a normal development pattern.  After my catch up growth period, I developed physically at a somewhat normal pace.  I can remember being taller than most of the boys and lots of girls in my age group.  I also remember a great desire to be pretty and popular.  Because I felt I was neither of these, I concentrated on making good grades.  I guess I would be considered a member of the honor society in most schools today, but the school I attended was small and in the country.”

NORMAN’S COMMENTS:  Of course I didn’t know Ann at this stage of her life, but I’ve always considered her – not pretty – but stunningly beautiful.  I don’t know of a single woman in her seventies, who’s as attractive as she is.  Once she wrote down her birthday on forms at a dentist’s office.   They came back to her and said, “Didn’t you make a mistake? You wrote down your birth year as 1935.  Didn’t you mean 1953?  She’s always been popular in my books, and I’m the only one who really counts.  There’s an old saying, “Pretty is as pretty does.”  She manages that both ways, except I would replace it by saying “Beauty is as beauty does.” 

Ann continues, “I can remember fighting with a girl over the affections of a boy which was not normal for the time.

“My greatest contribution during this time that is etched in my memory is the way I befriended people who were considered by other students to be unlovable.  One boy, in particular, was my biggest project.  Bubba had a learning disability, but since we had no special education classes, he attended class with us.  He was three or four years older than we were, and much bigger.  The other children would make fun of him, and I can still remember how much it hurt me.  I would let him swing me in the swings, sit by me on the bus, and eat with me in the cafeteria.  Of course the other students included me in their ridicule, but I guess it was worth it for his smile and warm hand clasp.  He would tell me he liked me, and almost every day he would bring me some small gift.”