A Blessed Life (10)
The spring of 1959, marked another milestone in my life. In May of that year I graduated from eighth grade at Center Hill School. By the end of summer I would be a teenager and headed for my freshman year of high school. Leaving Center Hill was a bittersweet experience. I had spent six and one half years there with teachers and friends who were very special to me. At the same time there were feelings of excitement about being a teenager, and the adventure that awaited at Bourbon County High School.
I cannot help but mention more about the grade school years that were now behind me. The influence of the teachers, and especially the principal, Mr. Sam Pollock, was truly immeasurable. Today I wish every grade school child could have the exact elementary education that was my privilege to experience. Mr. Pollock was a fine Christian man who coached our seventh and eighth grade basketball team. By the way, we were pretty doggone good. But more than a coach, he was an understanding counselor and disciplinarian. He also allowed for expressions of faith. We did things every day that probably could be done only in private schools today. Bible reading and the Lord’s Prayer were a regular part of the school routine. I remember somewhere around the sixth grade, a new boy named Billy Tucker enrolled at Center Hill. He and his brother Jeff lived down the highway from us, and we rode Mr. Miller’s bus to and from school every day. Billy and I became friends, and somewhere along the line he thought he had a call to preach. Being bolder than I, he approached Mr. Pollock about having an assembly and letting him preach. He asked me to read scripture, and I chose Revelation 10, which I had no idea what it meant; but I thought it was mysterious, and would make me look wise. Mr. Pollock called a half hour assembly in the gym. I don’t recall Billy’s sermon, but I can still picture that gymnasium with our schoolmates and teachers showing support or tolerance for two starry eyed youngsters. Terry A. Morrison