February 14, 2004

What better way is there to remember today, my seventy-fourth birthday, other than to relate an event that occurred sixty-two years ago - the setting; Carr School located on Big Flint, Doddridge County, West Virginia.

Arel Powell, my teacher, was the principal and teacher of the seventh and eighth grades in the three-room Carr School back then. Burnice Smith taught the fourth, fifth and sixth grades. And Elizabeth McClain taught the first, second, and third grades. Burnice Smith had been my first, second, and third grade teacher in the now closed one-room school located three miles down the road. Carr School three years prior had replaced that one-room school at Alpha.

Arel Powell was an intellectual professional with very high morals. He had a scientific mind with a phenomenal insight of the future. He was also a very hard-working dairy farmer and family man who would arise at 4:30 o'clock each morning, milk and tend to his several cows before coming to Carr School. His insight of which I am speaking included this one day in 1942, his prediction and explanation of today's Integrated Circuits "ICs" and how it would become possible to produce microscopic electronic components and incorporate them into one "thumbnail" size unit. This he told of during the vacuum tube age and before the transistor and other solid state devices came into being. The unit to which he referred is known today as a CHIP. Since the early 1980's a single CHIP can contain a small computer "microcomputer" with millions of microscopic electronic parts. The larger computers, such as the one on which I am using to write this excerpt, can contain hundreds of CHIPS.

Now, to expound Arel's moral point of view, it will be necessary to relate this one event that took place in my seventh grade "joke telling" class.

The whole class was enjoying joke telling. Each student would take a turn at telling his or her favorite joke - then Button asked this:

"Why did Mrs. Red Tomato blush", then he continued with the answer: "Because she saw Mr. Green Pea across the garden".

Well, Arel didn't take lightly to that joke. He grabbed Button by the shoulder, took him outside, went to the willow bush growing beside the creek, and from it cut a willow switch. Arel then proceeded to thrash Button fervidly. As I look back on this, it appears that today's morality concept is much different than what it was during my boyhood.

Carr School progressed into a four-room school with a large gymnasium and served Big Flint community until it was replaced two years ago by a new centralized school located ten miles away. Then, in January of this year it was announced that Carr School and the property on which it was located would be auctioned off to the highest bidder. -End-