School Days: Before Going to School

March, 1952 (Collection of the author)

School Days: Before Going to School

Before I attended my first day of school at Oaklawn School in Cranston, Rhode Island, I attended two locations for pre-schools. As an only child with few neighborhood children to play with between 1950 and 1953, it was felt by my parents, maternal grandparents and my pediatrician that I needed more socialization. I didn't like my pediatrician. He made me have shots.

 I know that my parents attended church at All Saints Episcopal Church in the Pontiac Section of  nearby Warwick, RI and I clearly remember the Preschool Sunday School Class because they let me ride a tricycle and we listened to Bible stories. I met the minister and I thought he was God.

Around that same time, my mother signed me up to attend a pre-school located in a home in Oaklawn. They picked me up at home and delivered me back all before noon. There was a flower hanging over the rear-view mirror and the lady driving told us to look at it because we were going to draw it when we got to school. My mother loved my drawing and kept it for a long time but it was not there when I cleaned out my parent's home to sell. It was a small, cobalt-blue wildflower. I don't know what the name of that school was but the car was a dark color and quite big since there were other children picked up at the same time.

Later that year, I went to a pre-school located near my grandparents in the Washington Park area. It had a playground and a high fence around it. I remember the small slide. My grandmother wanted me to go to the Henry Barnard School in downtown Providence and we toured that school on a day they had Kindergarten graduation. The kids wore small caps and gowns.

But, my mother didn't want me to go to school so far from our home and after that more families moved into houses. So, it was decided that I would go to Kindergarten at Oaklawn School.