Fichas Memorias

Does anyone remember the day the Spanish girls' basketball team came to San Pablo to play us, one-on-one? Despite their obvious furriness they were far from cuddly! We were sixth or seventh grade weaklings. I would swear someone went down to the local soccer field to recruit a team to play against us. They probably issued each a stuffed Maidenform, uniform, no razors, and, loaded them onto a bus headed our way. It was humiliating and painful, but we must have "made their day."
"Cattle Cars to School". For some reason we did not have buses but were issued semi-truck troop carriers. We nicknamed them cattle cars.We had the trucks, the drivers and a pair of GI's to help us on and off the trailers. I think that was the first protest we ever launched against anything. My brother wrote a letter to the base newspaper to complain about it's safety. When we got buses, they also became transportation to the movies. And I know everyone remembers the buses to the theater.
Very early on our first school was in the El Cano building in downtown Sevilla. We actually only had one floor of it. If I mssed the bus I could always ride the tram-via. My bus stop was right next to a tappa stand. Convenient if you missed breakfast; you could buy churros. The was the school we had just before the one in the old barrel factory. What glamorous places we went to school before the San Pablo buildings were built.
The BX...that was an experience! Can-cans, Elvis records, and everything basic we did not order from the Sears catalog. Do you know, when I visited other bases some of them had really nice BXes, but Sirepes Street in downtown Sevilla had neat goodies. And, up until I returned to the States, I didn't know that many kinds of things were ever sold in one single store, other than the BX.
One more thing for the memories. Jean Vadja reminded me of the white pigeons in the park. Everyone had one of those tourist pictures! You know, person, bird seed cone, covered head to toe in pigeons.
While I am on a roll.....the men who wheeled the player piano around on two wheels, asking for money to play beautiful music. When we first arrived in Sevilla, we lived in the Christina Hotel. A couple of men would plant themselves under our window and crank up the piano. Daddy paid them every morning NOT to play the "musica malo." So we were greeted each morning with "Senior, Musica malo, Musica malo!" We did have a great childhood!

In 1962 (I think) three of my classmates gave me a doll; an adorable "Charlie Brown" doll made of hard plastic and about 10 inches high. I think the ones who gave him to me were Richard Bechtel, Robbie Goff and Jerry Maracchini. Who knows if my memory is serving me well now! But that little doll was always special to me. I kept it for years and years until one of my three children lost it.

My memories maybe aren't as clear as they used to be but is anyones? I remember Teen Club, Mr. Chase and the Martian Chronicles, and going home for lunch! The first football game to be held downtown at the soccer stadium, bullfights, Feria (who could forget that?), carriage rides back to Santa Clara housing. The beer factory (Estrella Sur), San Pablo snack bar, seeing Mrs. Chase riding on the back of their car as it was too small for 3 people to ride in. Miss MacDonald always rode with them to school. Mr. Chase drove a MG Sprite sportscar. I rembember that he couldn't get it into reverse so the boys turned it around for him each day. (Sort of bounced it around!)
How about typing class and the carriages flying off the typewriter when you manually returned the carriage. Mr. Cormack greeting us each morning. The FLOOD and the gypsies moving into our brand new gym/cafeteria. NO DONKEYS OR COWS ALLOWED!!! Don't forget that we were all exposed to TB and had to be tested! How about Mr. Brownlee's VW being turned sideways in the carport and no way could it be driven out!!!!! (Halloween.)
So many more things to remember, all the friends and all the fun. I think the best memory was that we all got along and made all these wonderful memories. Lets keep it going!!!!!!!

I was in Santa Clara from 1961-1965 and had the distinction of being in the first freshman class at the new high school at San Pablo. I too share many of the memories extolled on the home page...
The teen club (with Manuel watching over the game room,)
the snack bar at San Pablo (my first chocolate coke,)
the theater at the old San Pablo gymnasium (excellent popcorn,)
the snack mobile that ran through Santa Clara (excellent fudgesicles,)
Juan, the fruit and vegetable guy with the 3 wheeled motorized cart,
the knife sharpener with the pan flute and the haunting melody that I still hear to this day,
the slot machines in the NCO club,
the other motorized vendor in Santa Clara who "hawked " Plastico..Ballones,"
my father with his afternoon radio program (wrong music,)
the newspaper I delivered, "La Frontera", the base newspaper from Moron,
Feria, Semana Santa,
"Stink Village" behind the Santa Clara school (gone by '63,)
playing junior varsity basketball and going on the road to Rota (real ice cream!!!)
TV with ridiculous voices for Hoss Cartwright and Herman Munster!
Bullfights!
the elegant Alfonso XIII Hotel (where movie stars stayed,)
Jean DeMarco (the object of my first lust unfulfilled,)
Don Anawalt-Mark Brosseau-Paul Antrim (my best friends,)
having a maid, having a gardener, I could go on forever...........

We left Sevilla when San Pablo closed in December of 69. As I remember we were one of the last families to leave there. I remember the last year the base and school were open, we had the "dormies"! All the kids whose parents were ambassadors all over Europe lived in a dorm on base and attended school with us! What a culture shock they were to our sheltered bunch! They were much more worldly than we in many ways!
Oh, so well I remember the block parties we had in Santa Clara housing! We had an island in the middle of the street in front of our house and we used to all drag our extension cords out there, haul out the stereos and head to the Coke plant on one side of us and the beer plant on the other!
Remember the carports? Four cement posts with a thatched roof? I'll never forget when my mom drove her car into ours and knocked it down on top of the car!
We also stayed at the Christina hotel when we first arrived. I was SO in love with Guillermo, one of the bellboys! We lived in town for a while, at the villa Santa Maria, complete with fruit trees and the big iron fence and iron gates. Every day when we got off the bus, we rode the bumper cars in the Playa. My knees were terminally bruised!
After the 1969 graduation (my boyfriend's) a group of us went downtown to party the night away. I remember we had some detergent tablets that we threw into the big fountain! Wow! I've never seen so many bubbles in all my life!
Yes, we also have the standard pictures taken by the carriages downtown with all the pigeons about!