Thursday, December 7, 2006

WHERE'S MISS ENNIS?

“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)

Miss Ennis was my 5th grade teacher.   This was during the 1964-1965 school year.  As most of you know, I grew up in Canton, Massachusetts.  At that time a new elementary school was under construction, but would not be ready until the Fall of 1965.  The elementary schools were overcrowded and the Town had to do something.  The “something” was that for the 1964-1965 year, all 5th Grades in the Canton Public Schools were on the lowest level floor of the 1963 addition to Canton High School. “The 5th Grade in the High School” was almost run like a private school (or a charter school) that year.  The one male teacher, Mr. Lynch, became the de facto “principal”.  I didn’t like Mr. Lynch at all, but his ‘64-’65 teaching assignment did wonders for his career.  He ended up becoming a highly respected elementary school principal in Canton (later becoming “Dr. Lynch”) and retiring just a few years ago.  None of this has anything to do with Miss Ennis; but it’s background...

Miss Ennis’ name was Ellen Ennis.  She was in her early 20s.  She actually shared a lot about herself with her class (usually teachers didn’t share much about their personal lives, but she did).  She was from Glen Road in the Wellesley Farms section of Wellesley.  She was a pretty serious Roman Catholic.  I think she had gone to either Boston College or Providence College.  She drove a brand new white Ford Mustang.  She had very high expectations for her students, particularly the boys.  She very much liked me, but it was obvious she feared for my future.  It bothered her that I was not athletic enough.  Looking back, I think she feared I would become gay.  

That was a tough year for me.  I hung around with a young man I shouldn’t have gotten involved with (in that class) and it led to a lot of problems.  I got into very serious trouble (for a 5th grader) in late September of that year.  Maybe I’ll write about that another time.  Did you ever watch “Leave it to Beaver”?  Well, I will say that as a kid I was a LOT like Beaver.  Remember how Richard, and Whitey, and Gilbert would manipulate him into things and he’d get in trouble?  In elementary school, that was me.  

December 1, 1964 was my father’s birthday.  He was 42 that year.  That’s interesting because in fact it was 42 years ago, and yes, if he were still living, he’d now be 84.  I got in very serious trouble with Miss Ennis that day; instigated by the kid I wrote about.  Miss Ennis did the unthinkable:  She wrote a long, handwritten letter to my father about it!  I had to bring it home and have it signed by him!

I wanted to DIE.  Remember the kid that was caned in Singapore about ten years ago?  I’d GLADLY have been caned rather than bring that letter home!  My father was very strict.  I had already been in serious trouble in September.  It was his birthday.   It was horrible.  I didn’t know what to do.  Twenty-two years before “Ferris Beuhler’s Day Off”, I put on an Oscar-level performance of faking being sick, and so I got out of going to school the next day.  I tried forging my father’s signature onto the letter.  It was a terrible job and I knew it.  Now, I’d only made matters worse!  Looking back, my father NEVER would have just signed a letter like that anyway.  He’d have contacted the school and met with the teacher, and I’d have been, well, “dead”...

You may not believe this but for the next week I faked sick day after day.  I knew I could not continue this forever.  Finally, I went back to school.  I hoped it would all just blow over.

“Did you show that letter to your father?”  Miss Ennis asked me.

“Yes,” I lied.

“What did he say?”

“He was mad.” I said.  It was an obvious lie.  It was one of those situations for which Bob Dole used to say, “You know it, I know it, everybody knows it.”  

To my shock she never brought up the matter again.  I think maybe she knew that the letter thing was just more than I could handle with my very strict father.  Of course, she did not know it was his birthday.  Well, now I’m 52-years-old and have been an Assemblies of God minister for over twenty-five years.  My own children are grown.  Miss Ennis married a man named Kane in June of 1965 at St. John’s Church in Wellesley.  I attended the ceremony.  I got my parents to drive me, and that was a “trip” because they considered it very inconvenient and almost refused to take me.  Mr. Kane was in the Air Force.  I never saw Miss Ennis/Mrs. Kane again.

As  silly as it may sound, the scenario I’ve just written about has kind of bothered me for forty-two years.  I know God has long ago forgiven me.  I’d love to contact Ellen Ennis Kane who would now be about 66-years-old and explain what happened.  I know it’s usually easy to locate people on the internet.  I’ve located all sorts of people from my past on the internet.  I found out that my high school biology teacher, for instance, is now a professor at U.Mass-Amherst.  A girl I liked in Bible College is now a missionary to Germany.  (It looks like she tripled in weight since the ‘70s ... she’s married with several kids....I’m kind of glad a relationship with her did not work out!)  But I can’t find Miss Ennis.  December 1 just went by a few days ago, and I’m dealing with those memories all over again...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow daddy i didn't know any of this!

Anonymous said...

Bob, I know you didn't mean for your story about Miss Ennis to be funny, but I found it delightful!  Who would have thought that Bob "Buehler" would turn out to be a minister of God's word.  It just goes to show that God does indeed have a sense of humor.

Thanks.  It was a wonderful read.

Jennie