At 5, I attended Kindergarten at Mrs. Bloodworths, right across Peachtree Battle Ave. from E. Rivers (primary) School.
I went through the seven grades at E. Rivers. I was a good, if not great, student. My teachers at E. Rivers are listed earlier in this discussion. All were good to excellent teachers.
I was not athletically inclined but could hold my own in neighborhood or school yard games, not good enough to be on school-level teams.
After graduating from E. Rivers, I attended North Fulton High School for one year. I did OK at N. Fulton but not up to my potential. The off-campus activities were not constructive so during the latter part of that year, fathers of Jim Manry, Preston Stevens and me got together and decided that their sons would all go to different prep schools. I followed Charles at McCallie School in Chattanooga, a strict, academic institution founded and run by Southern Presbyterian.
It was a wake-up call! Exams were given every six weeks. I made a foolish bet with Johnie Jones: who could study the least!
We tied - neither of us studied a bit. I flunked three out of four classes and he all four.
As a result, I received strong counseling from “Mr. Bob” McCallie my advisor to get by on work. My parents were most unhappy too. Henceforth, I buckled down and learned to study. My performance improved markedly and I graduated sixth in my class of 200.
Since the Atlanta school system was only 11 years, I was a year younger than my classmates, 16 years old at graduation. Afterward, I was usually the youngest in most groups.
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