Rags to Riches - From There to Here

Glendal Leon Reeves, an Autobiography - Page 2

No one in my family had ever attended college, but I did not let that deter me. If I wanted a better life, that is what I had to do. My high school Biology teacher was one of the most influential people in my life. He convinced me that I could, and should attend college. Also, one of my neighbors, who lived 2 miles away, was a good influence. He had left the farm and attended East Central State College, which is now East Central University, in Ada, Oklahoma, about 52 miles away. I decided to do the same. When I graduated from Gerty High School at the age of 17. I immediately moved to Ada and enrolled in summer school at East Central. I also got a job working at the local Woolworth’s store earning $1 per hour. Yes that is ONE dollar. (Does anyone remember Woolworth stores?) With a few dollars and student loans, I persevered. My parents were not able to help pay for my education. You can guess that I did not have all of the amenities that most present day students have. Life was difficult, but I knew there was something better in the future.

Three years and four summers later, at the age of 20, I graduated from East Central with a B.S. in Education, and was ready to begin a new life which would hopefully be much better. I had decided earlier in my life that I would like to live in California. I had aunts, uncles, and cousins there. I accepted a position in Fontana, CA teaching 5th grade. I had never seen a class of 36 students before, but there they were. What a challenge! After spending 3 years there, I decided to move to Orange County. I accepted a job in the Santa Ana Unified School District, 5th grade again. It was during this year that I met my future wife, Janyce.

I had no idea that before that year was over I would be drafted to serve in the United States Army at the age of 24. (Does anyone remember the draft?) No, I didn’t want to go. Did anyone? I spent the summer walking precincts for Eugene McCarthy’s presidential campaign. I had strong anti-war feelings and thought he was the right person for president. It was such a tumultuous time in our country’s history.

Early in September, I was whisked off in a bus with many other long-haired twenty-somethings that felt the same as I did. A few hours later, we arrived in Fort Ord California for Basic Training. What a pile of hair on the floor of the barber shop when they finished with this busload of future soldiers! Ten weeks. Ten weeks of hell and then on to something worse.

In November, after Basic Training was over, I was sent to Fort Sill, in Lawton, OK for artillery training. (Hadn’t I spent all of my younger days trying to get out of Oklahoma?) It was cold, probably one of the coldest winters in Oklahoma history. What made it worse was that everyone knew what came next. If you were a warm body, you were going to Vietnam. It was during a short leave at Christmas that Jan and I were engaged, just 5 weeks before I shipped out.