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Letter: 8

November 24,1994

      DEAR TODD: I have meant to write you sooner but I was concerned about Jeff's ingrown toe nail and I wrote him about it and then I remembered his birthday, so he took precedent and I neglected you for a while.

      I'm really glad to hear that you are doing well in school. You are very lucky to be smart. If you do the proper amount of studying, you will do well. I remember when I was in high school there were some kids that weren't very bright. Maynard Westland was a pretty good basketball player but he had a hard time getting passing grades and keeping himself eligible to play. He was one of the guards and it was a small school so they needed him. Maynard had so much trouble that all of the kids had to help him, so that he could pass and keep playing.

      When I was in the Army, I was amazed at how dumb some of the guys were who wanted to be pilots. We were in a preflight school where they give you some education in things that will help you understand conditions pilots and other air crew personnel will experience. One of the classes was physics. I had taken high school algebra, advanced algebra, geometry, general science and physics. I didn't realize that most of the young fellows had almost no math or science in high school. I spent two months trying to help one fellow with his physics problems. He couldn't even get it through his head that 6 percent was .06 when he calculated a problem. That preflight physics wasn't even as difficult as my high school physics. I wasn't feeling very well and had to sit right beside an oil burning stove that made me feel very drowsy and uncomfortable because of the wool olive drab shirt I had to wear. I had a hard time keeping awake, so I would work the assignments out for about three days ahead in case I needed to pay attention in class. I got 100's every day on the tests. I had never been the star pupil in my life but I was in that physics class. I actually slept through the class. The Captain teaching the class ignored me because he thought I was some kind of genius and was too bored to stay awake. (He didn't know that I studied hard in the barracks every night.) One day I heard him say to the class leader, "Mr. Ireland, give that man three demerits. He's not sitting at attention."I thought I was in trouble but the Captain was pointing to another guy in the fourth row. I sat in the front row. When we got back to the barracks, the guy in trouble said, "I happened to cross my ankles and got three demerits and that damned Howard goes to sleep and snores and nothing happens to him."And they told him "Yes, but you have been getting 20s and 30s and he gets 100s. No wonder he's teacher's pet."It was true. I was teacher's pet and enjoyed it.

      Try to get plenty of rest by going to bed early enough. Get your studying done soon enough so that you won't have to stay up late to have a little recreation time. I always wanted to have plenty of sleep when I was going to grade school and high school. Of course times were so different. We had newspapers, magazines, radio, and books. — no TV and all the other stuff that has come since. Going to the movies once a week was a big deal.

      Getting back to basketball, I meant to tell you about a game that got written up in Ripley's Believe It or Not. Pierre, the state capitol, came over to Blunt to play a game. At the half, the score was 8 to 0 in favor of Blunt. At the end of the game it was Blunt 25, Pierre 0. They would never come to Blunt again. They were so humiliated that Blunt, population 500, could beat them when they had 10 times more people or more and were the state capitol. They led a movement to break the towns by size, which was the way it should be, but we did beat them 25 to 0 that one time.

      I watched the game between Syracuse and West Virginia. It was nice to see the Mountaineers win. You should look at them as your home town now and root for them. You don't want to alienate any friends who are pulling for the home team.

      Hope you stay well. Grandma and I want you to know that we love you all and miss you. If we get our medical treatments under control, we may try to come to see you sometime in 1995.

      Lots of love,

      Grandpa

      Tell Chris and Tawnya they will be getting a turn at my boring letters.

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