Summer vacation breaks were much longer in years past.

It is surprising how soon many school districts return to school in this day and age. Many of them go back the first week of August—most a few days after that.

I know I am giving away my “baby boomer” age. But we did not go back to school until after Labor Day weekend in early September. We got well over three months off in the summer.

It was always a big deal to go to “town,” what we called going to Williamson to buy new school clothes. We usually got a couple of shirts, a couple of pairs of pants, and, of course, a new pair of shoes.

Much of this is because we grew a few inches every year. The big reason is that we did not have as many outfits or clothes as kids do today. So we wore out the clothes we had.

Most of the summer months, I only wore shorts and went barefoot. It was difficult to get back into the habit of wearing “regular” clothes when school started back.

I can recall going to JCPenney, Cox’s or Cantees for new clothing. But we always went to Jimmy’s Friendly Shoe Store for our new shoes. Williamson was a thriving downtown business district back in the day. It was the hub of the Tug Valley area.

Then, for school supplies, we usually went to G.C. Murphy or Hobbs to get a new notebook, paper and a pack of pencils. We never had or used backpacks, which is a given today.

Even though we could not wait until school ended in late May, it was always exciting to go back to school in the fall to see your classmates and friends. Some of them you had not seen or had much contact with since the last school term ended.

I attended Nolan Grade School the first eight years of school. I made lasting memories during those years in the 1960s. I still have many friends from that time period.

Of course we loved recess and lunch break when we went to the playground. Depending on the season, we usually played different sports during recess. We played softball early because the Major League Baseball season was still going on, and the World Series would start soon.

The girls mostly played volleyball; however, a few played softball, and they were very good.

After that we switched to football and then later, if the weather was good enough, we switched to basketball. We did not have a gymnasium at Nolan, so when it came time to practice for the Midget League team, we practiced on the outdoor court. Sometimes we all would load up in a couple of cars and go to Chattaroy’s gym or maybe the Williamson Fieldhouse to practice on a wooden court.

But most of our practices were on the asphalt court in the schoolyard.

When winter came and we could no longer go outside for recess or lunch break, we played board games or ring toss, like horseshoes, in the classroom.

Of course, we still had classes and schoolwork. We learned the basics: reading, writing and arithmetic, along with science and social studies. I loved social studies. The classes included history, geography and West Virginia history in the 8th grade.

I remember the hardest part for me was having to get up so early again. You could stay up a little later in the summer months and sleep in a little later. But when the new school year came around, you had to crawl out of bed, brush your teeth, comb your hair if you had to (I had a buzz cut back then, so that was no issue for me), and get dressed.

Then your mom usually had you something for breakfast—cereal, toast, fruit—something to fuel you and get you going. I even got to drink a little coffee with cream and sugar once in a while. Little did I know the caffeine helped me get going; I just thought it was cool I got to drink a little of what my parents did.

It is humorous and unique how a certain time of year makes memories from those early years flood back and shape our lives.

But I am sure most of you have some special memories from those early school years. I hope this brought back a few for you.

Until next time.

(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is now a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)