RIVERVIEW HIGH SCHOOL 1958

In 1958 we sophomores who lived in the south part of Sarasota left Sarasota High forever and entered the County's brand new high school--RIVERVIEW!  We were top dogs for two years and in 1960 we formed the first class to graduate from Riverview High.  A few years ago most of us met again to celebrate our 50th reunion.  Riverview looked very different and so of course did we (except for Rosie who looked pretty much as she did when Elvis Presley kissed her many, many years ago.)  But in 1958 the campus was fresh and new and I was so impressed.  Junior high had been a nightmare for me and I thanked God daily that it was over.  Having started school in New York when I was only five, I was always a year younger than my classmates.  To make matters worse, I was a late bloomer and emotionally immature.  So while other girls were developing breasts and social confidence, I was developing an inferiority complex.  I was short and painfully thin.  My mother wouldn't buy me a bra because she said I didn't need one which I didn't, but I was the only girl in the gym showers who didn't wear one.  I looked like a homely little boy.  Then when I was fourteen, I suddenly grew six inches in an unbelievably short time.  Unfortunately, I gained no weight and still had the flattest chest in America.  So now I resembled a tall homely boy.  I was teased and bullied which was to be expected.  Even worse, I dressed like a child.  My mother still bought my few clothes and they were always pink dresses for six-year-olds.  In brief, I was a mess in junior high.  I had pity friends and I am grateful for them even today.

But Riverview ushered in a new era.  I bought a bra with my babysitting money and stuffed it with tissue.  It was the smallest bra in the world and it supported nothing, but at least now I had bra straps.  I shaved my skinny legs regularly and wore cheap lipstick.  Best of all, I now had many friends.  While I was never, ever to be part of the In Crowd, its members now began to talk to me.  I was their confidante.  The boys never thought of me romantically (much to my sorrow), but they liked me.  Some of them shared their thoughts and feelings with me.  I was funny and the kids laughed, but in a good way.  I still had no figure, but I had joined the club at last.