February 3, 1970 - Mrs. Pappas

 

My fourth grade classroom was a double classroom with a foldable wall that could be closed to create two separate classrooms.  The classroom(s) were on the second floor of the two-story section of Twining Elementary towards the back of the building at the edge of GFAFB.  The teachers were Mrs. Willis and Mrs. Leake.  Most of the time the foldable wall was open and it was one large classroom with two teachers.  One of the teachers took us on a field trip to her farm which was located south of GFAFB. 

Mrs. Pappas was a substitute teacher who lived two down to the right of us.  My parents and I had been to their house several times - it was the same floor plan as ours.  The Pappas had no children and their living room was lined with saltwater fish tanks - I had never been to a home with fish tanks before.

Mr. and Mrs. Pappas went on a day trip with my family to the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Minnesota, somewhere around Lake Itaska or just north of there - I cannot pinpoint the exact location now.  This was the first time I saw cattails (Typha) growing naturally.  Dried cattails were quite popular at the time as decoration in living rooms.

During that trip we also saw huge statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe.  My recollection is that these statues were at the Mississippi River headwaters but researching it right now it appears the only huge statues are in nearby towns such as Bemidji so perhaps that is where we saw them.

George Pappas drove their purple 1969 Pontiac Catalina two-door on the trip.  It had two black rubber strips that hung from the back bumper and touched the ground.  While not common, these black strips were seen from time to time on cars from that era.  The theory is they would discharge static electricity - it is still debated as to whether this actually worked or was a placebo.

(journal entry handwriting is mine)