I spent three years at North Catholic High School in Philadelphia. Near the end of my junior year I would have my senior yearbook pictures taken and order my class ring. But I never went back there for my senior year.
Our family moved to Harleysville PA in November of 1968. The company my father worked for had moved into that area several years before and it was a long daily commute for him especially after working a lot of overtime. My parents were having a house built and it was supposed to be done that summer but it took longer. Rather than have us transfer from our city schools a few months into the school year my father arranged for us in high school to start at our new schools in the beginning of the school year even thought we still lived in Philly. He drove us everyday to a school bus stop and we took it to Souderton High School. For me it was my senior year.
I initially really hated the idea of leaving North and had tried to find a way to stay. I considered staying on Seymour Street with Aunt Mary and Aunt Francis for the year but there really wasn't room for me. After a while I was thinking going to school with girls might not be a bad thing since I had just spent three years in a school of 3,000 boys and no girls. My parents urged me to join the Souderton marching band to try and connect with other students. I did and at least I met some people.
The girl thing was a big bust. Most of the girls there were either Mennonite with their little white bonnets or seriously Christian Baptists. Then of course there were the cheerleader types but they only hung out with football players. There were a few band girls too but I never hung out with them. I went back to the city every chance I got.
So someone from the 50th anniversary committee contacted me about the upcoming reunion. There was now a website for the class members to share memories. I told the guy I didn't really have many good memories of my time at Souderton to share and it was probably one of the worst years of my life... certainly up to that point.
At 16 years old I had been taken away from everything familiar to me as a teenager growing up in the late 1960's. I grew up in the city and really hated being out in the country. It would be a tough year. Being in the band for that year helped me meet some people but overall it was pretty boring. Most of the girls who expressed any interest in me were merely trying to recruit me for their church.
I turned 17 in December and I had let my hair grow longer. Now it wasn't what would really be called long hair at the time but it was much longer than the priest at North ever let us get away with. I also wore bell bottom jeans and was the only one in the school wearing them at that time. It was a very conservative place. I never went to a dance or prom and I didn't go to commencement which was to take place on the football field instead of at the Philadelphia Convention Center where the North Catholic commencement was held. I just wanted to get out of there.
I only lived in Harleysville for a little over a year. I graduated in June of 1969 and in December I enlisted in the Navy. I was off to boot camp on February 6th, 1970. When I got out of the Navy in December 1973 I quickly moved back down to Germantown. I never lived in Harleysville or the Souderton area again.
