I hope that this is the first of many posts....by many people
I grew up in a house in Ocean View that got knocked down by Interstate-64, like a lot of other kids' homes in the area. It was on a corner and made for a pretty clean shot to walk to Ocean View School...maybe four long blocks. One more long block past the sand dunes, a dash across the street, and I'd be up to my knees in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. I attended Ocean View School from 1951 to 1957. I was one of the February entrants.
To date six "kids" from that era have gotten back together and, just a few weeks ago (April 30, 2004), they all went back to school and enjoyed the memories and lunch together in the lunch room.
They plan on doing it again sometime soon and are looking for more "kids" in the same age group to join them in their journey to...and through their childhood.
posted by The Willoughby Spit Wonder at 12:48 PM
5 Comments:
Ocean View School memories - I attended OVES from Sept 1965 - June 1966. I was in Mrs. Wallace's first grade class. I lived on Mason Creek Road, near the Navy Base and attended the school while my dad, a career Navy man served aboard the USS Guam (LPH-9). Our house was torn down I think not long after we moved to Va. Beach in July 1966, to make way for I-64. I remember walking to school with a girl named Barbie Courtney who was a year younger than me (or so I think - did they have a kindergarten in the school in 1965-66?). Barbie and her family (another Navy family) lived farther down on Mason Creek Road closer to the Navy base. I believe Mrs. Wallace's room was room A6 or maybe A1, anyway, it was on the back side of the school. The classmates I remember are a boy named Leo who I think was my best friend (he lived on Mason Creek Rd, and we used to go over one another's houses to play), Michael Heimer (sp?), Michael Fox, Nancy (can't think of her last name, she was the bright girl in the class, William Ayum (it sounded like this - not sure of the spelling) who was an Italian boy - I believe his father was in the Italian Navy and was in the area on a NATO assignment, and Jane King. I remember walking near Jane's house one day and seeing her outside - she was having a birthday party and she told me, "Tommy, it's my party and you aren't invited!" .. something like that. Jane, if you read this, I forgive you! Ha! I have many memories of my teacher, Mrs. Wallace, who I was later told was something of an institution in the school and fought retirement tooth and nail. Mrs. Wallace had a short fuse and used to scream a lot which was pretty upsetting to me, who was a pretty shy and senstive child. Some of the other children in the class took advantage of the situation for their own amusement and would blame me for other's misdeeds so they could watch Mrs. Wallace blow up and me get upset. The main thing I liked about Mrs. Wallace was that she loved music and played the piano pretty regularly in class. I remember us singing a school song that I think she wrote that ended with the line "we will turn our backs to Ocean View" (presumably we would turn our backs to the school in pride. I also distinctly remember that she had posted on the blackboard "Work, Help, Make Something" which were the things I suppose we were supposed to accomplish in her classroom. She would point at each word with a yardstick, and we would shout them out. I remember the cafeteria and the cheerful black ladies who worked there, and the cheap movies they used to show in the auditorium, I think on Friday afternoons. I believe one of the movies I saw there was the "Seven Voyages of Sinbad." I remember the playground with the monkey bars behind the school, but can't seem to remember the library at all. I remember being in a show where Mrs. Wallace's class held up big butterflies made out sheets of wax paper with melted crayons pressed between the sheets. We held these butterflies up and shone light from flashlights through the wax paper - I don't think it worked very well. Does anyone have a 1965-1966 OVES yearbook? I would be grateful to get a scanned copy of the page that covers Mrs. Wallace's class so that I could get all my classmates names down.
Regards, "Tommy" Cooper
Hey Tommy: Your story sounds a lot like mine. In fact I thought I was reading my own story or Rita's story for a second. Of course while you were learning the 3 R's, I was learning the art of war. Funny that upon reading your comments, it seems as if time has stood still at OVES.
Quite a few of us lived on and around Mason Creek. I lived on the corner of Atwood and Orange until I went into the Army...and while I was away, I-64 cut down my house and forced my Mother and Father to move to Woodford Street, just off of Tidewater Drive...and yes, Mom and Dad did notify me that they had moved and even gave me the new address.
Mom still lives in that Woodford Street house...and I and my family still visit. Did you see the pix of the "Unholly Six" as we returned to OVES this past April 30th? We are planning another get-together around October.
Rita- I just discovered this site and find that the memories of my years at OVES just came flooding back as I read your postings. Thanks so very much for what you have created here.
I attended OVES from September 1957 to June 1967, then moving on to Norhtside and Granby. I lived with my Grandparents on A View Ave and then directly across the street from the school on Mason Creek Road and later on Government Ave. I too spend my summers in the school library participating in the summer reading programs. They gave us little card stock suite cases that received a little travel sticker for every book read. My Aunt still lives across from the school and I took a walk around the building in 2002 while in town visiting. I seem to remember your name and believe you may have been friends with my cousins...the Starke girls. Do you remember them?
Some of my best days were spent playing in the sand hills behind the school and spending time exploring Ocean View from one end to the other.
Like most I was a Navy kid and spent all my growing up years in Ocean View there on A View Ave, Mason Creek Rd. and Goverment Ave. until 1969 when my grandfather died and I moved to Bayview to live with my Mother. During my years at OVES the Principal was Mr. Carmine, if I remember correctly, and I too spend some time on the hallway bench outside of his office. My favorite teacher there was Mrs. Tenny (sp) who I had for 2nd grade in the first floor classroom just to the left of the stairs in the front entrance.
What a great school OVES was to attend and what a wonderful place Ocean View was as a kid just discovering life.
As time allows, I will post memories of my years growing up on Ocean View.
Gary Jones
Upon review of the comment I posted in '06, I realized that I typed the dates that I attended OVES incorrectly. I attended the school from 1957 to 1965; not 1967.
I recently made contact with 4 old friends that also attended OVES in the late fifties and early sixties. How fantastic it was to talk with them and share memories of our growing up years in Ocean View. I was reminded of working on the fishing boats, that worked out of Harrison's Pier, during the summer. I can remember working on the: "Martha Ann", "Capt. Bill", as well as spending a little time on the "Wander", (sp). What wonderful summers those were working on The Bay and making pretty good money from the tips, too!
It looks as if, I may be in Ocean View to meet up with these old friends in January '08. If so I sure do plan on trying to visit OVES while there.
Thanks for keeping this site going and sharing so much about those wonderful years growing up in Ocean View in the '50s and '60s.
Ring in the NEW with some OLD friends, a good way to start the year. The old school still looks great.
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