Memories of Riverside

I was the youngest of seven children who all attended Riverside School. The school was in the middle of the old community known as Fort Pickering (very close to the old Mississippi River bridge). My first-grade teacher was Ms. Flag. I think my second-grade teacher was Ms. Flannigan, but ingrained in my memory was my third-grade teacher, Ms. Meade. For the smallest infraction she would get in your face and say, “I’m going to give you a bad mark.” For the next one, you went to her desk and held out the palm of your hand and got a whap from her ruler.

The neighborhood was a close-knit community in the ’40s and early ’50s, but it was also a very tough one. Squabbles were frequent at the school and sometimes you got sent to see Ms. McIssac in the principal’s office. Depending on the crime, you would bend over a chair to receive one to four licks with the dreaded paddle. I don’t believe the teachers were mean, but strict discipline was required.

During the mid-1950s the neighborhood started going down, Riverside was closed and all the old shotgun houses were demolished.

Around 1980 the Fort Pickering reunion was started, and old friends and family would gather at DeSoto Park to talk about the old days. Around the second year of the reunion who should appear but Ms. Meade! I didn’t get to talk to her, as she drew quite a crowd, but I just observed for a while. On my way home that day I got to thinking how in the world could such a sweet old lady have been an 8-year-old boy’s worst nightmare.