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School Days

Ann attended schools in Idaho Falls for most of her life, though briefly in Pocatello. She graduated from Pocatello High School but didn't feel like she fit in there because they had just moved to Pocatello right before her senior year.

She did remember attending O.E. Bell Junior High School in Idaho Falls. It was about 15 blocks from home (to 23rd Street) so during their lunch break she would go home to eat. Then she'd have to run to get back to the school on time.

She said her leg bones would often hurt from running -- in retrospect, she thinks it was shin splints. She experienced the same pains later in life and wondered if running home for lunch in junior high made some permanent damage to her bones.

While in high school Ann took the regular classes that others took. She did specifically remember taking home economics and learning how to sew and cook.

She never went to her high school prom.

She was asked to go to a ninth-grade dance. The boy gave her a nice lace handkerchief when he asked if she would go. She kept the handkerchief but said no to the dance.

Her brother (probably Don) tested her IQ when she was a teenager ... she scored 125. He was taking an education class in college at the time.

She also remembers that the Pocatello High School graduation required formal dresses under the gowns but Ann didn't have one. Her mother borrowed a dress from someone. Ann was embarrassed the whole time and hated graduation.

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Image: USGS Idaho Falls South Map from 1948 with highlights added for the houses on 3rd and 23rd, and for O.E. Bell Junior High School.

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