Time Machine: Optimist Playground at McHnery c. 1976

This picture was published in Broadside, our weekly newspaper. I posted a copy on my Facebook on February 9, 2010. I have copied comments from that post below.

Tony Pope
Do you know what year this was?

Terrell Shaw
We published Broadside from 1975-1977. I'll try to remember to check the back issues some time and get an exact date. The kids really enjoyed the new playground equipment!

Tony Pope
Was that a school newsletter? I need to get copies to put in our McHenry books.

Terrell Shaw
No. It was Rome's weekly newspaper. Sheila and I were partners in it, mainly with Steve and Laurie Craw. True story: we laid out the paper every Weds. night. If things went well, I was allowed to go home at midnight so I could get up and teach the next day. That happened occasionally. Sometimes things didn't go well and I slept not at all. I should have been fired. I'd do OK till lunch, but get a few calories into me and I got powerful sleepy... long story short, we opened the curtains & I read to all three (Clayton, Gresham, Shaw) classes after lunch every day. One Thursday I woke up in front of 75 children when some child said in a stage whisper, "Mr. Shaw's gone to sleep!"

Tony Pope
Ha... I just got our Young Romans submission turned in the other day. I always say I'm going to work on it piece by piece until the deadline...and that never happens!

Terrell Shaw
You orta come to our storytelling tomorrow, Tony. 3 pm at Rolater Park in Cave Spring.

Tony Pope
Weather and time permitting I was going to try and work it in.

Kathy Wilson
I remember watching the kids climb up and over this. They had a lot of fun with this,even the third graders.All u need to do is find an album with Brad in it and then do some adding or subtracting to get the year.

Tony Pope
We had one at Johnson too. I'd bet there would be a liability over them nowadays! Ha... Had a lot of fun on them.