Thursday, February 15, 2007

1960 - 1963

Hilo Intermediate School Spartans Days. Here's the Alma Mater:

Sons of the blue and white
Our hopes are met in you today
From the field of battle
Soon will come the call
To fight in array
Lift high your banner
Loyal 'er be
And when the day is done
We'll sing our song of victory!

I started to get away from all other forms of sport and concentrated on my bowling. My circle of friends changed dramatically and I spent a lot more time away from Lanakila. We were hanging around so much at the bowling alley, Hilo Lanes, that the adults there came to look at us as their sons. We did a lot of helping around with clean up and desk clerk work. We spend a lot of time practice bowling, too, because depending on who was at the front desk, we could get a lane turned on and we would just practice and practice and practice. Is it any wonder we got good? On weekends, we were always there pretty much around the clock.

It seemed as though we had no cares in the world. People just took really good care of us. We were some pretty lucky kids. It kept us out of trouble while a lot of former friends from Lanakila were out getting into trouble with the law. We were even kinda protected by the police because many of them bowled and they treated us as family. After a while, we didn't dare get into trouble because we didn't want them to lecture and bawl us out for pulling pranks, staying out after curfew, and teenager jokes. Nice people who really made an influence on my life.

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