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I first met Anne in September 1957 

(Our 4th grade) after I moved to Methuen.

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It was my first time taking the school bus. I had mixed feelings of being both excited and petrified. As the bus approached, I figured there was no turning back now.

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So up the steps I go, greeted by the bus driver Charlie, an older guy ( so he was probably 30 because I was 10 ).

 

I noticed one thing about Charlie... he only had one eye... and I was too nervous about going to school to stare at him and realized why all the kids on the bus were calling out to him by the name of Popeye !!

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I made my way up the bus aisle looking for a seat when I spotted a girl on the left hand side, sitting by the window. I looked at the seat next to her and it was empty and I wondered if she would mind.... when I saw her smile at me as I approached. Her smile comforted me, and even more when she shouted at me.... "Come, Sit by Me"... as she slapped her hand on the seat... I sat down next to her and we smiled at each other and introduced ourselves... Her name was Anne... and she and I were about to become dear friends for the rest of our lives... and beyond.

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We did everything together ... school... after school... weekends at her house or my house.. She loved coming to my house to eat and my Mom loved to have her over. My Mom considered Anne my sister since we spent so much time together.

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The next summer we decided that being the best of friends just wasn't enough, so we became "Blood Brothers"... yes, we were using the swings at the drive-in next to my house and hunting for something to make a small cut on our finger to process the Brotherhood. We found a broken part of a coke bottle.. and without hesitation, there was a spot of blood on each of our fingers. We held our fingers together for about a minute... and Anne pronounced us "Blood Brothers" for eternity... and of course, I went along with it... After all Anne knew what she was doing !!

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As we grew older... going through elementary school... into Jr High... we both always had a few other friends and a couple more we both hung out with.. but Anne and I were definitely BFF's. We went to our Central Jr High prom together, with some of our other gal friends and had a blast.

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In 1962 we entered Tenney High School... we didn't have any classes together, but because Anne's last name began with Gi and mine began with Ga .. we were in the same homeroom every year... so we started out our day, had lunch together and ended our day together. We would walk down to the street from the school exit and sit on the stonewall with about 15 or 20 others to wait for our bus home.

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