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TOP ROW: Sue Hogrefe, Midge England, Chris Lawes, Rickey Felker, Dianne Yarbrough, Kevin Halpern, Albert Kopsick, Emily Williams, Christine Kusko, Vivian Cronk, Pam Merideth,
MIDDLE ROW: Carol Tisson, Chantal Di Martini, Claudette Arcenaux, Bob Concoules, Cheryl Wilson, Josette Durling, Susan White, Bob Jiminez, and Bob Lavato
BOTTOM ROW: Glenn Hight, Billy Billings, Danny Degard, Mike Milo, Boyce Newton, David Picard, Dan Jaime, John Ports |
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In Nov 1966, thousands of US military families were forced to move from France during the massive American exodus. Most of us ended up in Germany. Those of us who were fortunate enough to move to Worms, Germany in the 5th and 6th grades were lucky enough to have Mr Robert Lavato for a teacher. For the remainder of the 66 and 67 school year, his class was split as half 5th and half 6th grade. Those of us in the 5th grade class were the luckiest students because we had Mr Lavato again for 6th grade during the school year 1967 - June 1968. Mr. Lavato was the most excellent teacher we ever had and took our class on many wonderful weekly field trips where we met the US Ambassador to Germany, saw the Guttenberg museum, the Oppenheim bone house, wooden shoe factory, porcelain factory, Mai Markets and a skiing trip to Chiemsee for seven of us who had A grades. We visited King Ludwig's castle and the birthplace of Beethoven. We also had talent contests and many other fun activities. We also visited the German schools, went to movies such as Siegfried, Born Free and Hawaii. I still think of Mr. Lavato when I watch that movie. Mr. Lavato also used to tour the South seas on his summer vacation and show slides of his tours of Malaysia, Thailand and the orient. A teacher who was truly ahead of his time. He also organized our class into a singing group with "Sound of Music" as our theme. I accompanied on the accordion for the song "Climb Every Mountain" and Robert Jiminez on the piano as we toured the nearby military bases and sang. Mr. Lavato made a profound contribution to all of our lives. We think about him often. Mr. Lavato has been found in North Carolina. He was a principal when he retired in 1991 and spent many years in Weatherbee Texas. He is married and has two sons and is doing well. See http://www.lavato.com |
