Dr. Bill Wheeler enjoyed telling his grandchildren stories about his childhood in the 1960s so much that he decided to write a book. “Little Boy Stories” is the first volume of a series of books Wheeler is writing, and it’s available on Amazon. “People my age love it,” he said. “Kids can’t quite understand because it’s so different from what their lives are like today.”
While this book includes stories about his life growing up off Highway 58 near Chickamauga Lake and mentions school friends, he is planning a separate book about his elementary school days at Bright. “I have great memories of Bright School, which led me to Baylor and then Vanderbilt and then medical school. Each one was a building block with Bright School as the foundation,” he said.
Wheeler graduated from Bright in 1965. This was a time of transition for Bright. Wheeler, like many alumni in the late ‘60s, started Bright at the former site in Fort Wood near UTC (which was the University of Chattanooga before merging with the UT System in 1969) and finished at the “new” school built off Hixson Pike in North Chattanooga in 1963. School founder Mary Gardner Bright retired in 1961 at the age of 76, and Dr. Mary Davis took over and moved the school to the new location.
His older brother, Johnny Wheeler, only went to the Fort Wood location and graduated in 1961, and his younger brother, Joe Wheeler, only went to the current location and graduated in 1975. Wheeler, who has lived in Minnesota for 34 years, has five children, three of whom live in Minnesota, and eight grandchildren. He retired last year after a career as a pediatric pulmonologist.
He recalled many fond memories of his classmates, teachers, coaches and traditions such as the Bright School Picnic. Wheeler particularly enjoyed Mrs. McCormick’s lunches, including meatloaf with rice and desserts every day. Aaron Lowe and Mr. Davis (husband of the headmistress, Dr. Davis) taught shop class. He made a baseball glove and bat holder, a bird feeder, ladder and high jump poles. The high jump was becoming a more popular sport, but since it was still before the Fosbury Flop, athletes would run straight at the bar and jump over it. Wheeler remembers Coach Hogan, who Miss Bright recruited as a student at the University of Chattanooga, and Coach Wolcott. Wheeler and many boys in his class played sports at the YMCA on Saturdays.
Among the many traditions that continue at Bright is the Valentine’s Day card exchange. It sounds very similar to Wheeler’s time. Every child gave a Valentine and got one from every one in the class. Students in his class decorated brown paper bags and taped them to the front of their desks. “It was great. Nobody got left out,” he said. “Afterward we had cupcakes or ice cream, and it seems like we went home early.”
The current location of Bright School was built in a completely different floor plan than the previous location. Whereas the Fort Wood school had different levels, the new school was all one level except the cafeteria and the apartment for Dr. Davis above the main lobby. Wheeler recalled the old indoor play room, or King Room, as it was named, had a piano and huge rings that students moved across like monkey bars. “It was a rite of passage to go from one ring to another across the room,” he said.
Wheeler said the best teacher he had was Miss Grace Robinson, who taught fourth grade. “She was the first teacher who didn’t have gray hair or wear glasses,” he said. She was younger than some of the other teachers. He enjoyed listening to her read a book aloud to the class after lunch every day.
He distinctly remembers learning to write with ink pens in her class. In those days, students did not have ball-point pens; people used fountain pens. “She had an inkwell on her desk. She told us the first week of school that we would all be able to write in ink by the end of the year,” he said. They would practice writing in cursive every day, and Miss Robinson would check their writing before allowing them to move on to the next step. “She expected more from students than they thought they could do,” he said.
He recalled the fourth grade trip to Washington, D.C. that Miss Robinson led and was helped by two other teachers. “She wanted us to learn about our country,” he said. “We went to the White House, Capitol and Mt. Vernon.” The group took the train to Washington and flew back in a prop plane. “I remember all the parents waiting for us at the airport,” he said. If you wonder how the group stayed together, Wheeler said Miss Robinson put a piece of green duct tape “on our shoulders so we wouldn’t get lost.” If a child got separated from the group, all they had to do was look for the green tape. Can you imagine that today? Sounds like a story that would be great for his book.
Wheeler said he has received many comments from people who have read his stories, including a nurse who said she reads the book to a patient. “I hope that any of my former classmates who read these stories might recall similar childhood experiences that bring them joy,” he said. “I would wish any youngsters who read the book to understand the importance of good teachers and loyal friendship.”
In the class photo, Dr. Wheeler is the sixth child on the left on the top row.
In the photo from the field trip to Washington, D.C., the center teacher is Miss Robinson. Wheeler is on the front row, fourth in from left.
