Sixth Grade

1964-65, Mr. Cipriano Trujillo's 6th grade class, Española Elementary (not at "the new building," though, in Theta, at the Hill Jr. High, still, though 1st through 5th grades had moved over to the new building toward the hospital).

For friends outside the U.S., I was 11 years old in 6th grade. Most kids turn 12 during that year, but I had a summer birthday.


click image twice to enlarge

I have faint pencil on the back, and could be wrong, and could be mis-reading my own bad childhood spelling, but as far as I can read, I noted:

Mary Agnes Rodriquez, Eddie Lujan, Stella Martinez, Mr. Trujillo, Aileen Gallegos, Tommy Romero, Joanne Vigil

Janice Luttrell, Michael Vigil, Sandra Adams, Karen Wisdom

Phyllis Wilcox, Teddy Martinez, Joann Miller, Gerald Martinez, Georgia Swindell, Aaron Dean, Max Vega

Joseph Polaco, Roberta Arellano, Micheal Martinez, Joanna Alarid, Rudy Abeyta, Rosemary Sisneros, Pauline Sisneros

Gary Pulliam, Raymond Baca, Dolly Padilla, Frances Lovato, Lupe Salazar, Larry Naranjo

This was a good group, and I remember 6th grade fondly. We had a game for a while, very calmly stealing each other rulers from under the desks. Our desks opened on both sides (the box under the seat) and we each had a ruler. Boys would (gently, quietly) lift them from a girl's desk (or vice versa), like on the way to or from the door or pencil sharpener. No words were said. The teacher knew, but didn't mind. We were being very civilized.

The lifted rulers were put in our desks, with ours. Some kids had several. They would be stolen back, singly or as many as were in that desk if they could be subtly quietly obtained, but only during class that way.

If an assignment came that needed rulers, we passed them all back out to the right people.

Some were plastic, some were wooden, and I don't remember anyone ever being mad about it, just happy.

Those of us who rode the buses, some went on second trip, with the Jr. High and High School kids. The high school was just down the hill, by the river, so we had half an hour or more to play after school. One day Roberta got a pencil lead broken off in her forearm (wooden pencil, we didn't have mechanical pencils yet), and we didn't have a teacher to check with and were afraid she would get lead poisoning. We didn't know about graphite. She was okay, ultimately. I guess her mom or someone took it out when she got home.

Ted Martinez's dad was a fireman, in Los Alamos, and died saving someone from a house fire that year. I remember poor Ted crying, and we didn't know what to do. Mr. Trujillo handled it well, as he did just about everything, it seemed.
Later note:
While it's true that Ted's dad had saved people, it turns out his accident involved a mountain rescue, in snow. Los Alamos is a city on the ridges of several canyons. After my kids were all grown, one of their childhood friends became a firefighter, in Los Alamos. He said the story is preserved there, of Mr. Martinez's death. The rescue was successful, and then Ted's dad looked over the edge and fell.

How interesting that in my sixties I'm still learning about things that affected me in the 6th grade, and I can correct or amend the stories I thought I knew.

I posted the class photos on Facebook in "Española, do you remember when?" here, in 2017, so there might be commentary there, or you could leave some, if Facebook is still around when you see this.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155326426671374&set=gm.1414143722017203&type=3&theater&ifg=1


I also posted a link on my own page to say this:
Sandra Dodd updated her cover photo.
28 November 2017

Cipriano Trujillo's 6th grade class.

He has a grandson, in Albuquerque (at least used to be) who's name is Cipriano (Cip, same), too.

Mr. Trujillo was a friend of my neighbor, Delfin Sanchez, and they went hunting or fishing together. It was exciting to me to see Mr. Trujillo across the road, right next to our house, when he was at the Sanchez's. He was a very nice man. Friendly. Bright. Sweet.

That was a fun year.

I should probably add what I wrote above, so when his grandson finds it someday the story will be there. 🙂
if the post is still there...

Bio page



1960s





Fifth Grade