March 30, 1981. I’m 13 years old and an 8th grader at Canfield Village Middle School. As a teenager, it’s hard to get out of bed, especially on a Monday. I grab a quick bowl of Sugar Pops and manage to spend a couple of minutes applying a tiny swipe of mascara and my roll-on lip gloss, Kissing Potion. Bubble gum flavor is my favorite. Before heading out the door I sneak into my sister Barb’s room and borrow a squirt of her perfume, Sand and Sable. I hope she won’t notice. It smells so good!

I catch bus #14 across the street from my house. On the way to school, my friends and I discuss Casey Kasam’s American Top 40 Countdown which aired on the radio over the weekend. The song Rapture by Blondie was #1. I was hoping REO Speedwagon’s Keep On Loving You would hit the top spot. I listen to their album High Infidelity every day after school.

I thought I lost my Bic 4 color pen but thankfully found it in my Trapper Keeper. I take notes with it during class and like to use a different color for each subject. School was boring this morning and I couldn’t wait for lunch. My friends and I need to catch up on some weekend gossip. Mom packed my lunch that day. I eat a salami sandwich on white bread, Nacho Cheese Doritos, and a butterscotch Snack Pack pudding with that hard-to-pull metal tab.

Every day I look forward to history class taught by the famous Mr. Reel. He is my favorite teacher! Most kids I know love him too!  In the front of his classroom, he has a real wooden stockade! Just for fun, he’ll occasionally put a student in it for a minute if they’re talking. It’s rad! Fridays are epic because he organizes a current event game and the whole class plays. I never realized I loved history until I got him as a teacher.

Mr. Reel is usually in his room when we come in but this afternoon it was very different. After we settle in our seats he walks in so quietly that we hear his footsteps. With his familiar gesture of placing his fingertips together like a triangle, he looks very somber. I’ll never forget his words. He says, “Ladies and gentlemen, there’s been a tragedy today in our great country.” 

In a shaky voice, he tells us that there was an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. We are shocked. I never experienced a room full of quiet teenagers. You could hear a pin drop. We don’t know what to say or do. It feels eerie but Mr. Reel assures us everything will be ok.  He wheels an AV cart and allows us to watch the news as it unfolds for the rest of the afternoon. We could feel his heart was heavy.

It’s strange how we remember where we were when tragedy strikes. I will never forget that day in history when President Reagan almost lost his life and Mr. Reel was the one who broke the news to our class. March 30 started out as a typical day for an 8th-grade girl, focusing frivolously on makeup, music, and what we ate for lunch.  Forty-two years later it still resonates with me. 

The teacher that taught me to love history died of cancer in 2013. If you attended Canfield schools from 1968 to his retirement in 2012, you may have been one of the lucky ones that were privileged to have him as a coach or in class. This includes my oldest son who treasures his memory as much as I do. There are certain events in time and certain people you never forget. I’ll always remember where I was and who told me about the tragedy that happened on Monday, March 30, 1981. Mr. Reel, we’re still thinking about you.