Students arriving at Clyde School by bus often stayed outside playing until the bell rang for class to begin.  When I was in the fifth grade, I was playing kick the can with my best friend, Iris Hipps, when the can flew higher than intended and cracked me in the forehead. Iris was horrified to see blood trickling down over my eye and dripping off my chin. The cut was going to require stitches so the principal, Mr. Stanley Livingston, drove me to Canton, N.C. to our doctor’s office.

Before he turned me over the nurse, he gave me a dime. I used the dime to catch the Trailways bus back to school.  Mother was quite surprised to see me get off the school bus that afternoon with a bandage on my head. As a former principal, can you imagine that scenario in today’s world?