Joan D. Chapman Burgess

McKinley Grade School

We are expecting our first grandchild, a boy, this December 8th. Our son Andrew and his wife Erin are finally going to be parents.

I got divorced in 1974 and married Kim Burgess from our class in 1978. We've been married for almost 32 years. We have so much fun together. We can still make each other break out laughing and keep things interesting. Our kids say we're the best show in town. As far as employment goes, I've been the City Clerk of Beverly Hills (MO. that is), a teller at Normandy Bank, and a legal secretary. My husband is in a couple of Blues Bands here in St. Louis and the St. Louis music scene is the best.

I remember one time when my boyfriend Mike and I were in the stairwell of West Hall (facing Lucas and Hunt). It was cold and snowing outside and he didn't want to go to the smoking tree so we stood right inside the doorway while he smoked a cigarette. He had on one of those Marlboro jackets with the puffy, wooly lining. Walking up to the banister at the top of the stairs came Mr. Riehl. Mike quickly shoved the cigarette into his pocket and kept his hand hidden in there. Mr. Riehl was not stupid - he knew what was going on so he just stood there talking to us, and talking to us and talking to us. Smoke started to billow out of Mike's jacket but he wasn't about to give in either. Mr. Riehl kept talking and Mike kept dancing around and finally he yelled "YEOWWWWW I GOTTA GO!" Mr. Riehl just laughed and said "You'd better put that cigarette out before you hurt yourself." When we got outside his pocket was smoking and he had a blister on his hand! Hoisted by his own petard.
Then I had a friend named Jim who used to go through the lunch line and see how many hamburgers he could shove into his coat pocket before he got caught. He then would come into the first floor central hall girl's bathroom and sit on the floor and eat them while I put on make-up.
To finish his lunch off, he would light up a cigarette and we would share it. A girl came in one time and said a teacher was coming so Jim jumped up on the heater vent and tried to dive through the window but the window was one of those that slanted in and he got caught with his head to his waist outside and waist down to his feel still in the bathroom hanging down the wall as the window was up toward the ceiling. The teacher started pulling on his legs yelling "Get down from there, Get down from there!" and Jim would yell "LET ME GO YOU B****!" All I could do was laugh hysterically and run out the door. Poor Jim got suspended. Oh, I loved Normandy!