I had the distinct pleasure of being raised at USNS Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico and attending school on the base from First Grade through Ninth Grade (1946-1955), after which I attended a Puerto Rican boarding school for Tenth Grade and the USNS San Juan High School for the first semester of Eleventh Grade. My father was the base engineer and we lived on the base from 1944 until Feb 1957. I remember those years very fondly and remember the names of many of the students who were close to my age. I would love to share my recollections, thoughts and photographs of my friends, the school and the base with anybody who may be interested. Here's a few tidbits of information about the school at Roosevelt Roads. When I attended First Grade in 1946-1947, the classes were taught in Spanish by Puerto Rican teachers (except for the English class) because the majority of children were those of Puerto Rican civilian workers. This changed by the time I began Second Grade because the military men began bringing their families with them to Roosevelt Roads. During most of my school years there, First thru Third Grades were located in a single room at one end of our two school buildings, and were taught all subjects by a single teacher. Likewise, Fourth thru Sixth Grades were taught in another room by one teacher. When I attended Seventh and Eighth Grades, all seven of us sat around a single large table and were taught all subjects by one teacher. By the time I reached Ninth Grade, the school didn't have an official High School. I took correspondence courses through the Univ of Nebraska Extension Division along with the rest of my classmates (approx seven). We left Puerto Rico half-way through my Eleventh Grade and Roosevelt Roads officially opened its first High School (with live teachers) the following school year (Sep 57). One of my long-time friends, Bob Hare, was the first and only Senior to graduate from Roosevelt Roads High School in 1958 (obviously first in his class). I joined the Navy in 1961 and retired 21 years later. I spent ten of those years overseas with my family and saw the overseas military school system grow significantly. I consider myself very fortunate to have been raised in the older small-school environment at Roosevelt Roads. Please let me know more about your Historical Society. I will be very happy to contribute information, photos, etc. Thank you.
Bob Ahbol