Interview with Ray and Dolores D'Amario

Speaker 1: Raymond and Dolores Manger D’Amario graduated from the Maryland State Teachers College at Towson in 1960. Speaker 1: Ray received his bachelor's degree in secondary education, Social Sciences and Dolores received her bachelor's degree in elementary education. They both taught in public education for over 30 years, most of it in Baltimore County, Maryland. These are their reflections. Karen Blair: Mr. and Mrs. D’Amario, it is so nice of you to come and share with us your memories and reflections on your teacher preparation here at Towson and your subsequent careers in education. Karen Blair: This will add a great deal to what we're trying to create, which is a history of the evolution of teacher education over time.

Karen Blair: And I guess the first place to start is in the beginning. And so if you each could tell me a little bit about your early social context, where you grew up, what you were thinking about in terms of possible careers or ambitions after high school, Karen Blair: when you first thought about becoming a teacher too, Karen Blair: and why you chose Towson? Raymond D’Amario: You want to start?

Dolores D’Amario: Sure. I'll start. as a young child, and only child, I always enjoyed playing and working with children, and I was forever getting children games and organizing bicycle rides, Dolores D’Amario: skating parties, and things in the street, and so on and so forth as a young child. Dolores D’Amario: As I grew older and into high school, where they were kind of guiding us into our future, I lost that young childhood activities, except for babysitting at that point, Dolores D’Amario: and was very much interested into the mechanics of the telephone and the company,, and what I could do, and it intrigued me, because I could put a phone together since my father was a telephone worker. Thought I'd like to follow in his footsteps.

Dolores D’Amario: But learning early that no, I was not really equipped for that, I should become a teacher, from and the testing done at my high school, the Institute of Notre Dame, where I would be, they tested and deemed me that in this area would be very good. Dolores D’Amario: So that's how I became a teacher, and I also had a second cousin who constantly gave me little books and encouraged me into this career. So that's how I started at Towson. Karen Blair: OK. Raymond D’Amario: I didn't want to be a teacher. When I was in high school, I wanted to be a pharmacist.

Raymond D’Amario: And then I took chemistry and I decided I didn't want to be a pharmacist. Raymond D’Amario: ‘Cause I was not a genius in chemistry. Raymond D’Amario: At the time, Towson, if you got into Towson, it was kind of free. There was not a tuition to pay. So that was an incentive. Raymond D’Amario: And my sister was a teacher. She had graduated from Towson, so I said, well, in lieu of anything else,

Raymond D’Amario: and since it's free, I'll go to Towson. And then when I first entered Towson, I joined the Marine Corps. In fact, I joined the Marine Corps right after I graduated from high school Raymond D’Amario: So I really expected to graduate from Towson and join the Marines. Raymond D’Amario: But as I got there and as I got exposed to education, I got pretty interested in it, and I really, really liked it. And so when I graduated and I finished my Marine Corps commitment, I went into teaching. Karen Blair: There you go.

Karen Blair: Now, were you both in Baltimore, you were both in the Baltimore area? Dolores D’Amario: Yes, he was in the eastern end. I was in the western end. And he also played in the Drum Corps for many years and was musically inclined, so he was dressed up in his uniform. Raymond D’Amario: I was used to being in uniform. Karen Blair: There you go.

Karen Blair: So when you came to Towson, did you live at home? Or did you live on campus? Dolores D’Amario: Well, the first year I lived at home and commuted with a neighbor friend, and my mother passed away when I was 16, and so it was just my father and I, Dolores D’Amario: and from then on, from the sophomore year on, I dormed, and had a wonderful time. Really enjoyed that. I did cause sensations though, in Towson, when I did the laundry, because I would bring my father's shirts home to Towson, Dolores D’Amario: and wash them and iron them and take them back home. I didn't have time to do that on the weekend with dating and all, and he did need clean shirts.

Karen Blair: So I'm sure people were a little puzzled by the fact that you were doing men's shirts in the dorm. Dolores D’Amario: Yes, it caused quite... Mom Tilman, my dorm mother, was aghast at that the first time, and I explained and she met my father, and she said that's the first time she had ever seen men's shirts in the women’s dorm. Karen Blair: And what about you? Did you live on campus as well? Raymond D’Amario: No, I was a commuter.

Raymond D’Amario: I had to work, so I spent my time commuting back and forth and then working in a in a drugstore. Raymond D’Amario: Which convinced me, also, that I didn't want to be a pharmacist, because I didn't enjoy the counting pills and all that. Karen Blair: And when did the two of you meet? Dolores D’Amario: Oh, we met the freshman year.

Dolores D’Amario: He was a pest, and I was dating somebody else at the time, until, what, I guess sophomore year, I broke up with a gentleman I was going out with and he wouldn't let anybody else on campus date me because he intended to date me, and I don't recall exactly… Dolores D’Amario: Oh, I do. I do. The first date we had he didn't show up. Raymond D’Amario: That's a lie. But anyhow, I had a good friend on campus, I showed you the picture earlier. Elliot Merenbloom. And he was a dorm student. Incidentally, his roommate was Spiro Malas, who became a Metropolitan Opera star. Karen Blair: Really.

Raymond D’Amario: Yeah, I think he was probably the big guy in our classes, but anyhow, and I just said to Elliott, I said, look, you know, just keep an eye on whoever Dolores is going out with and let me know who they are. Raymond D’Amario: And then I would talk to those folks and say, you really don't want to go out with Dolores Manger anymore. Karen Blair: I see. Raymond D’Amario: And I was successful, so she didn't get many dates.

Dolores D’Amario: Well, I wanted to go to the crab feast, and I didn't want to go alone, so I did consent to go with him. And one thing led to another. And you know how that is. Karen Blair: What do you recall about your education courses here? Karen Blair: Do you have a sense of those at all, or whether they were sort of theoretical, like history or foundations of, or rather, they might have been more practical in nature, this is how you do this, that or the other. Dolores D’Amario: Do you want to go first?

Raymond D’Amario: Yeah, I’m happy. It was a little bit… It was a little practical and it was a little theoretical. Raymond D’Amario: But it worked well because you first you have to know how people learn before you can know what they need to learn, Raymond D’Amario: and that's what they did. So it was a very, very well organized program, I thought. And we got hands on experience. We got to see, I don't know if I'm going to your next question… Karen Blair: No, that's fine. It's all together.

Raymond D’Amario: Yeah, but we got to see, excellent teachers. I remember even in the freshman year going to Dumbarton Middle School, that was junior high school then, and there were teachers over there who would do lessons for us, Raymond D’Amario: practice lessons for us, and we even had an opportunity to actually get in front of the students and teach a little bit. So we had the hands on kind of stuff, but then you got the, you know, you got the theory about how kids learn and how to motivate kids and the organizational skills that you needed to have. Raymond D’Amario: Have to be very organized to be a teacher. That was always my weakness. I always had to struggle to stay organized, and I learned at Towson that you have to be organized. Raymond D’Amario: You learn very, very quickly that organization is a key. You walk into a classroom and you're not organized, and the children will eat you alive.

Karen Blair: There you go. Raymond D’Amario: They really will. They don't mean to, but they will. Karen Blair: How about you? Dolores D’Amario: I would ditto that plus more, naturally.

Dolores D’Amario: I was in elementary ed, and of course starting out in Lida Lee Tall and observing. That was the first school, and that was awesome. Dolores D’Amario: Then we moved out into many other schools, and we visited. We would have short periods three times to visit a school there and another and so on and so forth. My education there was just superb. The teachers and the instructors we had were marvelous. Dolores D’Amario: I could name them all. I love them dearly. Dolores D’Amario: I was really thrilled with the placements that we had and what Towson arranged, I was privileged to have a student- My first student teaching opportunity was in Baltimore County,

Dolores D’Amario: and I was there for, I think 3 months, or, no, six weeks. And then my second was in Baltimore City, totally different environment, both wonderful experiences, and all of that. Dolores D’Amario: The professors we had, many of them, I just thought were wonderful. It was a great experience, Dolores D’Amario: and the only problem I had thinking back on those days were not the lesson plans. Dolores D’Amario: We needed to have a Lesson plan for the week plans. They had to be printed.

Dolores D’Amario: So therefore they were done on a typewriter with the ever popular carbon paper, Dolores D’Amario: of which I was not a great typist to begin with. I was a 2 finger special, and there had to be 3 copies because my supervising teacher from the college came every week, the principal, and then my own, Dolores D’Amario: and that was a struggle, but oh, did I learn, and so did those children, and it was a wonderful experience. Karen Blair: Now, what grades did you student teach in?

Dolores D’Amario: Actually I hit primarily kindergarten and 2nd and 3rd grade. Karen Blair: I see. And were the experiences in the city remark remarkably different, or at all different from your experience in the county? Dolores D’Amario: Oh yes, remarkably different. It was actually much more… It was very rigid. Dolores D’Amario: And it was a mixed children, black, African American and of course, white, and mixed neighborhood. The children were absolutely wonderful,

Dolores D’Amario: And in those days Towson required us to dress professionally, Dolores D’Amario: and it was glorious to have all those suits and blouses and the little heeled shoes and the nylons. And when… I'll never forget, gym time, the children all got a big charge out of me taking off my shoes Dolores D’Amario: and putting on tennis shoes to go out to the play yard. Dolores D’Amario: And music, they brought in the piano or the music teacher was there. Otherwise I got a record player and we sang and danced around that room like it was just wonderful. And so I had a great experience with that.

Dolores D’Amario: In the county they were more relaxed, more hands on, the children were into everything. Dolores D’Amario: I actually bought the science kit that was a wooden kit with the equipment and everything, because it intrigued me and I used it so much I wanted to have it for my own when I taught school. And it was very, very different, Dolores D’Amario: and they had more personnel to handle the different classes, art and music, and all of that. Dolores D’Amario: They had teachers for that work. Well, it’s not so in the city.

Karen Blair: Oh, so in the city, you were sort of maybe doing those kinds of things? Dolores D’Amario: Yes. So it was a good experience. Both was. Karen Blair: And different. Karen Blair: And Ray, what did you get to do for student teaching?

Raymond D’Amario: I had two experiences, one in Baltimore City at Woodburn Junior High School. Raymond D’Amario: And then I had one in the county at Parkville Junior High School, and they were different. Raymond D’Amario: The city, you had a single subject. Raymond D’Amario: So I ended up with geography, so I taught geography, which was OK.

Raymond D’Amario: But the thing was that my supervising teacher there loved all these gimmicky kind of things for introductions to the lesson, motivation, and the big one was the acrostic. Karen Blair: OK. Raymond D’Amario: And I wasn't any good at acrostics and I spent more time figuring out acrostics Raymond D’Amario: than I did on the geography. I knew the geography. I didn't know acrostics from anything. So anyhow, that was a subject oriented experience. I go to Baltimore County,

Raymond D’Amario: and at that time Baltimore County’s teaching core. Raymond D’Amario: So I end up… Karen Blair: And core is… Raymond D’Amario: Core is English and social studies combined, so you teach, you teach whatever social studies it was, for me it was a United States history because it was a 7th grade class. So I was teaching that. But it was also teaching literature, spelling and grammar.

Karen Blair: And I'm sure you never thought you would write. Raymond D’Amario: I was not prepared to teach grammar and lit and all of that in the core program. So that was a little bit of a difficult time. But the two cooperating teachers, the one in Baltimore City, one in Baltimore County, they were really, really excellent people, Raymond D’Amario: but very demanding. As Dolores mentioned, lesson plans, both of my cooperating teachers wanted lesson plans for a week and they wanted them a week in advance of the week you were teaching. So you had the lesson plans and then then after school, at the end of the day, Raymond D’Amario: then he or she… In the city it was a he and the county was a she. They would sit and they’d go over all your lessons for that coming week,

Raymond D’Amario: and you would rewrite them and then you would submit them again. But in addition to that, not only do you have lesson plans, but you had a unit plan. Raymond D’Amario: So you had a unit plan for the entire unit that you were responsible for while you were there. What kind of movies were you going to have? What kind of readings you were going to have? What other kinds of activities you're going to have? Were you going to order the 16mm projector, which is what we had back in those days. Raymond D’Amario: When you were going to order the 16mm projector, what films you were going to get from the library. All that stuff was in that unit plan. Raymond D’Amario: So you went over the unit plan and then those lesson plans and then after each lesson at the end of each day, after each lesson, you had a meeting with your cooperating teacher and they told you what they thought. In no uncertain terms they told you what they thought. But you learned a ton.

Karen Blair: Of course. Raymond D’Amario: And the thing is that the supervisors from Towson that went over there and worked with us worked with them as well. So when you went back to the college, you got their feedback because they were listening to what the cooperating teachers were saying. Karen Blair: Right. Raymond D’Amario: It was great. I mean, I worked my butt off. Really, really did. On those unit plans and lesson plans. But they were…

Raymond D’Amario: That's when I learned to be a teacher. Student teaching is where it's at. That's where it happens. Dolores D’Amario: Also, I'd like to insert that at any time we needed or help from one of our advisors from Towson or we had a question or had a problem, Dolores D’Amario: they were Johnny on the spot, and if there was something that we were to do that didn't really go down smoothly with us, they always interceded and they were wonderful. They didn't put us out there and all that they visited. Raymond D’Amario: They ran interference, yeah.

Dolores D’Amario: They talk to the children, and, what did Miss Manger say about that and, you know, oh, she said this thing, she, you know, and it was wonderful. Yeah. Raymond D’Amario: This was a just a great... I don't know how it is now. I assume it's still great, I don't know. But I mean, they had it down. They knew how to prepare teachers to teach. They really, really did. Raymond D’Amario: And they had the best people at the at the college, I mean, those professors, they knew their business. Raymond D’Amario: They were tops in their field, whatever it was they were doing.

Dolores D’Amario: If I could say from our class and everyone that I knew who went to Towson and graduated as a teacher, every single one of them did that for their career. Nobody changed careers or anything. Karen Blair: Interesting. Very interesting. Raymond D’Amario: Well, some of the guys I think sold insurance. Karen Blair: Well, sure. Uh-huh. Yeah. And that's an issue down the road too, is that, you know, this is not a field that you're going to make a lot of money. And so that's sort of…

Karen Blair: And with summer time, I think people really did do other things, or additional things for the county in which they worked or whatever. So you're at the end of your work here at Towson and you're getting ready to go out and become teachers. When did you apply for jobs? Karen Blair: When were you invited to become part of a school faculty? Karen Blair: And were you confident at that point, were you feeling pretty secure about your ability to go in there and get started? Raymond D’Amario: Well, let me answer that first because it kind of revolves around my decision of being the Marine Corps. So when we graduated, I had three years obligation to the Marine Corps, minimum of three years.

Raymond D’Amario: And so we left and we went to Quantico, so I didn't… So for the first three years after I graduated, Raymond D’Amario: the USMC is what kept me busy. You know, Dolores can tell you about her experiences. But that's what I did. But I would say that that during that time, the state of Maryland was very generous. And they said, OK, we'll waiver until you're finished. And then when you come back… Raymond D’Amario: And you only owed them two years back then. So they said when you come back, you'll fulfill your two years and you're off the hook. Raymond D’Amario: And so I said great. You know, whenever I get out, whenever that is, I will do what I'm supposed to and I'll fulfill the two years and that's exactly what I did. When I left the Marine Corps I interviewed for a job in Baltimore County at Loch Raven Junior High School. Wasn't Loch Raven Academy like it is now.

Karen Blair: Right. Raymond D’Amario: Loch Raven Junior High School. They're all junior highs then, right before Elliott got the middle school stuff. But anyhow, was Loch Raven Junior, and that was… My first teaching experience was there. Karen Blair: Well, and you had the benefit of also having been in the Marines for three years. So combine that with your teacher preparation, I guess. Raymond D’Amario: Oh, that was the worst part.

Karen Blair: Really? Tell us about this. Raymond D’Amario: Well, yeah, because when I was in the Marine Corps and I told people to do something, they said yes, Sir. And they did it. And when I told 7th graders to do something, it was always a battle, as, well, I never knew whether those little 7th grade kids were going to do it or not. Raymond D’Amario: They drove me crazy. I had a tough time with the 7th graders, but I had good people that helped me. I had a grade level chairman at the time and his name was Morris Trent, and he helped me and kind of explained that 7th graders are different from every other creature on the planet, Raymond D’Amario: and so I just learned about that.

Raymond D’Amario: And then I had an absolutely wonderful Baltimore County Supervisor, Louella Woodward. Raymond D’Amario: And remember I told you earlier about core. So I'm in Baltimore County, so I'm teaching core. I was great with the history and the geography and the political science and all that stuff. Raymond D’Amario: Grammer? Couldn't do grammar.And Luella would come after school and she would say, let me let me show you how to teach grammar right. And so I was successful mostly because of those two. And of course what I learned at Towson greatly helped, Raymond D’Amario: but boy, those two folks

Raymond D’Amario: they helped me out a lot because I had trouble adjusting after that, it wasn't all that easy. Wasn't a smooth transition. Karen Blair: No, not with those little 13 year old Marines. Raymond D’Amario: No, they were not. Raymond D’Amario: So, is it different?

Karen Blair: It was certainly. And how about you, Dolores? Dolores D’Amario: Well, we moved to Quantico, Virginia, and I went to teach there. Karen Blair: Uh-huh. Karen Blair: And there were positions available there?

Dolores D’Amario: Yes, it was, but for a short period of time because I got pregnant, and that took care of that. But it was a learning experience there that I have never, ever forgotten. I was around up till Christmas, Dolores D’Amario: and we were doing all kinds of wonderful Christmas pictures and so on and so forth. Dolores D’Amario: There was a darling little boy there, Dolores D’Amario: and he could color just exquisitely, and his color combinations were just atrocious, and I could not figure out why he would do that. And there he was, coloring away on Santa, with the black crayon, and doing the most precise color you’re ever going to see.

Dolores D’Amario: And they just could not figure out why this child was coloring him black. Dolores D’Amario: He was colorblind, and it was my first experience, and it was traumatic for me, and how to work with him and so on and so forth. So that really stayed with me forever. And I began when I got pregnant, and sick in the morning, Dolores D’Amario: and so on and so forth. So I had to give up that position and just went on. We moved to North Carolina then. Karen Blair: So, Dolores, was the expectation, or was it written somewhere that when you became pregnant, you had to stop teaching? Or was this just sort of your choice?

Dolores D’Amario: No, it was their choice that I couldn't go. Karen Blair: Probably some kind of policy that after a certain number of months or something, you had to… Raymond D’Amario: Little children weren't supposed to see pregnant teachers. I don’t know what they thought. You weren't supposed to see them. Karen Blair: Oh, heavens no.

Dolores D’Amario: But down there, yes, that is true. Dolores D’Amario: So we moved to North Carolina and had children. Dolores D’Amario: And more children. And finally, when my last one, Matthew, started kindergarten, and my father oversaw him and so on and so forth, I went back and. Dolores D’Amario: Started out mainly as a substitute, but in Maryland and…

Karen Blair: Uh-huh. So you're back in Maryland after North Carolina? Dolores D’Amario: Back in Maryland. Dolores D’Amario: I did not teach in North Carolina at all. Karen Blair: Well, you taught your own children. You had your own…

Dolores D’Amario: Yes. Yeah. Karen Blair: Your own class. Dolores D’Amario: But there was a unique situation there. When I came back at this one school, Dolores D’Amario: the vice principal devised a plan that I was a substitute, but what they did was he had me come and was working on this with the Baltimore County School Board over there.

Dolores D’Amario: And they had me come every day to school as a substitute, whether they needed me or. Dolores D’Amario: Or not, but if they needed me, fine, and I got a substitute’s pay for that. And when I worked for a substitute all day, fine. When I didn't have to be a substitute, I was assigned to different classes Dolores D’Amario: and different groups of children to give special help and teaching to. Dolores D’Amario: It was a wonderful program, it is a great idea. Well, when Baltimore County Board of Ed got ahold of that, that didn't go down sweetly. And they took that away.

Dolores D’Amario: And so then that's when I started teaching then at another marvelous school, and that was… Dolores D’Amario: Chatsworth. Yes. And oh, my goodness. Now I was interviewed by Nancy Grasmick, but she left at that point, and there was another principal there. But the structure of that school, the teachers of that school, Dolores D’Amario: the children, the needy, needy children of that school, it was… Karen Blair: And what was… So Chatworth was the school that was put together and the former state Superintendent, Nancy Grasmick, was the principal, I guess, when it started.

Karen Blair: And what was the intent at Chatworth? Dolores D’Amario: It was all problem children. Everything was a problem class. There were some classes that were problem classes the entire year. Most of the problem classes the children were identified. Dolores D’Amario: They stayed for a period of six weeks, with all of the teachers and support that they had there, they had support from medical doctors, dentists, psychologists, psychiatrists, anything you can think of to work with that child and their family to help that child, Dolores D’Amario: so he could be mainstreamed in a normal school as soon as possible, or stay there for a year, two year, whatever was necessary. It was a constant moving situation.

Dolores D’Amario: Beautiful, intriguing, rewarding. Dolores D’Amario: It was an experience that I just really was thrilled to death to do. That time I was in kindergarten and I had the most wonderful time in kindergarten. I remember a situation. Dolores D’Amario: We were doing farm animals and pictures and stuffed animals and we got to the point about a cow, and how they get milk from a cow, and… Dolores D’Amario: Well, how can you show a child and get down and he can milk a cow? And it bothered me extremely. So finally I decided that we took a child's ironing board and I set it up and put a soft blanket sort of over it.

Dolores D’Amario: I had a cow's head, and a tail, and underneath there I had a rubber glove. Dolores D’Amario: And we filled it with water and the child actually milked the cow to find out how and why that udder was there with that animal. And they got the milk from it. Karen Blair: So it was fun. Dolores D’Amario: It was, you know, things that we did, you pull things out of the air that you did to help these children.

Dolores D’Amario: And you went home. You felt like you were flying. Dolores D’Amario: It was amazing. It was a wonderful school. And so I was there for quite a while and then I got transferred out and went to several other schools in that Reisterstown corridor type area. Dolores D’Amario: And continued working. Karen Blair: Did you work as a classroom teacher when you went other places?

Karen Blair: And what grades? Dolores D’Amario: Yes. Dolores D’Amario: Mainly second, third and fourth. Karen Blair: Did you have a favorite grade?

Dolores D’Amario: No, not really. I really didn't. Raymond D’Amario: I think she liked the little kids better. Raymond D’Amario: I think she had the little second graders. Dolores D’Amario: I did like second graders. They were, they were fun.

Dolores D’Amario: But I experienced some wonderful people. A principal at… I was at Padonia Elementary, another phenomenal school, just phenomenal. The principal… Dolores D’Amario: That school, at the time that I was there, the entire area over there are apartments, and they were young physicians and young doctors going to Hopkins. Dolores D’Amario: So they were nationalities of all nations. The entire school was lined up with flags from every nation, and once a month, Dolores D’Amario: a parent, all the parents came in and they cooked breakfast for the children in the classes and we all, and they dressed, and the children dressed. Ray came and cooked. It was wonderful. And that was another terrific… I just had marvelous experiences.

Karen Blair: It sounds like it. Karen Blair: And what are you doing in the meantime? Raymond D’Amario: Pretty much the same. Raymond D’Amario: I taught at Loch Raven Junior for nine years, and then and I got out of the 7th grade, praise the Lord, and I ended up teaching 9th grade, which I love teaching.

Karen Blair: Was ninth grade still this core? Raymond D’Amario: Yes, still core, yes, still doing grammar. Raymond D’Amario: And then, I don't know exactly what year it was, but one of the last years that I was there, Baltimore County decided to do away with core, and then all of us had a choice. Karen Blair: Well, there you go.

Raymond D’Amario: Which way do you want to go? You want to go the social studies route? Do you want to go to the English? Well, I immediately took- All those paragraphs to grade and all that? No. I'll go the social studies route. Raymond D’Amario: So I chose that. Then, about a year after that, I applied for a high school position at Franklin High School and I interviewed for that, and I then transferred from Loch Raven Junior High to Franklin Senior High School and I taught history there. Raymond D’Amario: I taught 10th grade for one year, and then I taught U.S. history in the 11th grade, forever. I taught 11th grade U.S. history for, oh, 19 years I think. And I also taught, we had electives back then, and one of the electives I taught was psychology, Raymond D’Amario: and the funny story about the psychology- I had one, two, three of my four kids in class actually.

Karen Blair: Of your own children. Raymond D’Amario: Of my own children in class, yeah. Karen Blair: At the same time? I was going to say, how could this be? I was going to say. Raymond D’Amario: That wouldn't work. No, I had them at different times, but one of them was in my Advanced Placement American history class.

Raymond D’Amario: Well, actually two of them were in my Advanced Placement American history class, and my oldest daughter was in my psychology class, and she said that was the most embarrassing moments of her life because, of course, in psychology we would talk about sex a lot, Karen Blair: Uh-huh. Raymond D’Amario: and she said, you know, Raymond D’Amario: it was just very uncomfortable to have my dad in the front talking about that stuff.

Raymond D’Amario: So I did the psychology and the Advanced Placement for Advanced Placement you have to, I don't know what they do now, but back then you have to take graduate level courses to teach Advanced Placement. Karen Blair: OK. Raymond D’Amario: So I went to Manhattan College and spent a summer there and then I spent another summer at George Mason preparing for that, Raymond D’Amario: because that was, again, I don't know how it is now, but it was a very, very challenging program. You really, really had to know your stuff. So it took me a good while, and I got into the debating at that time.

Karen Blair: Well, tell us a little bit about that. So were you sort of the sponsor for the debate team? Raymond D’Amario: The coach, actually, the coach. It was called the Baltimore Forensic League and it had schools from all over the Greater Baltimore area. Raymond D’Amario: Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County, Howard County, Harford County, and the parochial schools, too. Raymond D’Amario: Loyola, Calvert Hall in particular.

Raymond D’Amario: And we organized the… We had these debates on the weekends. The kids were really dedicated because they gave up weekends to go to these debate tournaments and they were all over the place. We traveled. Raymond D’Amario: I know what she’s going to think. We traveled all over the East Coast. We went to a debates at Harvard University, at the University of Pennsylvania, Wake Forest, Penn- Well, I said University of Pennsylvania and just. Raymond D’Amario: Constant travel on the weekend, so I wasn't home a lot of weekends during the debate season, which lasted from September to Memorial Day, Karen Blair: Oh my heavens.

Raymond D’Amario: and then we would have a national tournament somewhere, again, all over the country, we would go to different places, Raymond D’Amario: and there were thousands of kids from all over. We actually organized one of those tournaments in Baltimore City and we had nine hotels that we filled with students, coaches, and so on for those debate tournaments, Raymond D’Amario: some of the best kids I've ever, ever, ever seen, Raymond D’Amario: including the ones at Franklin, and we were a pretty successful team. I don't want to brag, but we were pretty good, and we won a couple championships and so forth. Not the national level, but on the on the state level. So it was an excellent experience, but I want to go back,

Raymond D’Amario: what she was talking about earlier about the ironing board, and a lot of that is still what you got at Towson. Raymond D’Amario: A lot of that is still, you know, they taught us… I don't know that you can teach people to be creative, Raymond D’Amario: but you can teach people to want to be creative, I guess. I don't know, to think, I don’t want to be trite and say outside the box, But what she did is outside the box, right? And yet it worked. And I think that all goes back to Towson. I mean we're big fans of Towson University, Raymond D’Amario: And especially big fans of that program, and even the debating, I mean, not that I… Well, I had a Doctor Brewington as my public speaking teacher here at Towson University…

Dolores D’Amario: She was here. Raymond D’Amario: Thelma Brewington, and she was here as well, and I had a course with her. Raymond D’Amario: But I just really enjoyed it, and he was a great guy, and he gave you the confidence to speak in front of people, and he gave you the tools that you needed. And I used a lot of those tools when I when I taught, when I coached the debate team. Karen Blair: Successfully use those tools.

Raymond D’Amario: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, you know, all good. And also she was talking earlier about taking off her shoes and putting on her tennis shoes. Raymond D’Amario: That's another thing that we got here at Towson. You learned to dress professionally and behave professional. Raymond D’Amario: Absolutely. I mean that was part of the curriculum, and it was stressed. And when you lived here, you knew what was expected of you professionally, as a professional teacher, and you knew what kind of behavior was expected of you. You know, you didn't wear flip flops to class and all of that kind of stuff. Raymond D’Amario: And that that's all from here.

Raymond D’Amario: I don't know what they're doing now, but I hope they're doing at least some of that. I know times have changed, but professional demeanor is still important. Karen Blair: They are. Yes. It is. Raymond D’Amario: I think it is. Dolores D’Amario: Education has been very important to us, and he left out one thing that he did also at Franklin High School. In the evenings, he had adult education at Franklin High School, and was the principal of that. So there were adults who came to Franklin High School in the evening.

Dolores D’Amario: And took all kinds of courses and classes that he was able to set up, and get teachers to come in and teach them. Karen Blair: Wow, so this would be. Would this be adults? Would this be adult basic ed? Or would this be… Raymond D’Amario: Everything. Yeah, ESOL, basic ed, GED. And then aerobics. Knitting, cake decorating. Dolores D’Amario: Right.

Karen Blair: Why not? Raymond D’Amario: Shorthand back then, shorthand, typing. Dolores D’Amario: Oh, I learned, right, an automobile. Yeah, I tuned up my own car. It was wonderful. Karen Blair: There you go.

Karen Blair: You didn't get to install telephones, but… Dolores D’Amario: Yeah, I mean, he just had had that knack of drawing and teaching. Raymond D’Amario: God, those were the days. Dolores D’Amario: Those were the days.

Karen Blair: Well, and you just thought, you know, the sky’s the limit. We can do this. Karen Blair: Why not? Let's give it a try. Raymond D’Amario: Yes, yes. Raymond D’Amario: I can honestly say, and for the worst as well.

Raymond D’Amario: It never occurred to us that we couldn't do anything. Raymond D’Amario: And I think that's… This is my commercial message to any would-be teachers that are going to see this thing and that is, don't be apologetic about being a teacher. Raymond D’Amario: There are more skills required and necessary to be an effective teacher Raymond D’Amario: than just about anything else you do. If you can teach, you can do just about any doggone thing you want, and I am a firm believer in that.

Raymond D’Amario: And when you know, you hear people, well, you know, I did this and I did that. And I think, you know, I can do that. I could do that. It's not that hard. Raymond D’Amario: Teaching’s hard. A lot of the other stuff isn't that people did, but teaching is hard. It's hard work. Raymond D’Amario: It’s hard on you physically, it's hard on you mentally, and it's hard on you emotionally, if you can do it, you can do just about anything you want with your life, I really believe that. Karen Blair: Dolores, what would you say? What advice would you give individuals who would be thinking about going into teaching?

Dolores D’Amario: I would say absolutely go for it and go to Towson University. Dolores D’Amario: I just feel… There are five of us in our family who graduated from Towson, and we all think it's wonderful. My granddaughter graduated from Towson, is working with children. What greater glory is there than to work with children? Dolores D’Amario: And I feel very strongly about it. Any way I can help, I would. Karen Blair: What things have we forgotten?

Raymond D’Amario: I don't know. Karen Blair: What's on your sheet that we didn't talk about? Dolores D’Amario: I would, on the side, say, I wrote back here, the professors that we had from Towson were the most wonderful people. Dolores D’Amario: I absolutely, I hated history with a passion, as you well know, but with them I learned.

Dolores D’Amario: Pearl Blood taught geography. The little stream out there was the Mississippi River or whatever, it was the Chesapeake Bay, whatever she needed, the professors were so wonderful. Dolores D’Amario: I just love them all. Every single one. I'm sure they're gone. Passed to a greater glory, but they are all remembered. Let me tell you. Dolores D’Amario: Doctor… Karen Blair: The president?

Dolores D’Amario: Earl Hawkins, oh, my, his wife and he, greeting the students every year. Hat, gloves, dressed up, tea. That way we were adults when we walked in there. We weren't kids. That was important. Karen Blair: It was. Dolores D’Amario: That was very important. Karen Blair: Maybe a first lesson in how you should dress professionally, and you probably had to write a note accepting their invitation for tea.

Raymond D’Amario: Thank you note afterwards, yes ma’am. Dolores D’Amario: But they did all the right things. Dolores D’Amario: What can I say? Raymond D’Amario: Pearl Blood reminds me, we went to Calvert Cliffs with her, and we studied…. And to this day… There was just an article in the paper the other day about the menhaden fish population. And I knew all about that because of Pearl Blood, because we studied what an intricate part of the whole food chain, the menhaden fish is.

Raymond D’Amario: And I mean, we did that kind of stuff, and they were just excellent at those kind of experiences. The other… Raymond D’Amario: They were student kind of people. You'd be in what was then the student center, and you'd be sitting around and playing cards. And one of the profs would come over and play cards with you, especially if you were playing bridge, and sit down and play a game of cards with you. Dolores D’Amario: That's where we learn to play bridge. Raymond D’Amario: Yeah, and they enjoyed that kind of stuff and they were very much into those kind of experience. We got invited over to one of the… His names escapes me, maybe I should have written something down. We were invited over to this this one professor's house.

Raymond D’Amario: He had written a reader. Raymond D’Amario: And the star of the reader was Nippi. Raymond D’Amario: And it was for little kids, and we were invited over his house when the book was published, and he invited us over. We all went over there and had a grand old time celebrating, and we sang a song about Nippi, N-I-P-P-I spells Nippi, and you don't just forget that kind of stuff. Karen Blair: No, of course not.

Raymond D’Amario: That’s stuff that that stays with you, and the friends that we made there, Raymond D’Amario: and of course I met my wife there. I do have a story about meeting my wife there. Raymond D’Amario: After we graduated, the following week we got married and we went on our honeymoon. Karen Blair: A week later.

Raymond D’Amario: A week later. Raymond D’Amario: Graduated on June 11th, we were married on June 18th, and we went away to the Poconos, for our vacation, for our anniversary. Excuse me, for our honeymoon. Raymond D’Amario: And we got there, and there were three other couples from Towson who were there, and we didn't know it in advance. So we kind of hung out together the whole time. But it was a big surprise. We didn't know that they were there. Yeah. Dolores D’Amario: And each one of them did not know the other one was coming.

Raymond D’Amario: Right. Raymond D’Amario: So that was a Lot of fun too. Dolores D’Amario: I want to mention the dorm mothers. Karen Blair: OK.

Dolores D’Amario: We had the most wonderful dorm mothers you could possibly imagine. Dolores D’Amario: Ours most of the time was Mrs. Tillman. God love her, she was wonderful. And when the show, the Miss America show, well, you know, we were supposed to have lights out and all of that, but we all got in Mrs. Tillman’s room Dolores D’Amario: and watch the show, and tiptoed back. Dolores D’Amario: And so that nobody was disturbed, well, there wasn't anybody else in the in the hall or whatever. She, they were wonderful, our dorm mothers. When there was a problem from a headache, a boyfriend, whatever she was there. She took care. Oh my gosh, she was wonderful.

Dolores D’Amario: They were just marvelous people. Dolores D’Amario: I can't, you know, say enough about them. Dolores D’Amario: The doctor and the nurse were… Raymond D’Amario: Nurse Board, I think she was in the army before she... She was tough. You really had to be sick to see Nurse Board.

Dolores D’Amario: They were wonderful, absolutely wonderful, and at all times I get a shot of… Dolores D’Amario: I had an experience, because we were, Ray and I were going to go somewhere. I had a little knitting box. I was famous for knitting argyle socks and beer mug socks and with the four needles, and they were in the car, Dolores D’Amario: and I threw it in the car and we were going to go up to Peerce’s or whatever. And I sat on a needle and went in quite far on my buttocks. Karen Blair: Oh no.

Raymond D’Amario: Oh yes. Dolores D’Amario: So we went to Nurse Board. But she said, you know, she was, Dolores D’Amario: Why are you here? Dolores D’Amario: And I sat on a knitting needle. She said, you did what? I showed her. Oh, my God, she said. Doctor, come out here immediately. You know, was one of those big… Well, he didn't know what to do with it either, you know, how to get it in or out,

Dolores D’Amario: and they stood there, and anyway she decided I needed a tetanus shot first, and then they ripped it out and it was it wasn't a problem. Karen Blair: Uh-huh. Good idea. Dolores D’Amario: But anyway, every time she saw me after that, she said you're not knitting, are you? Dolores D’Amario: But I was taken care of and… But it was wonderful. I just…

Dolores D’Amario: It was a wonderful experience. Raymond D’Amario: When she was talking about the dorms and the curfews, and curfew was, I think, 10:00 in a week and midnight on the weekend. And you had the girls. The boys did not have a curfew. The girls had a curfew. Raymond D’Amario: Yeah. Anyhow, so we would pull up next to, what was it, Prettyman. Dolores D’Amario: I'd say Newell Hall.

Raymond D’Amario: Newell Hall, and there was a road there. Karen Blair: Right, still is. Raymond D’Amario: And so we would all park on the Road and we would… Neck. Raymond D’Amario: And then the clock would start chiming.

Raymond D’Amario: And the key was to get them in the door, through the door, before the last chime on the clock. Raymond D’Amario: And then Miss Tillman… And if you went to pick them up, you went to the lobby and there was an announcement. Raymond D’Amario: There's a man on the floor. Raymond D’Amario: And then they would call them. Miss Manger, you have a guest. Would you please come down to the lobby, foyer, whatever they call it.

Raymond D’Amario: And that's when they’d meet... But nobody ever got past the lobby. Nobody ever got past Miss Tillman either. Karen Blair: There you go. Karen Blair: Well, this has been great fun. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Dolores D’Amario: I hope we didn’t bore you.

Raymond D’Amario: Yeah, we had a good time here. Karen Blair: Bore us. Oh heavens no. Dolores D’Amario: We did. We really had a wonderful time. Karen Blair: It sounds like it.

Karen Blair: Well, thank you so much. This certainly will add immeasurably to our story collectively. Raymond D’Amario: Well, thank you for having us. It was a pleasure. Dolores D’Amario: Thank you. It was a pleasure. 00:54:47