Story from Elsie Burton’s Diary
When school started in the fall after graduation from the eighth grade, transportation was a problem. The nearest high school was eleven miles away. It had been decided that I would go to Theodore Roosevelt Junior High School in San Jose. Mother would drive and my brothers could go into San Jose as well to take advantage of what was considered better educational facilities. They all enrolled at Horace Mann Grammar School. It was located a block away from the First Church at the corner of Sixth and Santa Clara Streets.
The next year when I started San Jose High School, transportation was solved in a different way. At age 14, I was given a special permit to drive to school. Dad tried to teach me to drive, and again, he and I couldn’t manage the teacher/student relationship. Mother did the job, and I think rather easily.
I loved to drive after I got used to it A 50 mile per hour speed limit was my maximum speed. I went 55 on many occasions and enjoyed it. Those were the only time I can remember willfully disobeying direct orders. The boys threatened to tell when they wanted something from me, but they enjoyed it as much as I did so they never did.
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