When Mr. Ken Bracy Called Square Dances for the Luther League at Grace Lutheran Church

When I was in Junior High School at Margaretta School in Castalia, Ohio, Ken Bracy was our math teacher. It was in Mr. Bracy's class on November 22, 1963, that he and our class learned that President Kennedy had been killed. Everyone was very upset, as you can imagine!

Ken Bracy photo from 1984 SHS Fram

Later, when several of my friends from Grace Lutheran Church were also members of the Luther League, Mr. Bracy attended one of our meetings to call square dances! He was so funny! Now in math class, there is not too much to laugh about, but Mr. Bracy would ad lib the "script" as he called the square dances, and he made everyone laugh! You did not have to actually have a date to participate in square dances, it was just "good clean fun."  Some of the phrases in the square dance calls included: 

Promenade

Do si do

Allemande left 

Right and left grand 

Circle left

To learn about the commands in square dancing, see this website from Hallmark:

https://www.hallmarkchannel.com/home-and-family/how-to/12-basic-calls-for-square-dancing

Throughout my life, I would run into Mr. Bracy every now and then.  My very first day of college at BGSU Firelands, I stopped at an ice cream stand in Castalia after class, and he was working there! He called me "Betty Co Ed." Later in life, when my then husband and I had twins, Mr. Bracy installed a chain link fence, as an employee of Koch Aluminum. The twins would spend countless hours in the little swimming pool, toddler slide, and sand box, and  that fence kept them safe, if I had to go inside for a moment.  At an even later time, when I worked in the Reference Department of Sandusky Library, I helped Mr. Bracy work on  his family tree. One of his ancestor's surnames was Roethlisberger. I  tried to connect him to football player Ben Roethlisberger, but I could not make a solid connection. I do  recall that Mr. Bracy had roots of Swiss/German origin.

Below is a picture of my Confirmation Class at Grace Lutheran Chruch.

Ken Bracy passed away in 2007, but he will never be forgotten! And I will never forget participating in square dances at Luther League, music class, Girl Scouts, and even at wedding receptions. My dancing days are over, but happy memories remain with me!

Image Credit -- Square Dance Tech