School romance blossoms “In 1937, when me and Betty Leigh Ashlock were l3 and 14 and in the seventh grade at Mulberry Junior High in Eureka, Kan., (population 4,000), she was one of the school belles and I was a 65-pound lad just in from the farm. “I was struck by her attractiveness, personality and popularity, but knew that I could not attract her from the many older boys who constantly pursued her. (I would send her Valentines, unsigned, because I feared her rejection.) “However, by our senior year in high school, (l943), all the ‘big boys’ were in military service (I went too, but not until November), and we had the leads in the senior play and I began taking her home after play practice (in my father’s l936 Plymouth). “That is when I learned that absence makes the heart grow fonder — for the fellow who still is around! So, 62 years later, here we are, with four children, nine grandchildren, and three ‘greats.’ And one would be hard pressed to find a better relationship.” — Harold Burris