In August of 1965 Pam Barry and I had driver training with Mr. Spangler. That was also the month that I went on the cross country vacation with my uncle Curtis, my grandmother and my great aunt, and because of that I ended up having to reschedule the driver ed, but I can’t recall if I ended up taking it earlier or later than I otherwise would have. In any case, it’s the reason that Pam and I had it together. I don’t know who my partner would have been otherwise.

Mr. Spangler was one of the phys ed teachers at school, and I had him for that nearly every year. In addition, for some reason he had also taught our eighth grade math class. He was OK for math, but by eighth grade I was ready for something a bit more advanced, and what he was teaching was just more of the same. Not his fault, he was just following the Elco curriculum, I suppose. As to phys ed, that was a class I pretty much hated, and my grades reflected it (C’s and occasional D’s). Most of the time Mr. Spangler had us playing some sort of sports game (you know, the skins against the shirts), and I was never very good at competitive sports, nor did I have any interest in them. I didn’t dislike Mr. Spangler, as gym teachers went, he was pretty much par for the course, I just didn’t care for the activities.

So when I showed up for the first driver trying session I thought I was reasonably familiar with him, but I was not prepared for the way he handled the driver ed course. He was almost like an entirely different person.

By that I mean he was absolutely the most patient, the most unflappable guy I would ever hope to meet. Absolutely perfect for a driver ed course.

And I had some experience with driving teachers. When my aunt Jane was finally learning to drive (my uncle Allen was her teacher), I had been over to their place to do a little light baby sitting for their young daughter Connie. When they took me home, Jane was at the wheel, and Allen was barking directions at her, and I do mean barking. He was using his most exasperated voice, and if you’ve ever been the recipient of his exasperated voice, you know how annoying that can be. My father once absolutely refused to have anything more to do with him for a short time because of it.

Anyway, how Jane ever learned to drive from him, I’ll never know, but Mr. Spangler was the exact opposite. Nothing could phase him.

I have two specific memories.

One time I was behind the wheel, and I was driving on Cumberland Street in Lebanon. Pam was in the back seat, and Mr. Spangler was in the passenger seat, of course. I was approaching the intersection near the Colonial Theater and the light had turned amber and I thought I could make it through before it was red, so I pressed down on the accelerator but nothing was happening, we came to a stop. That was the first time that I realized that the instructor had his own brake that overrode everything. Good thing, too. There was no rebuke from Mr. Spangler. When the light changed, he relinquished control back to me, and we continued as before, but I had learned a little lesson, and I had not been embarrassed in front of Pam. I doubt that she had any idea that anything had happened.

On another occasion Pam was behind the wheel and she was driving on a rural road that led into Myerstown. I was sitting in the back, of course, and when she came to a rather sharp turn in the road I noticed to my great surprise and shock that her door had started to swing open. Apparently she hadn’t fully closed it when getting in.

‘Uh, Mr. Spangler!” I cried out.

But he was concentrating on Pam’s driving and hadn’t noticed the door.

“Mr. Spangler, could we please stop! Just for a moment?” 

I didn’t know what else to do.

Happily, just ahead there was a spot where we could pull over, so he told Pam to do so, and then he turned to me.

“Uh, Pam’s door isn’t shut, I saw it start to fly open when we took the curve.” 

Pam tested her door, and sure enough, it wasn’t closed, so she closed it.

The unflappable Mr. Spangler merely said in that low-keyed voice, “It’s good she had her seat belt on or she might have fallen out.”

He thanked me for pointing it out, and we were on our way.