Barbarino, Jesus and Miss Lora
I was talking to a friend recently and they brought up Miss Lora. Wow did that bring back memories! Miss Lora was a lady who never married who served as a dorm mother and also as a bible school teacher. She was actually my mother-in-law's dorm mother in the 50s.
Miss Lora was known for her passion for teaching children's bible classes and always made sure they were very interactive as well as educational. Miss Lora taught the 4 & 5 year old class at Henderson for decades. I can still picture the little wooden chairs all sitting in a circle. We would file in, take a seat and she would lead us in songs and tell us bible stories. Most weeks she used dolls to act out the parts of the story, while adding in sound effects as needed. I still remember the story of the apostles and the rushing mighty wind (which sounded a lot like a vacuum cleaner). I always loved how she had the dolls dressed up in biblical attire.
All these memories of Miss Lora reminded me of something else; When Josh was 5 years old I took him to Miss Lora's class on one of our visits home to Henderson. By this time Miss Lora was assisted by a helper, because she was elderly. Josh was finishing up his project and I was looking around the room and drinking in all the memories there. That is when I realized that the part of Jesus all these years has been played by the Vinnie Barbarino doll!
Miss Lora was known for her passion for teaching children's bible classes and always made sure they were very interactive as well as educational. Miss Lora taught the 4 & 5 year old class at Henderson for decades. I can still picture the little wooden chairs all sitting in a circle. We would file in, take a seat and she would lead us in songs and tell us bible stories. Most weeks she used dolls to act out the parts of the story, while adding in sound effects as needed. I still remember the story of the apostles and the rushing mighty wind (which sounded a lot like a vacuum cleaner). I always loved how she had the dolls dressed up in biblical attire.
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| Vinnie Barbarino |
All these memories of Miss Lora reminded me of something else; When Josh was 5 years old I took him to Miss Lora's class on one of our visits home to Henderson. By this time Miss Lora was assisted by a helper, because she was elderly. Josh was finishing up his project and I was looking around the room and drinking in all the memories there. That is when I realized that the part of Jesus all these years has been played by the Vinnie Barbarino doll!
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| John with the rest of the Welcome Back Kotter cast |
For you youngsters who might be reading this: Vinnie Barbarino was a character played by a young John Travolta in the series Welcome Back Kotter. I really wouldn't compare his character to Jesus, but I guess he did have the right look.
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