Local Life, Opinion

Retro RFH Typing Business Buzz

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RFH business teachers of 1970s
Photo/RFH yearbook

So what’s reminiscing about RFH writing skills honed without throwing typing in there? It’s all about words and getting them on paper, after all. Ding!

So, as an extension of Teacher Appreciation Day, we’re paying homage and doing some looking back to those business teachers — mostly typing. That art was a different kind back in the 1970s. Very different. So different that teens today would likely look at a typewriter the quizzical way they do a rotary landline phone: “How the heck do ya use that thing?”

And believe us RFHers, it was a real challenge even when it was a common sight, never mind trying to successfully type a paper in college or in an office.

The typewriter was quite the scary gadget, especially with a timer going and the kid next to you pranking you and pulling your paper out of the roller thing.

Yeah, Katie Day did that to me every time. And there were others like that little gremlin. Of course, my coordination was so poor that typing one coherent sentence in even 10 minutes was asking too much. I used to bring my typing papers home so that my crazy cousin could “read” them out loud to the family on weekends and laugh like a hyena. The non-words pecked out made for quite the comedic nonsensical text.

Mrs. Rucker and Mrs. Orefice, imagine that, taught typing. The others, I don’t recall. I was too traumatized by the timer, the ticking of the keys and the pressure to get one word right. And forget about the ribbon changing, white out and pushing that return bar arm attached to the paper roller to go to the next line. And if you didn’t properly roll the paper in, everything was crooked. A real no-no. Yes, kids, it was that complicated. And noisy. But there was something soothing about the noise in all of that.

It made you feel as if there was a rhythm to getting thoughts on paper — even if what came out on the paper could be transcribed as hieroglyphics.

There’s been a lot of thought tossed around on social media among RFHers lately, writers or not, about that typing class. So, let’s take it back to the 70s again for the youngsters and those who just plain wanna remember it all and laugh.

Name these teachers. Can you remember what was considered good words per minute? Which words didn’t count in the tally? What did you type? And remember that onion skin paper?? Which side for the reading of what you were typing? Which business teacher was a manager/owner or something at Donovan’s?