JuneInMA's Blog

Folks,

I don't know about you guys, but every now and then the onslaught of bad news were exposed to on a daily basis, coupled with the stresses of life, sometimes get to be too much for me.  There are times when all I want to do is have a good cry because I feel my soul needs cleansing.  I go about feeling sad and depleted and generally not good.  When this happens, I actively seek out things that make me happy (hanging out in my mom's kitchen, hanging out with friends, getting a nice manicure, getting a new haircut) or simply....finding a GOOD story.  Well I needed one and Fox25 provided the story tonight.  Here is the transcript of it I found on the internet.  It just made my heart smile.

70-Year Old First Grader

ST. JOSEPH, MO -- Students in a St. Joseph, Missouri elementary school can't stop talking about their new 70-year-old classmate.

Alfred Williams is drawing national news attention all because of what he does and does not know.

Williams never learned to read, so he is going back to school.

Students in the first-grade class clearly enjoy talking and working with their much older classmate.

One student said, “He is really smart and he really helps me a lot.”

Williams earned a living for his family working in the fields for years so he never got the chance to get and education.

The older than average first grader said he put a promise in his mother's head that he would one day learn to read.

Williams, who lives in a friend's laundry room, has traveled a lot by Greyhound bus and says he never knew why passengers stood in different lines until he could read the names of the destination cities at each line.

The school has set up a fund to help Williams financially.

To help him out, call Edison Elementary School at (816) 671-4110.