Stella Barnett Getting Shot

Stella Barnett taught typing. I took the course because it was considered a bird course where one could get high marks. I am grateful for learning to type, especially considering the career path that I followed.

My typing marks were not that good. I took the exam at the electric typewriter. There were only one or two in the class. As I put my fingers on the home keys, the typewriter went off like a machine gun. Immediately my paper had "asdfjkl;" typed on it. Ten words per minute shot right there.

If you talked or misbehaved in typing, Mrs. Barnett would go and make cryptic marks on the board in shorthand, either Pittman or Gregg. It was worse than say Lorna Harris' history class where you had to write your own name on the board. You just didn't know what she was writing about, and it was a little scarey.

Stella Barnett was a gentle soul.