Wearing a Raincoat to School - Part 3 Grades 1 and 2 cont'd

[joe]

There were perhaps four or five other days of really heavy rainfall during first grade. The classroom had full-length windows and was on an outer wall of the school. On rainy days from the vantage point looking out, it always seemed to be a driving downpour! I think I must have been wearing my yellow rubber rain slicker with the helmet hood whenever I needed to for I do not recall feeling cross or frustrated at not wearing my raincoat on those days when the entire class was dressed in raingear. To a boy, we were all in the yellow slickers and helmet hoods. The girls’ raincoats were of a variety of colors and styles – the vinyl-coated floral printed coats standing out the most. There was one afternoon when a neighboring mother dropped off a first grade girl at my house so that we could be taken to the library after school. It was definitely a cold fall or winter rain that became more persistent in the afternoon. The neighboring mother outfitted her girl is a substantial and well made thick waterproof vinyl-coated red trench coat. I later discovered it was made by Sears as part of its “Winnie-the-Pooh” clothing collection for girls. Her mother thoughtfully purchased the raincoat in a large size for my friend to grow into for she wore it through sixth grade! Anyway, I was thankful to this mother for dressing my friend in her raincoat. (I can describe her as one of those mothers who reliably dressed her daughter in her trench coat whenever rain threatened.) Fortunately, this day my Mom was not to be outdone. She scurried to closet and got my big long Weather Rite and helmet hood and we would make a visit to the library suitably dressed. I must admit I was quite nervous and jumpy being on this early “play date” and my raincoat layered over a warm wool sweater became quite hot in the library as we jostled in our noisy raingear among the stacks of books.

Second Grade

During second grade, it seemed to rain a little more frequently. There were twenty days that probably demanded wearing a raincoat and I wore my yellow rubber slicker on the bulk of those days as did the other boys in class. It was an unusual year for New Jersey in that there was only one school day on which the rainfall exceeded one inch. The rainfalls were generally moderate showers that would seem to linger for a week: these happened during November and December. In October and in March there were some bleak days of steady rain which sent mothers to their family coat closets pulling out our long flowing yellow slickers and helmet hoods as well as the black rubber over-the-shoe boots with similar clasp closures as our raincoats.

Wearing the Slicker at Church

Sunday September 27, 1970 78 55 .81 Streaming wet rubber in church
Sunday November 15, 1970 53 48 .68 Slicker over Sunday Dress Clothes
Sunday February 7, 1971 40 30 .62 Jostling in the raincoats
Sunday March 7, 1971 47 35 .90 Rubber coat & boots
Sunday May 16, 1971 58 53 .76 Slickers worn

I was also outfitted in my raincoat when I dressed for church on four or five Sunday mornings with uncharacteristic driving heavy rain. I was now conscious of having to wear my slicker over my best clothing: dress pants and a turtleneck or sweater and rustle down the aisles of church in my rubber raincoat and later into Sunday school. It was a different school building and, unlike the public school I attended which was all on ground level, I had to learn to climb up long flights of stairs in my long slicker. My raincoat felt huge as I went up the stairs and took my seat in the more confining desks awaiting us. I remember seeing the windows of the classroom fog up from the steam heat on these rainy Sundays and I felt more conspicuous in my full length yellow rain regalia along with the other the other boys as there were no coat hooks apparent on which to hang our raincoats. We were quick to unclasp their raincoats and with relief, vent them open and peel them off from around our shoulders. We “publics” nervously sat in these unfamiliar surroundings, the boys in particular nestling into and sitting on the wonderfully aromatic canvas lining of our rubber raincoats as they draped our chairs and the rain continued through the late morning, pouring down in sheets beyond the windows. The girls with their lightweight, dressier and less protective raingear, for once had a rainwear advantage over us boys trying to manage our heavy and now cumbersomely hot and heavy rubber slickers. All of us had to be careful as public school students not to disturb the contents of the confining parochial school desks.

Rainfall Event #2

a.) Thursday October 15, 1970 71 62 .94 Slicker Brigades
b.) Thursday October 22, 1970 68 62 .98 Weather Rite Day

As I had mentioned previously, there were some days during October in 2nd grade which saw a persistent steady rain necessitating rubber raingear. I remember my Mom on these two fall days laying out the Weather Rite at breakfast and helping me pull on my boots and slip into the generous full-length raincoat and helmet hood. She then accompanied me to the school bus which would stop across the street. I remember her holding a clear see-through vinyl umbrella over me as the bus approached and the rain must have started falling more heavily. The umbrella was unnecessary since I was wearing the helmet hood, but they were a kind of iconic fashion accessory in the early 1970’s. The prevalence of damp showery weather through the fall seemed to regularly fill the classroom cloak section with a sea of hanging yellow raincoats. The boys were truly a brigade coming into the classroom uniformly outfitted in full yellow rubber raingear and boots. We seemed to make quite a show of taking our raincoats on and off, sweeping them onto the coat hooks with that wonderful jostling sound!

[Jjai]

That post must certainly stir up good memories from your schooldays. The furthest back I can remember of my early rainwear days probably went back to around 1977 when I was six years old. My sister had a Navy Blue thick cotton backed shiny plastic mac with White spots and a hood. Mine of a similar design was very Bright Red but with a Souwester.

Unlike your story though only a few in my school at that time wore these style of macs although they were popular back then. Also as kids I remember hating to wear it back and fore school at the time as a lot of the other kids had stiff cagoules Orange or Blue I can remember more prominently.
A few doors down from where I lived was a young single mother with dark hair who I thought was very pretty who would come and baby sit while my mother went to work early on a Friday morning and walk me to school. Sometimes when it would rain heavily she would come to the house dressed in a dark Blue full length PVC Rukka mac and Horse riders style boots. She was the only person I never used to feel conspicuous with when wearing my raincoat.
Apart from that and a few other lasting hazy memories it was not until I was a teenager that raingear became such an interest. It is a pity that no-one makes those wonderful raincoats anymore, indeed I would have liked to try and make my own but I have'nt been able to find similar PVC material for some reason.

[joe]

Jjai:

I'm glad you have in your story the detail about the young woman who walked you and your sister to school in the long blue Rukka Raincoat and riding boots. I'll include a story about a Rukka raincoat in this ongoing chronicle I am writing about wearing raincoats to school. By the end of high school in 1981, I would have been wearing a long gray vinyl travel raincoat - very likely similar to a pac-a-mac on the Great Britain side of the pond. It was in May of my senior year in high school and I was walking home from school in an afternoon of straight-down heavy rain. I was spotted by a neighbor from Denmark whose husband worked for the branch office of Danish company located near my hometown. She wore a wonderful blue Rukka Raincoat - perfect for such a steady penetrating downpour. I think she was waiting to pick up her little girl at the elementary school close to my high school. She stepped out of the car to hail me and offer me a ride home from school so that I could get to my part-time job on time. Of course dressed in such a wonderful piece of raingear, I immediately noticed her.

I eagerly accepted the ride and I must add, my neighbor was most attractive in her Rukka!

[Jjai]

What a wonderful story joe, would'nt it be wonderful to meet these women again!