Mrs. Foreman's Wig

Wigs in the early 1970's were not nearly as natural looking as they are able to make them today. In fact, some were so obvious that one wondered just how bad a woman's natural hair must be for her to choose to wear a wig.

Mrs. Foreman was one of those women.

Mrs. Foreman was a teacher at Busch School. She was out on the school playground pretty much every day as we played before school, during recess or after eating lunch. Her "spot" was normally near the playground markings that designated our kickball spot.

I don't remember if it was during my fifth or sixth grade year that two of the older boys, Chris and Joe, started a little private contest to see which of them could "accidentally" hit Mrs. Foreman with the ball and knock her wig off. I'm pretty sure every student at the school knew of this contest, but somehow Mrs. Foreman remained unaware and stood in her designated spot each day.

A number of balls came close over the period of several days, but neither of the boys was successful. Eventually, though, their persistence paid off and one of them - I don't remember which - hit Mrs. Foreman to partially dislodge her wig. I'm pretty sure the entire student body quietly celebrated the victory.

A number of years went by and my sister Kim started dating a boy she met in the church youth group. His name didn't ring a bell with me at first, but his face did the first time I met her boyfriend. My sister was dating none other than Chris Amos - the Chris of the Mrs. Foreman's wig conspiracy!

Chris's face conveyed a dire warning to me as I mentioned the little incident from the school playground; making it obvious that Kim was, as yet, unaware of that event in his past. She, of course, learned the whole story at some point and it became a source of entertainment for us all when it was discussed.

I found myself wondering through the years if Kim and Chris would have found it as entertaining if their son Bryan had undertaken a similar challenge.