Growing Up

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David Burrow spent most of his youth in Mount Pleasant, a small industrial city in the rolling hills of southeast Iowa. His family lived in a split-level brick and wood home in a middle class neighborhood. He fondly remembers the historic homes and commercial buildings in the town, the hills and the wooded countryside, and the spectacular Mississippi River, which was just a half-hour drive from his home.

Mr. Burrow was quite inept socially and very much a loner all through school. He was smart, he was bad at sports, and he never dated much--three automatic strikes in the world of a schoolboy in the '70s. The self-proclaimed "studs" of the school picked on him mercilessly, particularly in junior high. While he loved learning and was always a bright student, he hated going to school because of the constant verbal abuse.

Things came to a head his sophomore year in high school, when a bullying classmate challenged him to a fight. He didn't back down, and in fact Mr. Burrow surprised both himself and the onlookers by drawing blood and knocking the other boy down. While it may not have been the most morally correct thing to do, fighting and winning worked wonders. Things got better after that, and by the time he was a senior school was actually something he enjoyed. (Click here for high school yearbook photos.)

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Bike in Olivet Fred Flintstone punching bag
LEFT: David Burrow and his brothers with a bike in Olivet, Michigan
RIGHT: Steve and David Burrow with a Fred Flintstone punching bag
on their front porch in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa

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Mt. Pleasant, Iowa
The town square in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa
features a steam engine from the
Midwest Old Settlers and Threshers Reunion.

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Paul and David
David Burrow on his brother Paul's shoulders

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Gray Ribbon Campaign Against School Harassment

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***** Links to other sites on the Web

* NEXT (School Days)
* Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce
* Iowa Wesleyan College (Mt. Pleasant, IA)
* Channel 6 (KWQC, formerly WOC-TV)
* A Presidential Classroom for Young Americans
* Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America
* HOME

© 2009 davidmburrow@yahoo.com

The background music on this page is the Linda Ronstadt hit "Different Drum", which seems appropriate for the theme of this page.

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