Chapter Five: School Years

Ervin began school in 1923, at age six. While other children answered questions quickly — often incorrectly — Ervin paused, considered, and then answered precisely. He was busy making sure he had it exactly right. The teasing was inevitable. “Are you a turtle?” they called. “Why do you move so slow?” At first, Ervin pushed back. But over time, as his quick wit and genuine warmth won over his classmates one by one, he found a different response: a smile, a shrug, and an embrace of the name that made people laugh and feel closer to him.

His close circle of friends — Sam, Stella, Lucia, Blakelyn, Colby, and Caden — were frequent guests at the Reed Estate. They climbed the apple trees, fished in the creek, rode Sweet around the grounds with Jackie running alongside, and sat for hours in Jamie’s hangar listening to stories of WWI dogfights over the English Channel. These were the friendships of a lifetime, forged in laughter and rooted in loyalty.

By the time Ervin was thirteen, his intellect and physical strength had flourished under the guidance of the finest tutors. He became active in high school sports and excelled across the board. He gained a new group of close friends — Sadie, Trevor, Adaline, and Heigan, all from the same neighboring family — who became nearly inseparable from him through their high school years. They joined the estate’s adventures, met with Jamie for long sessions of Africa stories, and shared in everything the Reed Estate had to offer.

Ervin graduated at the top of his high school class in 1935. He had earned every grade the same way he did everything else — slowly, deliberately, and without missing a single detail.