A girl called Paige in year 5
Wendy in my Sunday School class. I was 9 or 10.
Kenny, an older kid (about 10) who lived on our street. I was 5.
Amazingly, he was tall and thin, just like my husband would turn out to be. My taste in men hasn’t changed in 65 years.
Luke Skywalker. I’m not entirely sure I’ve ever gotten over it.
Two definitions.
People I actually knew who were age appropriate: Charlene, first grade. Unshakable for 6 years, even though her family had moved away.
All others: Probably Grace Kelly. Maybe Audrey Hepburn. Or Jo Stafford, just for her voice. Or Miss Wichmann, 7th grade English.
I suppose my first was Gina, a classmate, when we were both around 8. It’s hard to say whether it was really a crush, though, because my first grade class was obsessed with the idea of romantic relationships. None of us had any idea of what it really meant, but most of the people in the class put very high stock in having as many girl/boy friends as possible, and holding hands was a pretty big deal. I moved and didn’t see her again until around age 11 where we had about an hour to catch up. At that point, you could certainly say it was a crush.
Alan, when I was about 8. I was shy. I don’t think he ever knew I existed.
Barry Manilow. And then a boy named Alex in my kindergarten class.
There were a couple of girls, but honestly, I was so shy I doubt they ever knew.
A young woman on the swim team when I was in high school. I remember the first time I saw her she was sitting on the side of the pool with her legs in the water. Too bad she never went out with me.
I don’t remember one until I hit puberty, at around 11, and then it was a boy in my class named Dave. I crushed on him for two years, until high school. I still think about him sometimes. He was everything I wanted to be but wasn’t - fun, popular, friendly, good at sports.
Captain Kirk. I was about 9. I’m still not over it, some 40 or so years later.
Real person crush - Andy in grade 6. All the girls thought he was cute.
Nancy, in my first grade class. 6 years old.
Maria S. - 1st Grade. I couldn’t stop staring at her until one day she came up to me and asked: “Do you like me?”, and I said “No!”. Ah, if I only said yes.
5th grade…the following is kind of a tragedy in the way, and is what happens when obtuse people are put in positions of power over kids:
Her name was Janet Haffey, cute as a button brunette, potential for movie star looks to be honest. And yes she was an actor. Got cast as Helen Keller, did a bang up job, certainly impressed us 5th graders, including me (and someone else-see below).
Alas, obtuseness then got in the way, when the nuns in my school got the bright idea to have her act for the 1st graders. They, of course, did not understand what her blind gesticulating was all about, and, thus, with the mistaken impression that it was all divine comedy, laughed uproariously at her.
She stayed in character tho, which impressed me even more-as well as my best friend Tom, who later confided in me that she was his top crush. And then he asked me who mine was. Well, I certainly couldn’t admit that I liked the same girl that he did! [Note: we were both very similar in personalities, creative smart introverts, INFP’s; my mom once came into my bedroom to see what we were up to, and we were both reading books.]
So I hemmed and hawed and kind of covertly hinted at another girl or two, which didn’t make him too happy-and even then I didn’t blame him. But what could I do…
I’ve Googled her a few times since then, nothing anywhere as far as acting jobs or such are concerned. I Googled him back in 2013, only to find that he had died of cancer 2 years prior.
A guy named Rick, when I was in junior high. I don’t think I even ever spoke to him, but he was smart and good looking. I did send him an anonymous valentine, don’t know if he got it.
Julie, first grade.
Miss Copini. First grade. I’ve always been drawn to the mature woman.
Girl named Sara I went to school with K-8. First famous person crush was either Cindy Brady or Toni Basil.
From grade 10 to high-school graduation, I had a hopeless crush on Kathy Sano. I had crushes on other girls in high school: Angela and Mary-Anne Mauceri, Kelly Bone, Coleen Atkinson… And outside celebrities? Sharon Seto, who hosted a variety show in the Toronto area, cones to mind.
Before then, I’m not sure. I remember there was this guy in grade six, John Wall, who I desperately wanted to be: popular, athletic, had curly hair, got to sit at the back of the school bus with the cool kids… In grade six, there was a girl named Debbie McGary I thought was kind of nice, but it wasn’t at a crush level. Grade seven and eight were more about survival than social success; it wasn’t until high school that the crushes really got rolling.