Anthony’s Autobiography

Anthony’s 6th-grade autobiography for Mrs. Brasser (Spring 2004)

01. The Early Years
02. My Family
03. K-4th years
04. 5th & 6th grades
05. Pets
06. Collections and Hobbies
07. Remembering Someone Special
08. Where I Live
09. Vacations and Camps
10. Future Plans
11. My Acrostic
12. My Favorite Things
13. Circle of Life
14. My Hands

I dedicate this autobiography to my parents, and thank them for helping me with this project.

Chapter 1: The early years

My name is Anthony Vos. I was born in Sheldon, Iowa, on Sept. 30, 1991, one day before my dad’s birthday. I was supposed to be born on September 23, and my dad was supposed to be home then, but a typhoon kept him in Japan a week late. I was born 5 hours after he got home from Japan.

I weighed 8 pounds and half an ounce, and I was 21 inches long. I had reddish blond hair and dark blue-grey eyes that changed to brown later. My first word was puppy. I used to get pieces of dog food out of the dog’s dish and bring it my grandparents’ dog.

My mom and I lived with my grandparents until I was 10 months old, because my dad was in the Marines in Japan. When I was a year old, my mom and my grandma drove us to Jacksonville, North Carolina, where we were going to live with my dad. My first step was at a hotel room, during our trip to North Carolina. I lived in Jacksonville until I was 2 and a half. When I was almost 2 years old, I got attacked by fire ants and had to go to the emergency room.

My dad and mom say I went through a phase where I would stand in my crib and cuss at them. They put a little drop of soap in my mouth a couple of times, and then I stopped.

After Dad got out of the Marines, we moved to Hull, Iowa. I went to preschool in Boyden. Then we moved to Sanborn in 1996.

Chapter 2: My family

I have 3 family members that I live with, my parents and my little brother. I am the oldest child. My little brother’s name is Evan, my dad’s name is Rian and my mom’s name is Gwen.

My dad went in to the Marines when I was little, and now he owns a business in Sutherland called JTV Mfg. He likes to golf a lot and is very good in long drive contests. He likes the Steelers and professional wrestling (my mom calls it the male soap opera). He is big. He is allergic to cats and fish.

My mom is a reference librarian at Dordt College. Her name is Gwen. She likes seashells and the ocean. Her favorite color is blue. She is a computer wiz. My mom plays the piano and used to teach lessons.

I have a little brother named Evan. His favorite color is black. He likes to play with army toys and is a good golfer. He is eight. When Evan was a baby, he used to pull his socks off his feet and stick them in his mouth.

I have grandparents in Des Moines. My Grandpa Kuiper in Des Moines is a pastor. I also have a Grandpa Dan & JJ who live in Alabama.

I have 4 uncles, 3 aunts, and 6 cousins. One of my cousins lives in Germany, 2 live in Arizona, 2 live in Minneapolis, and 1 lives in Alabama. My Uncle Kelle used to be in the Air Force in England, and my Uncle Bruce and Aunt Nicki used to teach at a university in China.

Chapter 3: K-4th years

In kindergarten I went to a Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn school. My teacher was Mrs. Peterson. I had a best friend named Ty and another named Cody.

In first grade, my teacher was Mrs. Coburn. For a field trip we went to a place called Douma Pit and learned things about nature. We also went to the zoo. My favorite animal was the tiger.

In second grade, my teacher was Mrs. Golden. This was my first year in South O’Brien. Half way through the year, John and I became friends. We went to the Tulip Festival, and I bought my mom some small wooden shoes.

In third grade, my teacher was Mrs. Johansen. For a field trip we went to Pipestone. I bought a sweet black arrowhead and a chunk of sandstone. I also got nominated for TAG this year.

In fourth grade, my teacher was Mrs. Hennings. For a field trip, we went to the Shrine Circus in Sioux City. It was a long drive, but it was worth it. We saw a bear on a motorcycle. This was my first year of TAG. We did something called the circle of life where we studied a square of land and its animals.

Chapter 4: 5th-6th grade years

In fifth grade, my teacher was Mrs. Prunty. We went to Peterson for a field trip. We learned a little bit about the history of Iowa and how life was back then. We saw lots of old machinery. In fifth grade, I started playing baritone in band.

We did president reports. We made a poster about a president and wrote an essay about him. I chose to write about Dwight D. Eisenhower. In TAG, we did a unit on inventions. We made a project and gave speech about it. I chose the CD. We also made bridges out of toothpicks. Mine was one of the strongest.

In sixth grade, my teacher’s name is Mrs. Brasser. We will be going to Camp Foster for a day. You can canoe there.

Sixth grade is when I started playing electric guitar. I’m getting pretty good now. For TAG, we did eminent person reports. I did mine on Thomas Alva Edison. Right now, we’re doing a mini survivor competition. We just do sports kind of things. Math is the hardest class. My favorite class is Social Studies and History. John and I are still friends. My dog Seager also died this year.

Chapter 5: Pets

I used to have a dog named Seager who was a Doberman Pinscher. He was way bigger than they usually are. He was really stupid, but he was my favorite pet. He was a chocolate color. He was very gentle. He died Christmas Day because of bone cancer in his nose and leg. If you touched it, he would put his teeth on your hand very gently. He was 7 and a half years old. I had him longer than any other pet. One of my favorite things about him was if he would run down a hill, he would slip and slide down the hill face first. When I was little, he got ran over by an Astro Van and all he did was get up and shake it off. To feed him, we had to fill a cooler with dog food.

I had another dog named Zoey who was a chihuahua. She was black and white. She died September 1st, the day we moved to our new house. My favorite thing about her was that she would sleep in Seager’s dog dish, but he didn’t do anything. She was playful and could jump high.

Before we moved to Sutherland, we had a lot of cats out in the country. They all lived outside because my dad is allergic to cats. We don’t have any cats now.

Chapter 6: Collections and Hobbies

I used to collect pocketknives. I had five, including one from China. It is shaped like a dragon. I don’t collect anything now. I used to draw a lot. For hobbies I like to skateboard even though I’m not any good. John got me into skateboarding. He is way better at skateboarding than I am.

I play guitar. I got my first guitar for my twelfth birthday. It is a Stratocaster. It has a white pick guard with a tobacco colored body. It has black strings and it’s really cool. It is an electric guitar. John has a black bass guitar. It is an Ibanez. John and I started a band. I get guitar lessons from John’s older brother Jeff. I have a puny little 15-watt amp and it is a CRATE. I can play lots of cool songs like BODIES and SEND THE PAIN BELOW. I can read tabs.

I like to listen to music. I like hard and alternative rock. Some of my favorite bands are KORN and mudvayne. These are both heavy metal bands. I hope to have a band like them someday.

Chapter 7: Remembering Someone Special

Someone special would be my Grandpa Kuiper. He is a pastor. He is special to me because he always has time do stuff with you and never gets mad. He is able to keep up with Evan and me. When I lived in Hull and Sanborn I would go to his house every day. We would go to the church, park, and Foreign Candy Company.

He is nice and patient. Now he lives in Des Moines. We don’t go there that much any more, but when we do we go swimming, bowling, to the park or to Adventure Land. We also go to the zoo. Before I was born he recovered from cancer.

One of his favorite hobbies is sailing. He used to sail at Yankton, Minnesota but now he sails at Saylersville, Iowa. He has a medium sized sailboat and it is white and bluish green. He named it HOPE.

He taught me everything I know about Chess. I am getting pretty good even though I can’t beat him. He helps me with my homework.

Chapter 8: Where I live

I live in Sutherland, Iowa. I have lived here for about four years. I live right on the outskirts of town. I live in a rural region. My home has a basement and is a middle-sized house. It has a nice yard and is white. I don’t like Sutherland because I think it is deserted.

One of the best things that has happened to me since I moved here is when I met John. He is my best friend. We’ve been friends since 2nd grade. When I first moved I can’t remember anything, but other times I have moved I remember there is always a different smell and a really empty feeling. When we first move in we don’t have beds ready so we usually sleep on the floor.

If I could live anywhere else it would be in California because it is more populated than Iowa, there are more opportunities, and I don’t like cold weather. California is hot. There are beaches and more fun things to do. I would like a really big house and a really small yard so you don’t have to mow a lot.

Chapter 9: Vacations and Camps

The first camp I ever went to was a Hidden Acres fishing camp two years ago. John invited me. John and I both think it stunk. We caught a whole bunch of fish but the counselors ate it all, and made us eat store bought fish, and both of our poles broke and they wouldn’t fix them. Since this was the first time away from home I was homesick.

The second camp I went to was also with John. It was a wilderness camp. We didn’t like that one either because we went on long seven-mile hikes through poison ivy.

This summer I invited John to a Guitar camp. Hopefully it will be more fun than our past two experiences, and it’s indoors.

My favorite vacation was when we went to Florida. We got to go deep-sea fishing and I saw dolphins. We slept in a huge hotel right by the water. We could swim in the ocean and the weather was hot. My parents went parasailing. I caught like twenty sand crabs. They are really little tan crabs with black eyes. It was the most fun vacation I ever had.

Chapter 10: Future Plans

My dad owns JTVmfg, in Sutherland, Iowa. I would like this job because I would be the boss. My mom is a reference librarian at Dordt College. I would like this job because you get to mess with computers all day.

I would like to be in heavy metal band. I want to be rich and have a mansion. I want to be married and have two kids. I want to have lots of guitars. I want to have a big dog and a little dog. I plan to live in a city and be really famous. I would like to be in a band because heavy metal interests me. I already know how to play guitar. I want to live close to John because we’re best friends.

I plan to go to college so if our band doesn’t work out I can be a doctor or someone who earns lots of money. I would rather be a boss because you don’t have any one to yell at you or tell you what to do. I would rather live in a city because there are more services. I plan to get rich then own a record company. I would also like to be in the Marines because my dad was.

Remembering Anthony Vos