I came along just shortly after the WN were discontinued.  My mom was actually getting her ticket.  She is now since passed.  She was sitting our kitchen each evening when her mentor would come over and help her with the code portion of the test.  Every evening it was one my chores to do the dishes after dinner.  We had a family of 6 so it was time consuming.  I spent the entire time copying the Morse code in my head and never said a  word until they had run through pretty much the entire alphabet but 3 letters and one day her mentor was playing around with the paddles while my mom had taken a break.  She was having a very very very hard time with the code, but me being a 12 year old kid had absorbed it like it was nothing. Her mentor quickly sends "Betty will never get this." jokingly on the paddles and I laughed out loud.  When he saw we laughing he said, "Did you get that?" and I said yes and he told me that was it, I had to sit down and finish" this.

I already had an interest in electronics so the theory part was natural to me too.  To this day I use CW 99% of the time!  That was in 1976 I received my Novice.  I got the General somewhere in between there.  In 1982 I went to Louisville, Ky with the intentions of taking the Advanced, which was all I  had studied for, but came home with my Extra.  The FCC agent there that day told me someone hadn't shown up for the Extra and I could have theirs.  I asked if I could take the code portion first so I could relax.  He looked at  me like I was crazy.  :)  Then I took the written portion and that was the end of that.   It didn't hit me until I was down in the parking lot that it hit me, I am done and I never have to take another test before the FCC and I'm an Extra now!

Ginger  WB9ZHC