Yep! That is where I started second grade and where I lived until we moved to Hutchinson, Kansas. Oh, there was that 6 months or so that I was with Grandma Haas and Great Grandma Hatfield, but for the most part, I learned all I needed to know about live there on Strong Street.
It used to snow back in those days and we would sometimes need to walk home from school in the snow which was up over our knees, or so it seemed. Of course, my knees were not as far up to as they are today. Or maybe it just seemed that way to a little kid. We walked every where we went and it seemed like the walk to and from school was so long, but as I look back now, it was a total of 8 or 9 blocks and it took forever. I drove it last time I was there and it actually takes about 3 minutes and that is waiting at the highway for the hay wagon to pass.
First block was the school block.
Second block was the people I did not know.
Third block was Eldon Belote and Loren McQueen.
Fourth was Wells(?) and she had delivered her last baby in the bathroom (one of which we did not have inside the house).
Then Darrel Kalb on one side of the street and Jimmy Redford on the other. (Both of these boys were objects of my 7th and 8th grade crushes.
Then the house where the guy had set it on fire to collect the insurance money, but wound up in jail for his efforts.
Block 7 was Whittlin' Joe and Johnny Carson who let the chickens roost in their house.
Block 8 was Howard Fein who made his lower plate jump out at me once and scared the livin' pee waddin' out of me because I did not know teeth were not attached. (I did find out later how that worked when momma got her teeth pulled and got false ones which made her look like Tex Ritter, or so I thought.
Then home. Home was always good. It was a safe place and there were people there that I liked, or thought I did and then I left home because I did not like them, but then I found out I did, but by then there was no going back.
Behind our house was the cemetery where we liked to play because there was grass there. And down the road was a sand pit where we were not allowed to go, but we did it anyway, because we were kids and kids do things they are not supposed to do. We did have to be careful because sometimes a pack of wild dogs would roam the country side and we did not want to be killed and eaten. Oh, and there was those Gypsy's that camped right outside of town and were known to grab young kids and take them God only knows where and do God only knows what with them. Luckily I was never kidnapped. No one in our family or anyone I ever knew was kidnapped. I never actually seen the Gypsy's and I never knew anyone that did, but still, you could never be too careful!
The high school gymnasium burned down at some point during my high school years. Now, I must go on record here as saying, I do not remember much about high school. I do not know whether terrible things tend to be buried deep in our psychic, or the fact that I had a good friend who's dad made home brew might have tended to blur and distort some of my memories.
I do know I was not very interested in boys, not meaning that I was interested in girls. I mostly liked to just day dream, I think. I could see a very bright future for me as a writer, an actress, and entertained ideas of every kind, but never the role of wife or mother. I did date a boy who later proved to be gay. We had lots of fun and won all the dance contests. Now I want you to know, that back in the day when we had the "sock hop" at convention hall, there was some dancing going on! Remember American Bandstand with Dick Clark? It was mine and Corky's dream to go there. Course we never made it that far. We did the over the shoulder, through the legs, toss in the air, stroll, chicken, bebop and anything else you could imagine, but we never made it to Band Stand!
We did make it to Joyland in Wichita one afternoon. Unfortuneatly that ended with me throwind up on the Round Up. Nothing makes a date stand out in time immemorial like the girl hurling her cookies!
I have many memories of those years and I did not know until 55 years later that this was the ground work for Louella Bartholomew to become Lou Mercer. My biggest regret in life is probably that life can not be lived in the rear view mirror. Ah, would I have done things different? Hell yes! But would I be the person I am today had I lived it different? I doubt it. There is a lot to be said for that song The roots of my raisin' run deep. I've come back for the strength that I need. And help comes no matter how far down I sink. The roots of my raisin' run deep.
For the record, I am happy with the person I am today. Not real proud of some of the lessons I learned, but today I am a content woman with my mantra painted on a sign on the deck. It reads
It used to snow back in those days and we would sometimes need to walk home from school in the snow which was up over our knees, or so it seemed. Of course, my knees were not as far up to as they are today. Or maybe it just seemed that way to a little kid. We walked every where we went and it seemed like the walk to and from school was so long, but as I look back now, it was a total of 8 or 9 blocks and it took forever. I drove it last time I was there and it actually takes about 3 minutes and that is waiting at the highway for the hay wagon to pass.
First block was the school block.
Second block was the people I did not know.
Third block was Eldon Belote and Loren McQueen.
Fourth was Wells(?) and she had delivered her last baby in the bathroom (one of which we did not have inside the house).
Then Darrel Kalb on one side of the street and Jimmy Redford on the other. (Both of these boys were objects of my 7th and 8th grade crushes.
Then the house where the guy had set it on fire to collect the insurance money, but wound up in jail for his efforts.
Block 7 was Whittlin' Joe and Johnny Carson who let the chickens roost in their house.
Block 8 was Howard Fein who made his lower plate jump out at me once and scared the livin' pee waddin' out of me because I did not know teeth were not attached. (I did find out later how that worked when momma got her teeth pulled and got false ones which made her look like Tex Ritter, or so I thought.
Then home. Home was always good. It was a safe place and there were people there that I liked, or thought I did and then I left home because I did not like them, but then I found out I did, but by then there was no going back.
Behind our house was the cemetery where we liked to play because there was grass there. And down the road was a sand pit where we were not allowed to go, but we did it anyway, because we were kids and kids do things they are not supposed to do. We did have to be careful because sometimes a pack of wild dogs would roam the country side and we did not want to be killed and eaten. Oh, and there was those Gypsy's that camped right outside of town and were known to grab young kids and take them God only knows where and do God only knows what with them. Luckily I was never kidnapped. No one in our family or anyone I ever knew was kidnapped. I never actually seen the Gypsy's and I never knew anyone that did, but still, you could never be too careful!
The high school gymnasium burned down at some point during my high school years. Now, I must go on record here as saying, I do not remember much about high school. I do not know whether terrible things tend to be buried deep in our psychic, or the fact that I had a good friend who's dad made home brew might have tended to blur and distort some of my memories.
I do know I was not very interested in boys, not meaning that I was interested in girls. I mostly liked to just day dream, I think. I could see a very bright future for me as a writer, an actress, and entertained ideas of every kind, but never the role of wife or mother. I did date a boy who later proved to be gay. We had lots of fun and won all the dance contests. Now I want you to know, that back in the day when we had the "sock hop" at convention hall, there was some dancing going on! Remember American Bandstand with Dick Clark? It was mine and Corky's dream to go there. Course we never made it that far. We did the over the shoulder, through the legs, toss in the air, stroll, chicken, bebop and anything else you could imagine, but we never made it to Band Stand!
We did make it to Joyland in Wichita one afternoon. Unfortuneatly that ended with me throwind up on the Round Up. Nothing makes a date stand out in time immemorial like the girl hurling her cookies!
I have many memories of those years and I did not know until 55 years later that this was the ground work for Louella Bartholomew to become Lou Mercer. My biggest regret in life is probably that life can not be lived in the rear view mirror. Ah, would I have done things different? Hell yes! But would I be the person I am today had I lived it different? I doubt it. There is a lot to be said for that song The roots of my raisin' run deep. I've come back for the strength that I need. And help comes no matter how far down I sink. The roots of my raisin' run deep.
For the record, I am happy with the person I am today. Not real proud of some of the lessons I learned, but today I am a content woman with my mantra painted on a sign on the deck. It reads
Love many, trust few. Always paddle your own canoe!
