Nancy just emailed me and asked that her posted comment be added as a post. I've invited her and hope she joins as a contributor. Welcome aboard, Nancy!
First, I want to tell all of you how much I have enjoyed this blog! Thanks Gary!
Secondly, I am so impressed with all of your memories. I must admit I am unable to remember as much as some of you.
My family moved to Cedar Vale after WWII. My father, Floyd Goode, had the title “Master Mechanic” at Boeing. He and his team had only one job: to keep the large machinery used to make the airplanes parts running 24/7.
My mother, Marjorie Ward Goode, worked for Boeing as a “Rosie the Riveter.”
When the war was over, Boeing wanted to keep Dad, but he was always a small town boy and accepted a job at Ames Garage in Cedar Vale. Both my parents grew up in Chautauqua County and most of their families still lived there.
During the war years the Wichita schools were so crowded we only went ½ days. Imagine my surprise when I started the 4th grade in Cedar Vale and I had to go all day!
My sisters, Jeanette, Billie, and I took piano lessons from Mrs. Kirby. We suffered the sore knuckles from her pencil with each mistake. She was probably a lonely person, but smart as she always scheduled our lessons to last until suppertime so she would be included in the meal. I think my mother must have thought everyone else was feeding Mrs. Kirby too. On lesson day we always had dessert; normally we only had dessert on Sunday and special occasions.
At about that time I joined Girl Scouts and our leader was Edna Bird. Some of my fellow scouts were Judy Stone, Nancy Hankins, and Elizabeth Robinson. What fun we had hiking, picnics, overnight campouts, cooking over an open fire, singing, making crafts and learning to make s’mores!
I feel very fortunate to have had the friendship of those girls. Over the years we had slumber parties , sang every song we knew, put on impromptu plays, rode Elizabeth’s Shetland pony, played board games, went to the movies, told ghost stories, went on out of town trips, dragged main (we’d put 25¢ of gas in at a time) and of course, talked about boys.
One summer morning Nancy Hankins and Elizabeth Robinson had a “Come as you are Breakfast.” They woke Judy Stone and me up at about 7 am and took us to the Robinson house. In the dining room the table was covered with a linen table cloth and set with their good china, crystal, silver and linen napkins where we were served an elegant breakfast. We had such a fun time with lots of giggling in this formal setting with Judy and I in our ‘baby doll’ pajamas and ‘bed heads.’
During our high school years I was a ‘soda jerk’ at Hankins Drug Store. I was lucky to have Don Hankins as my first boss. He was always supportive and interested in his employees. He was one of the nicest, kindest men I have ever known.
Mr. Beggs was one of my favorite teachers. I enjoyed marching band more than concert band probably because I wasn’t that good on my cornet but I could really march! I loved our purple wool uniforms with the gold trim. My first marching parade was in Sedan for the Chautauqua County Fair. We had to be in our places in the hot sun, it seemed forever, until it was our turn to start marching. I awoke on the pavement. Mr. Beggs wouldn’t let me march. So my first real parade was at the Arkalalah in Ark City, thank goodness it was cooler then!
I liked chorus more than band. Mrs. Morris was my favorite teacher. The Mikado was absolutely the highlight of my high school music career. I was cast as Pitti Sing and every once in awhile I still catch myself humming ‘Three Little Maids from School!’
Our Senior year Judy Stone and I were giving the task of gathering colorful foliage to be used as decoration for some activity in the school gym. I can’t remember what it was –Halloween Carnival? We drove up and down country roads gathering anything that was orange, red and yellow. We then decorated the gym with our treasures. One of our teachers came to check on us and with an incredulous look said we were decorating with poison oak! I probably don’t remember what the activity was because I was subsequently admitted to the hospital that afternoon and didn’t get to go.
Following the war, there was a mass exodus to rural America and a wish for a safe, innocent and simple life. Our generation was fortunate to live during that time.
I don’t know maybe that’s too simplistic, but I do know I had a very good childhood in Cedar Vale.
5 comments:
Great memories, Nancy! I remember so much of what you talk about--The Mikado and you girls in your "Three little maids . ." costumes. The marching band incident, because I was standing right next to you when you went down, your being a soda jerk at Hankins while I was at L. C. Adams next door.
The "come as you are breakfast" at the Robinsons, and the incident with the poison oak were new to me, but I can just visualize you gals at that age having fun and getting into trouble.
As for dragging main, I was out there too, but don't remember ever picking you gals up. Perhaps you were safe because you traveled in numbers!
Please give us more of your memories. They are a great contribution.
A sudden inspiration . . . Does anyone have photos of our production of the Mikado? If you do, I'd love to have copies for the ongoing slide show.
And by the way, my uncle Lee Call married Nettie Goode, so I am very familiar with the Goode clan.
Nancy, thank you for such an interesting slate of your memories. Please let this be just a start.
Nancy, I was reading back in one of the older articles where I mentioned that you were one of the prettiest girls in our school, and you thanked me for the compliment. I now say, "You are welcome" and the compliment was well deserved.
Post a Comment