Susan,
I hope you can stand one more letter about the Odessa Ice Cream shop. When
Mrs. Bowers and her son Jimmy were running the place, Jack Guegen and my
sister were working there and I was only 12 years old. Mrs. Bowers started
letting me sweep up and mop the floor for which I received two milkshakes.
The good thing was that I got to make my own, and of course they were
substantial. I don't remember how long this went on before she hired me at
the incredible rate of 15 cents an hour, plus of course the fringe benefits
of ice cream. Not too long after that I escalated my standard of living by
delivering one of the paper routes for The Lexington Advertiser News ( seems
like a lot people did this ). How many others worked at the Main Street
Theatre or Maibs Victory Cafe? It seemed like it was either free ice cream,
free movies or free food. I also haven't heard anybody talk about
Snappy Service which was right next door to the theatre. Sue worked there
and the food was almost as good as Maid-Rite. It's too bad they've lost some
of the places such as The Eagle Theatre, The Main Street Theatre, The Pool
Hall, The Bowling Alley, Snappy Service, Central Grade School, Arnold Grade
School, Walkers Drug Store, Vialles Store at 10th and Franklin, the old
horse lot at 9th and South where we played ball etc. etc. etc.
Hopefully, it looks like they are doing a lot of good things now and maybe
they will do the old home town proud. Instead of everybody
saying keep up the good work, maybe you can do like Rush Limbaugh and
everyone just says ditto!!!
NOTE: The pool hall has come up a couple of times, and I do
not remember a pool hall! Walkers Drug Store has had several incarnations.
It is presently (or should that be currently?) The Medicine Shoppe. But it
retains some of the Walker Drug Store flavor.
Sharron Jenkins '57
Heathman:
Obviously, Heathman would love a TLC reunion. He seldom
misses a reunion regardless of the year. Of course, few of us attended
high school as long as he did.
Somehow
I feel deprived... I missed out on Bruna and working at the
Odessa. Will look forward to some of her articles. Keep up the
good work. TLC is terrific!!
Editor: I
didn't work at Odessa either. But I did my share of consuming there. And at
Maid-Rite!
From
Barbara Tabb '55 Jarman:
Oh, my - how the memories come rolling out
when I read TLC! My
personal thanks to everybody who contributes
their own recollections, as well as news about themselves. And, thanks most
of all to Susan, who took on the task of establishing the 'connection', and
who does such a fine job of getting out each issue. Don't you dare edit that
out, Susan - I am sure everyone agrees!
I was in Lexington last month, and got
to visit with some old friends - let me rephrase that - long-established
friends. Nine of us classmates (class of '55) got together for lunch at
Riley's Tavern, and had a great time catching up with what everybody is
doing. Thanks to Sue (Cousins) Wilmot for making that happen. (I still had a
funny feeling being on Block 42. I used to always cross over and walk
on the other side of the street to go through town; but, I'm not all that
sure it was any
better, because you had to walk past the pool hall, and I don't think I ever
once looked inside that place - sheeesh, people were 'drinking' in there!
And, I avoided even looking down 10th Street, too, for other vices going on
down that way, rumor had it).
I had visits at the house from two others
who happened to be in town at the time - Carol Jo Rank Hazlett and Jim
Garner. Carol was in town for a funeral, and Gordon Wright was nice enough
to bring Jim by for a chat. So, I got a lot of mileage out of my trip.
That always includes a few visits to the Maid Rite, and Norman's were and
are always the best. Sad to see the old high school in such disrepair
- couldn't we have some reunion in the old
gym! Lots of
memories there - Jim O'Malley, I loved your singing at
'assemblies'! And, what a debut I made in that place! I
was so proud to be stepping into my teens, and the jr. high students had
reserved rows right up front. I hope I'm the only one who actually
remembers it, but I'll tell it anyhow. I got right in front of the
whole student body, and on
that newly-oiled floor, my feet went out from under me, books
went flying high enough to get everybody's attention, and the
entire assembly got a good laugh at my expense. I could have crawled
through a crack in that floor - but, I survived the humiliation of that
first day.
(I must inject my memory
from the first day in 7th grade at LHS, although it certainly isn't as
dramatic as Barbara's. I sat on the bleachers between Judy Cook and (I
think) Sheila Mercier or Jane Ann Whitney. Judy leaned over to the other (I
was a year behind) and said "Just think...next year we'll be
Freshies!" Well, I thought that was about as sophisticated as you could
get, and was simply green with envy.) Now, back to
Barbara:
Since
we've been on the subject of Odessa Ice Cream, I'll mention that my Mom and
I drove over to Odessa to indulge in the best ice cream
ever, and it was
good to taste it again. I wanted to get some to take
back to the
house; but, alas, they do not sell it in bulk anymore, not
even
handpacked. I was told that they cannot get a license to sell
it
that way - something about the 'conditions' in the plant, and I
hoped
that didn't mean rats or roaches crawling around back there. I got
told
that first, but ate it anyhow, and it was still good. I have
many
memories of both shops in Lexington, but didn't realize how many
people had worked there at some time. The twice-weekly bus trips to the
swimming pool in Higginsville usually included a stop afterwards at The
Odessa. Who remembers the 'stir'? That was a 15 cent version of
a
sundae in a small Coke glass. I put in a short stint at The Sweet
Shop
next to the Mainstreet Theater, and the take-home pay was almost
enough to pay for my trips to Ford & Rush and Roberts' & Reeds', to
socialize at those two soda fountains. What carefree days! Maybe
that's why we enjoy revisiting them with our
stories.
Driving through town, I'm always struck by the differences
between
then and now. The town wasn't a whole lot bigger back then,
but it was
'busy'; and, on Saturday night, you sometimes had to step off
the curb
to get around groups of people standing on the sidewalk catching
up on
the week's personal news. Every Saturday night was a social
event,
clustered around the center of town. I guess there are many
reasons for
the change - but, I think it began back when TV came on the
scene and
stole the crowds. Too bad, because it's still a very poor
substitute
for real life and all that 'socializing' with real
people. I don't have many specific
memories from those Saturday nights - just a general recollection of the
feeling of being uptown in such a crowd of people I
mostly knew.
I'll bet I could walk the length of Main Street now on a
Saturday night,
and not encounter a single pedestrian. Even in grade
school, I'd go
uptown on Saturday night with my grandmother when she did the week's grocery
shopping at Safeway, for what she couldn't make or grow at home. I always
looked forward to it. I could go to Mattingly's next door and browse through
all those shelves for some treasure on which to spend my dime. Sometimes, it
was a whole sackful of 'stuff'. Other times, I'd take my allowance back home
to save up for something special.
My
younger son told me once that if he could have chosen any decade
in which
to be a teenager, it would have been the 50s, and I tend to
agree - to
the extent that I wouldn't wish myself younger even now.
Maybe he got
that idea from the old home movies that my Dad took, where he could see what
it was like to grow up in that time and place. He never lived in
Lexington, but something about it made him feel like his 'roots' were
there. And, I guess they were, since both his parents grew
up there. For anyone who may not know, I married Gene
Jarman (class of '54), and we had two sons (Scott lives in Plano, Tx., and
Bruce in Lake Ozarks, Mo.) who have made us both very proud. Gene is
known as Greg everywhere but Lexington, due to all official forms asking for
'last name first, middle name, first name last' - think that was a line from
"No Time for Sergeants", starring Andy Griffith. I guess it stuck
when the Army dubbed him Gregory, and he shortened it to Greg. You can find
us in Houston, Texas, these days - since 1974. We have lived in
several midwestern states, and I have encountered Lexington people in most
of them. This electronic age has made the world much smaller, and I'm
delighted to see all those familiar names on the mailing list of
TLC.
Keep
'em coming, Susan. And, thanks again!
P.S. -
would love to hear from any of you.
Barbara Lee '57 Fay
Dear Minutemen,
Joyce Gueguen's news about her son, Michael, having attended TCU in
Fort Worth caught my attention as our son, Patrick, also attended TCU.
Sure enough. It's another "small world" story come to light
through TLC.
Pat was manager of the Horned Frog Baseball
Team in 1983 and 1984 when Michael Ramsey, Joyce's son, was on the
team. Pat met his wife, Beth Hamilton, at TCU; his sister-in-law is
Lee Hamilton Wise. They all now live in Brownfield, Texas. It just so
happens that I still have some of Pat's memorabilia and found the baseball
team's program for 1984 that has pictures of both Pat and Mike. They
probably never knew much about each other. I have a feeling that
topics like "My mother's from Lexington, Missouri" don't come up
too often on the ball field!
Sorry to have missed Heritage
Days. We could have entered a TCU "horned frog" in the
races! My brother, Duncan, has been to the authentic Celebrated
Jumping Frog of Calaveras County contest. He'd probably share some
secrets of how the frog wins the contest!
I love hearing from
people, and look forward to at least one entry from
everyone on the
list! Bruna McGuire's articles will be wonderful. Sort of
makes me wonder if she isn't still with us. Bridey Murphy? Bruna
McGuire? Ah, who knows...!
Editor:
This is a perfect example of The Lexington Connection! Any other
coincidences out there?
Jerry (I think I shamed him into it) '56
Mischon:
Thanks for being the worthy
scribe, I always enjoy reading TLC. If I didn't get writers
cramps so easily, I'd write more often.
I talked to Skip Brown
today. Skip & Joan live in Corvallis, Oregon. Naturally some
of the good old times and TLC came up. I thought you'd like to have
Skip Brown's (aka George W. Brown, III, 1956) email address. It is gjbrown@teleport.com and he would
like to be added to your distribution list. I anticipate seeing Skip
in mid-September here in Houston.
I very seldom get back to the
Lexington area (once in the last 8 years). After 30 years in Houston
I'm pretty much a Texan although I still retain traces of having lived in
Germany (northern Bavaria, in the army for 2 yrs), Nashville (3+>yrs),
Richmond, VA (2 yrs), and Greensboro, NC (1 yr).
I'm still working in the
investment business with Salomon Smith Barney. Since I enjoy it and
and can pretty much control my own time, I don't anticipate retiring any
time soon. Most of my spare time is spent golfing, occasionally hunting
& fishing, reading, and traveling. It's been a great life so far.
With the exception of a couple of minor things I'd change if doing it over,
I really wouldn't do anything any different.
We (Kay & I) are
planning a cruise to the Scandanavian capitols and St. Petersburg in
July. Eileen & Herb Carpenter, Bob Paris and his wife and another
couple who are friends of Bob & Vicki are sailing from Copenhagen on
July 5th. Kay and I also plan to be in Puerto Rico in early November.
As I think you are aware, I was
divorced 4 years ago (after 34 years). Moya and I remain good
friends. Moya and both our sons are doing well. So much for the
trivia. Keep up the good work!
From Bill '56 Tempel, who apparently
has reached an age whereby he can write only one or two sentences at a
time: "Are you surprised at the passion and interest we all have
in Lex.?"
My response: Surprised? I'm
flabbergasted!
An item I
forgot to add to the last issue (the number shall remain nameless): Jack
Gueguen reminded me that we just passed the 50th anniversary of Richard
Yates' death in Korea. Hard to believe it's been 50 years. That was an
event that hit us all hard and too close to home. It's good to remember that
sacrifice just after Memorial Day. Lovella Yates Damborg lives in Seattle,
Washington, with husband Mark, and she is not yet
online.
Now on
to New Business:
A problem has presented itself. Quite a
few of our cronies do not have access to email, and they want to read TLC. I
know some of you are already printing them out to send on to
others.
Faithful Jack G. suggested that we could
set up an Adopt-a-Classmate program whereby
some of us would accept the responsibility of furnishing copies of each TLC
to someone who does not have online access.
Additionally, when people do ask me
about getting hard copies, I will ask them if they have a friend who is
online and could be added to the address list in order to print it out for
him/her. (Proxy
Providers) Failing that, I will ask for adopters. Here is
the first "orphan": Suzanne Bell '54 Bartley. Okay, who will bid
for Suzie Bell???? Address (same as in childhood): 1302 Amelia in
Lex.
Keep those cards and letters comin,'
folks!
Your faithful scribe,
Susan
TLC #15, The Second: June 10, 2001