Letters from my Mama

Yesterday I read in Guidepost magazine about a lady who wrote letters to her daughter from the time her daughter went to camp until the lady died at 92. It reminded me of letters from my own Mama.

I'm sure I have written before that my mother did not finish high school. After her freshman year, she had rhuematoid arthritis and was bedridden for most of a year. She never went back to school.

She read lots of magazines and taught herself proper English and could spell almost any word that was in common usage.

She wrote letters to her mother and sisters - and maybe even to her brothers. She wrote letters to my brothers when they were in the service. She wrote letters to them and their wives when they got married. I guess I could say my mother was definitely a letter writer!

She began writing to me when I went away to college - a letter every week. I haunted my dorm mailbox waiting for those letters. She wrote about the things that were happening in my little home town and about the people I knew, keeping me up to date.

She continued writing those letters to me when I got married and moved to Ft. Riley. Several years later she continued writing letters when our little family moved to Iowa - where I knew only my husband and my daughter. It was a very lonely time for me. Mom's letters came regularly and helped me feel not so alone.

She wrote letters when we moved her out of her home in 1982. Then she spent time with my brother and his family in Kansas City and with my oldest brother in Castle Rock.

When she finally moved to Castle Rock permanently, the letters stopped because we spoke on the phone once a week. Somehow, talking on the phone really didn't take the place of those weekly letters. Now, I wish I had kept some of those letters so I could go back a revisit that simpler time of my life.

What I do When I am Not Blogging

My jewelry-making teacher tells me I should be publishing my jewelry items to the blog so you all can see what I am doing when I am not blogging. The top photo is of corona earrings; the middle is a "caterpillar" bracelet; and the bottom is a "sidewinder" bracelet. These two types of bracelets are my favorite ones to make. The sidewinder goes together in about 2 hours. The caterpillar bracelet has a base layer and then embellishments on the top. It takes about 8 hours to complete.
The ladies in our families get jewelry for gifts. I think they like that!

Of course, making jewelry is not the only thing I do when I am not blogging. I am also very involved in genealogy research. This is an addictive hobby just as working with beads is addictive. You can see, I need to limit the addictions in my life so I have time to do other things.

My memories have come to an important part of my life that needs more thought given to what I write. So that is happening also!

Time Out from College: Small Town Saturday Night

Our small hometown was thriving when we were growing up in the 40s and 50s. It is much different now because all the little towns are dying out.

Saturday night was a special night of the week. It was a social night. All the farmers cleaned up from work and came to town to bring their produce, to buy groceries, maybe to attend a wedding dance, and to visit with their friends and neighbors.

Daddy would park the car in front of one of the stores about 4:30 or 5 p.m. Then he would walk home. We would eat supper and afterwards walk uptown as a family. We sat in the car to watch the people walking by. It was also a night when we would get a 5-cent ice cream cone. (that was a single dip back then!) We also would get out of the car and "window shop." The stores stayed open until 10 p.m. (Now the streets are deserted by 6 p.m.)

Seeing all the folks we didn't see during the week was nice. My parents visited with friends, my brothers would try to take the local drunk's handkerchief out of his back pocket and my parents or my brothers would take me by the hand and walk with me.

Most people enjoyed Saturday night in our small town. That was a simpler time when everyone knew everyone else.

Phys Ed, Required Class in College

When I attended K-State, we were required to take four semesters of Phys Ed. It was always interesting to try to get clear across campus to the dorm in time for lunch. My phys ed classes always seemed to be at 11 a.m.

I remember one semester I took Tap Dance/Tennis. We had nine weeks of dance and nine weeks of tennis. I can still do a "time step" and a "step-ball-change." I might have to think really hard to do it. I can also make a train sound with taps. I think perhaps I did better at the tap dance than I did at tennis. I was never good at it and played just a few times with my kids when they were in their early teens.

Another semester I had field hockey and something else. The memorable thing about the field hockey class is that I hit the tallest/largest girl in the class and knocked her cold. Of course, she was not at all athletic nor competitive. I felt really bad about it. She was ok - but I still felt bad.

The other class I remember is swimming class. Walking across campus with wet hair in December was not the thing to do. Mom and Bill thought it would be a very good idea if I took a semester of swimming. I wasn't too excited about it because I was afraid of water - courtesy of one of my classmates walking into Cedar Bluff Dam carrying me - walked in over our heads! I'm still angry at him about that!

Anyway, Mom and Bill prevailed and I enrolled in beginning swimming. I can't remember whether we met two or three times a week for 16 weeks. I did learn to do the back stroke and also was learning the side stroke at the end of the class. We were required to jump in the deep end and swim to the shallow end to pass the class. This was difficult for me to even think about! However, on the last day I jumped in the deepend and did the crawl to the shallow end - without taking a breath or opening my eyes! I never did get so I could do the crawl and breathe. I did, however, get a passing grade! Hooray!!

I have no recollection of the other phys ed class I took. I did take the four semesters of Phys Ed, however.

Social Life at K-State

There were about a dozen girls living on 3rd floor at Northwest Hall who did things together. Some of us walked to class together. We ate meals together at the dorm. We hung out in each other's rooms, went to church together, had picnics in the fall and spring, and studied together. It was a diverse group from little towns and big cities across Kansas. This group included the five of us from Ness County.

There were several guys I dated: one was 6'4" and a great dancer. I don't remember where I met him. He came to Ness for New Year's Eve in 1953. I dated a blond-haired senior for a short while. I thought the world would end when he stood me up for a date to the dance when Ralph Flanagan and his orchestra were playing. He explained why later - and a 17 year old freshman really had no business dating a 21 year old senior because there was too much difference in experience. He was ready for a relationship for which I was too immature.

Second semester I dated one of Northwest Hall's houseboys. He was a nice guy from Pratt, Kansas.

I usually had a crush on someone - a 6'8" sophomore basketball player, a short compact gymnast who was one of our houseboys. I just had crushes and never dated these guys.

There were "hour dances" exchanged between our dorm and the guys at West Stadium; street dances; homecoming parades and pep rallies all held in downtown Aggieville.

I never understood why the Homecoming games were always scheduled with either Oklahoma or Nebraska - the powerhouse teams in the Big 7 (This was way before the Big 12!) K-State always lost those games.

At the beginning of the school year we could buy an activity ticket that got us in to the football and basketball games.

During my first year at K-State, I attended the Chi Omega Hay Hop - the hall was decorated with bales of hay. This nearly killed this asthmatic! I was invited because my roomie was a Chi O pledge.

Matt Betton and his orchestra often played on campus. This was a local band and we were always glad to see this group on the bandstand.

During the first two years when I was a full-time student, I danced to the Sauter-Finnegan orchestra and Woody Herman and the Third Herd (for those of you who don't know, Woody's first orchestra was called the Thundering Herd back in the late 30s and 40s.)

Jose Greco and his Spanish dancers performed on campus as did Agnes Moorhead in her one woman show (later she would play Endora on "Bewitched.") She was an elegant lady with red hair who appeared on stage in a lovely mauve long dress - very striking-looking. I also saw "Caine Mutiny Courtmartial" with John Hodiak, Lloyd Nolan and Henry Fonda. Marge and Gower Champion appeared there with a musical. She was quoted as making a catty remark about "hicks from the stick" and I guess that is probably what the folks in Hollywood thought of Midwesterners and maybe they still feel that way. Needless to say, she was never one of my favorites after that.

My Mom encouraged me to attend these concerts and shows "because you may never have another chance."

As with all experiences, those I had at K-State are part of why I am the person I am. I was blessed with good friends who were in my life for a season.

Back to 1951-52-53

When the cheerleaders were elected my junior year, all four of us were junior classmates and if memory serves me, we all worked at Rexall! There is another photo of the four of us but it seems to have disappeared. When I find it, I'll add it.

Music took up some of my time. I really enjoyed playing clarinet in the band. We had new band uniforms and they were really nice - also very warm because they were wool!

This graduating senior looks like she was very happy to be finished. Of course, it is a big change because some of my classmates and I went from first grade right up through high school graduation. Knowing that we wouldn't be seeing much of each other was sad. We have remained friends all through the years!

Changes and Challenges

All the incoming freshmen had to take apptitude tests within the first few days. Those are always an adventure!

My plan was to major in English and become an English teacher. I discovered that I had enough money to pay for two years of college. So I decided to major in elementary education because I could become certified to teach after two years.

There were several phone calls from home. Mom and Bill wanted to know what I was thinking. They agreed it was the smart thing to do after we discussed it calmly!

There were four general education classes that included 3 hours of lecture and one hour of classtime. Most students had to take three of the four classes. However, the lucky folks majoring in Elementary Education had to take all four!!! The classes were "Man in the Physical World," "Man in the Social World," "Man in the
Cultural World." I think the fourth one had to do with science.

My schedule always had one of these lecture courses at 8 a.m. three days a week. We all loved those 8 a.m. classes!! The classroom time would be on Tuesday or Thursday.

It was always nice to have no classes after 2 p.m. on Fridays - just in case one had a ride home for the weekend!

One of the challenges was going from a small school, being in the top ten of the class, was competing for good grades. I am not sure I really knew how to study or how to write a paper. I took US History before 1865 the first semester. It was really tough. At five weeks, I was failing and shocked! At mid-semester I was doing better. At the end of the semester I got a "B" on my final. My grade for that class ended up being a "C" - and I was glad to get it!

A little sidelight on that History before 1865 class: I sat by a football player who played in the line every week. When test papers were handed out, he would write his name in the proper place. When he handed the test in, all that was on the page was his name. Would you be surprised to know that I can still remember his name??