An Achievement
Many families would take a Sunday afternoon drive for vacation. We had a 1930’s Willys Knight Sedan. While on these “outings” Dad would try to teach my Mother to drive. If a car came in the opposite direction, she would panic. It was then Dad decided I should learn to drive. I was the eldest child and just thirteen. While on these “outings” Dad...
Lisbeth Leonard
1954, Darien, CT One day on Walmsley, when I had been out, I came in to hear an unusual scurrying in the new left bedroom. When I went up to check, Doug and Dan, age about 8 and 6 looked guiltily and when I asked what was up, they sheepishly produced a collection of miniature cars. When I heard their explanation we packed the cars in a box and...
Long Lost Bach
I thought it was lost, only the haunting frame of the melody remained. Music that helped carry me and calm me through, not only biology, but also my second semester of college. I could move through the stacks to find those albums, my friends and consolation, by the look of the jacket even if I did not remember the name of the work or the...
Mrs. Santa Claus
It may be that the appeal of trains goes back to when I was a boy and the true sign that Christmas was around the corner was when we got the request to design the annual train layout. What a production! We all drew designs of how the track would carry the train around all the little bits of scenery, tunnels, bridges and switching yards while our...
My Parents' Life As I Remember It
They were both brought up in Kansas. My mother was 33 when they were married December 21, 1920. She was probably considered to be an “old maid”. Mom was the eldest of eight children, and was brought up in a fairly well-to-do farm family. She went to college – or “normal school” as she called it and received her diploma to teach. She got a job...
Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 1941
Pearl Harbor Day will always be in my memory! I had just started my nursing career and had Sunday off. I had a friend who lived nearby so went to visit her and her family. We had a pleasant day when the news came over the radio of the bombing of Pearl Harbor!! It was hard to believe! Needless to say, we talked of nothing else - finding it hard to...
Seven Reasons to Avoid Holiday Travel
Before Interstate highways, piling into the station wagon for a trip from the suburbs of Washington, DC to Reading, Pennsylvania was something akin to an adventure. It usually only took five minutes of fighting over who got to sit in which seat before the conversation turned to how long it would be before we encountered the “roller coaster” road....
They Lived Happily Ever After
“What can we do for Valentine's Day that would remind you how special you are to me, every day?” “That's a tough question. I never really had a Valentine's memory to hold up as a benchmark.” “Well, let's create one.” The Hallmark holiday; well, maybe it is one of several. An obscure saint or maybe three that has become a cash cow for the greeting...
Vacation Time, Dust Bowl, Kansas, 1930's
When we were children and vacation time was planned – it was a train trip to Kansas to visit family. My father worked for the Milwaukee R.R. and could have a “pass” once a year. Since both of my parents came from Kansas, there was no question – it was a trip to Kansas. We looked forward to seeing all the cousins since it was a yearly trip. Above...
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