Neighborhood Friends on Lake Street

Neighborhood Friends lined up for a picture by my mother - Janet Loveless, Me, Pam Tope, and in the back, my brothers Gene, C.F. and Pam's brother Butchie.

As we age into our seventies, most of us tend to reflect on earlier times.  We remember our siblings, our childhood with our parents, neighborhood friends, and our school days.  This picture is a bit unusual in the fact I don't remember Gene with a hoe in his hand.   He was usually playing the piano, reading or other chores he was directed to do.  It could have been the age difference that I don't remember him at a younger age.  The girls were all in dresses too.  The Tope family lived two doors down from us. Janet Loveless visited me when she stayed with her grandparents on Lynn Street, behind Lake Street.  I had another friend that is not in this picture.  Her name was Jaretta Sue Seabaugh. They lived across the street from the Topes.  I ran into her twenty years later at a Beta Sigma Phi Convention, and she looked much the same.  She had a beautiful smile.  When my Mom took this picture in 1948, polio was infecting people at an alarming rate.  My mother read somewhere that heat and the sun could bring on the dreaded disease.  From 1948 to the mid-1950s she tried to keep us children in the shade during the mid-day.  I distinctly remember not liking that she restricted my movement and play-space.  I also remember having a classmate, Marsh something, in grade school that had to wear leg braces to walk due to the effects of her contracting polio.

My 55th Class Reunion is being held in Sikeston, Missouri this September.  I am looking forward to attending.  I have fond memories of friends made in the Sikeston High School band, the Red Peppers, the Concert Choir, National Forensic League, and other school activities.  I also remember my English teacher Mrs. Oberg, who gave me encouragement when I needed it.  Mr. Huff was helpful in the library, Miss Mount in History, and Mr. Wright taught History with enthusiasm.  He is responsible for my love of history.  I remember that Mrs. Robinson still had her Virginia accent, even after living in Sikeston for many years.  Band Director Keith Collins was highly respected by both the band members and parents.  When he spoke, we listened and responded as he desired.  Mr. Collins was bigger than life to many of us.  Gordon Beaver was a good choir director, but he asked me to sing the first alto because they needed a strong voice.  I hating singing alto but did so to benefit the choir.  Lastly, I remember Mrs. Helen Reuber.  She taught me voice lessons when I attended grade school, and I remember at that young age I thought she had the prettiest bathroom I had ever seen. The faucet on top of the wash basin had a large fish where the water came out.  The water flowed from the mouth of the fish. On each side, the handles that controlled the temperature were fish tails.  I thought they were made of gold at the time but were more likely made of brass.  It amazes me the little details we remember from our childhood.  Mrs. Reuber was later Counselor in my High School.  Lastly, I remember the school nurse Mrs. Faris, who was in every school from Baily to High School.  She was a pretty woman and a constant figure throughout my school years.

When we are young, we seem to care little for history, for antiques, or for genealogy.   We need to experience life to appreciate the past.  We need to have children and grandchildren to understand and appreciate our genealogy.  I clipped a quote from an unnamed person, and I have tried to live my life by those words.  "If I should live to a ripe old age, may I possess some bit of individuality, wit and charm, that I may not be discarded when I am withered, worn, and weak, but sought after and cherished, like a fine antique."