The picture in the upper left hand corner shows me with my mother and dad probably the last summer we lived at the Main St. address. As you can see in this picture, Mother and I were always great pals. She was determined that I should become a young lady, not a rough neck tomboy by playing all the time with my brothers. She had had enough of boy activities for all those years with all boys. When I came along, it was time for some girly stuff.
The plants growing behind us in our back yard were peonies. There were a lot of peonies in our yard when we moved there. Every year the great quandary was: would they bloom in time for Memorial Day? If they did, we would cut them all and Mother would bundle them into many small bouquets. Then she would wrap cans in pretty paper. We would take these to the cemetery. There the cans would be filled part way with water, and then they would hold the bouquets. These we would use to decorate the grave sites of our relatives. Remember, we had no car, so we would drive to Maplewood Cemetery with Grandma and Grandpa Lininger.
I never was able to spend a lot of time with my dad, so it was exciting that year that he took me with him to Muncie to put flowers on his father's grave site along with other relatives there. We took the bus to Muncie carrying our bouquets and cans along with some tools for tidying the grave sites. I think the trip took us most of the day. The bus let us off right at the cemetery entrance as it was located right on the highway. We walked a long way to the graves, did our work, and then walked around the cemetery seeing all the flowers and the people there. We sat on a bench at the entrance, had our snacks, and caught the bus back home. I think I slept all the way home. Maybe Daddy had a nap, too.
That summer Daddy took me on Sunday afternoon walks. I loved to walk with him. One Sunday we walked all the way to Columbus Avenue and Stanton Park. We stopped there so I could swing on the swings. It was still a park until a few years ago when the city abandoned it. Now it is just an empty lot.
One of the most memorable trips that I made with Daddy, was to Noblesville. His church choir was doing a combined concert with one in Noblesville. I sat and watched the rehearsal. Daddy gave me a copy of the cantata they were singing. I remember that I tried to follow along with the music. After the rehearsal Daddy took me to a restaurant to eat. We had STEAK! I think it was the only steak I had all my childhood! We didn't tell the rest of the family.
The other pictures are taken in our front yard at the Meridian Street house. Dan and I are trying to train our dog, Mickey in the right hand picture. Jack brought that pup home when I was about four years old. And he lived forever! He was the ugliest dog in the world. Disney had just introduced Mickey Mouse---hence the name. Mickey suffered from a terminal case of eczema. He had a large bald spot on his back that was always pink and scaly. Mother was the only one who really loved him. She was so soft hearted. My cousin, Darlene, was here at our house a couple of years ago. She remembered Mickey. She said your house always smelled like a DOG! How embarrassing. And we didn't even notice.
With Dan and David in the left hand picture, are their friends, Buddy Lefner and Freddy Miller- all looking as cool as they can. That was the summer of the terrible polio epidemic. We were not allowed to go swimming in the public pool, or to get too hot or over tired. Freddy Miller did get polio. We were all so sad and worried about him. Dave, Dan, and I went all around the neighborhood and collected money. Mother took us to Kirkman's Jewelry Store. Mr. Kirkman sold us a very nice watch for a fraction of its cost. We went to see Freddy and gave him the watch so that he could keep track of the time while he was bedfast. Freddy did recover. He was left with a limp , though.
Behind Dan and I in the right hand picture, you will see Meridian Street. Right across the street was a small strip of shops. There was a barber shop, Behers Drug Store, and a store that changed renters all the time. Now, I'm not really certain if Mr. Beher was the druggist or the barber, anyway he was there somewhere. I would go searching under all the chair and sofa cushions for lost change. If I found enough, I would go to the drug store and buy a movie magazine. Then I would cut out all my favorite stars and keep the pictures in my treasure box.
Freddy Miller's teen-aged sister gave me a whole stack of her fashion magazines. Oh, what a treasure! I cut out all the pretty, colorful pictures and kept them in my box for years. When Jack came home from the army, he brought a wooden ammunition box that had an attached lid. Mother painted it yellow and painted my name on the top. She also decorated it with "Peter Hunt" Pennsylvania Dutch designs. I kept those pictures and my treasures in that box forever. Now that I write about it, I do not know what happened to that box. I know that Cheryl had it in her room at one point in her childhood. Now, I am very sad.
Mr. Beher was Nancy Bartle's grandfather, and they lived on Meridian a block south of us. Nancy was also brother Clyde's girl friend. He played high school basketball, and Nancy was a very cute cheer leader. On game nights the whole family would pile on the city bus, ride to down town, then walk the six or seven blocks to the high school gym. Mother and Daddy had seats in the team parents section. But Dave, Dan, and I sat on the very top row! Boy, did we have fun! I loved those games. After the game, we walked back through rain, snow, or whatever, to catch the bus back home. The bus would be packed full of cheering students. They always laughed because one night I said, "I hope that kids have this much fun when I'm in high school."
Truth be known, I don't think any season was ever as exciting as those years when Clyde played basketball.
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