It’s a great day for me to write something of interest from my past. I would like to do it by picking out past articles and adding something to them.
1. I would like to begin with our first trip to see JR at the Alzheimer’s place. When we told him we would be back, he said, “No you won’t.” Well, yes we did. We went back this past week to see him. And he seemed happy to see us.
2. The next person I wrote about is George’s Aunt Mary, and the fact that she was 97 and planned on attending this year’s Little Brown Jug race on Sept. 21. She had her tickets for her same box as usual. And it would mean she would be able to attend the Jug race that she has attended every year since 1946. However, this year will be different, because, I’m sorry to say, she died on Aug. 8. I plan to put a sign on her chair showing that’s where she would have been sitting as she had for all these past 77 years.
3. Another article is my visit to the church I had attended when growing up from seventh grade until two years after I had graduated from Willis High School. All those eight years I got to sing in their choir. Recently, I met up with a lady who introduced herself to me and said she was from the same church. I told her that I was there even before Rev. Campbell came, and I had babysat his children who liked having popped popcorn on top of a bowl of tomato soup every Sunday for supper. For years, I thought all ministers’ children had popped popcorn on tomato soup for Sunday night supper.
4. I wrote about giving away blue ribbons to people who I thought should have one. The person who seemed the most pleased to get one was George’s chiropractor. That’s because I wanted him to know how great it was that he had kept George out of pain for all these past many years.
5. My writing an article about having a porch swing turned out to be the one most talked about. It seemed that people who grew up with one on their porch enjoyed remembering about having it. Not sure if they have one now though. But we do, and I have the initials on the back ‘boards” of each of the nine of us who couldn’t all sit in it at one time. But we tried.
6. Another is a comment by a man named Mr. Bell. He told me that he liked reading my articles but couldn’t remember them later. I told him not to worry, I forget what I write, too. Also, they are like a comic strip. You read it and enjoy it for a few seconds, and then you forget it.
7. One other article was about the changes that had happened to Johnstown, Ohio, that I saw when we visited there back this past January. Now, just this past week, I have become aware of a much larger change happening in Johnstown than I realized just seven months ago! Where or when will it stop?
8. Another past article was about my thanking of former teachers. I didn’t mention the most important subject to be learning as a 1st, 2nd and 3rd grader is READING. If you can’t read, you can’t learn all the rest of the subjects. I was in another city while in the 1st and 2nd grades being taught writing cursive there. It seemed we spent hours making circles and slant lines. Then when coming to Delaware, we spent most of our time learning to read in my 3rd grade. I want to give a big THANKS to the teachers who are teaching reading and writing in our elementary schools today. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
9. Sometime in my past is when we found that picture of George’s brother, Jerry, in our living room. When we found it, it was in a frame, sitting on the table beside George’s chair. To this day, we have never figured out how it got there.
10. And last in the list is when we said “goodbye” to our house full of memories and moved across the street from where we had lived for the past 60 years.
We had to leave behind the tree that was planted when my mom died, and the fire red bush that was given to me by my sister. But we can still watch the tree leaves change from green to bright yellow, and the bush change from green to fire red. And it just so happens that both are always on my birthday in the second week of October.
Kay E. Conklin is a retired Delaware County recorder who served four terms. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a degree in sociology and anthropology.
