Facebook is kind of amazing for the ways it makes me obtain information and reminisce. I kind of wish it had separate "channels" for childhood friends; relatives; and co-workers or some such. They all sort of blend which leads directly to posts like this one. My Facebook friends include classmates from Silver Creek. I mostly just lurk to enjoy the memories that get reconstituted when I see their names. This week Russ Stebbins posted that his dad had died. I remember Mr. Stebbins and his farm--I think I picked strawberries there one year. Mr. Stebbins reminded me of Ken Berry at the time (Ken Berry was on the later years of the Andy Griffith show). They had a family of something like 5 boys I think and lived up on the corner between our house and Virgil's.
Cherry Ludeman (I have no recollection of her at all) said her dad died several months ago. This would be the Ludeman's department store right downtown. We'd go there to get new Easter bonnets. Those stiff straw and plastic sat so stiffly on your head but were ever so important for the church service. We'd only get maybe 2 new hats at a time and I'm not sure that happened every year. I think I barely recall Ludeman's would have live chicks in the store at that time of year.
These are some of the adults that shaped our everyday lives when we were young. Our memories might just be able to barely recall them to mind. Mrs. Hamburg and the haircuts. Mrs. Birdsee and the swimming lessons. Mrs. Clark was my 4H leader. Mrs. Moore was my 4th grade teacher and lived roght across the street from where we lived on Olive Street. I know Paula fondly remembers Mrs. Wilson. They touched our lives just as we are doing the same for others today. Someday we'll be barely remembered by those on the fringes of our days but that's perfectly OK. It's very comforting to be part of a greater cycle of history--even teeny tiny bits of history like Silver Creek in the 1960s.
Another Facebook friend is a cousin of Jim's and she noted recently that a library dies with a person. The world loses that knowledge and history. In some ways this is true but if we share our stories and pay forward the lessons we learn that library will never disappear.
You were fairly warned.
