Olde Home Week

Well, the purpose of this trip for the most part was to go to my hometown's sesquicentennial.  And the dates of Elmore's existence begin in 1863 when it was then known as Dobson.  The committee put together a book which I purchased.  It was very nicely put together and at a reasonable price of $10.00.

My history in Elmore begins much later than this year, of course.  I came here as a German immigrant with my parents in 1957.  I grew up here till I was 12 years old.  After my 6th grade came to it's conclusion, I moved with my parents to California.  At that time, I didn't know whether I would ever see Elmore or my old friends from school ever again.  I have been back a total of 4 times.  Once with my parents and 2 children when they were 2 and 4 years old.  Then for the All-school reunion in 1990, which was 23 years ago!  Wow, I can't believe it was that long ago!  It was on June 30th and it was hot, hot hot!  Walter Mondale was at the dinner in the auditorium of the school and spoke.  Everyone was dying of heat.  Then I came with my daughter in 2005 just to show her my Minnesota roots and now again, just this past week for the sesquicentennial.

At first I wasn't sure if I should go or not, because I had just spent a fortune in New York, but then I realized this was an opportunity to see people I haven't seen in 48 years and probably wouldn't have an opportunity to see again.  I knew I would regret it if I didn't go.  So I took Jamie and Brecklyn along in hopes that they would enjoy it and share a little of my memories.  And I must admit, many memories came flooding back into my mind with every corner that I turned in this little town of Elmore.  Even now as I think about it, a few tears well up and I am happy for the years I spent here, making friends, growing up and learning about life.  They were years well spent and I am happy to have known nice people and good people that essentially helped shape my life as I know it now.  Elmore, you are not gone from my memory.

Elmore back in my day was not the town it is now.  It was a small rural town with a population larger than today and a business section of town that was active and seemed to be growing.  Somehow and for some reason, that growth stopped and the town slowly seemed to go in the opposite direction with businesses closing down and the school eventually closing, people moving out and hardly any moving in.  I think my dad must have somehow sensed that as he and my mom felt it was necessary and time to move on.  So we did.  That same summer one of my two best friends, Carolyn Fritz, also moved.  That left our friend, Cindy Hulsebus, to continue on in Elmore and find other new best friends.  I have kept in touch, especially with Cindy, but also with Carolyn, although I have not seen her since that summer day as we drove off in our old car.  I remember that day so very well as though it was yesterday.

Cindy reminded me of how the three of us took a bike ride to the Minn-Iowa border to have a picnic there at the park and take photos at the border monument.  I remember those pictures and still have them.  As a momento of that memory, we went together and took pictures again there, but it was the two of us this time.  Carolyn wasn't there.  It was a sweet moment.

Well, of course, I had to check out all my old stomping grounds.  The first being my old residence.  And I knew from past visits it had been altered and added on to.  The last two visits, it was brown and now it has blue siding.  And here it is:

It is a lot longer now and has an attached garage.  Ours was separate from the house and kind of like an old shed in a way.  Behind it, we had a woodpile, I recall.  I always saw mice or rats back there.  Isn't it funny what you remember.  In the backyard there was sandpile.  I loved to make mud pies with my friends.  Almost everyone had a sandpile back then.  No computer games, etc.  We played outside most of the time and it was a lot of fun.  I could make the best roads in my sandpile and drive my little cars and even a dump truck in it.  I remember once there was a rat in my sandpile.  Yuch!  Before I went back I remembered the garden that my parents always kept.  We grew gooseberries and had a plum tree.  And that plum tree was in the gooseberry patch.  One day a dog came running after me and I ran into a branch of the plum tree and hurt myself what seemed pretty badly to my little girl self at that time.   Don't know how serious it really was, but to me, it was the worst thing ever!

I remember one year around my birthday that a neighbor directly to the east of my house and just across the street with the last name of Volz, got crushed when a hay wagon fell on her.  I didn't know her too well, but I remember laying on my sofa and feeling so badly about it and crying.  I think this is the first time in my life that I really understood what it meant to die.  I didn't like it much and it broke my heart.    They lived here:

Then looking north on my street there was some type of old barn, which is no longer there, but instead are the trees on the right in the picture below.  What memory do I have from this place?  Well, my little cat, Susie, would go to this barn or whatever it was and the reason for that?  I will give you one guess, rats. Yuch!   I guess at some point it was torn down.  Then around the corner to the left, not too far was the home of my dad's boss, Harold Norman.

Then in the opposite direction, looking south, was Cindy's house and just 1 house south of that, was Carolyn Fritz's house.  Her father was the local vet in town.

And at the end of this road, was the Iowa border.  It was always cool to tell your mom that you were going to Iowa for the afternoon on your bike.  Felt like it was a real big trip!

Then looking toward the west, below was the street we lived on.  On our block were 4 houses.  Ours, Senenfelder's (house is now an empty lot), Ludemann's and another house on the corner.  And I don't know who was there...  Here a view.

On the opposite side, was Cindy, The Wirtjes, the Hubers and the Keisters.

This is the Wirtjes home.
Then a funny memory hit me as I looked at our old house.  The first window on the side was my room.  In there I had a record player and we like to play Elvis Presley and open the window and on the side yard we would dance and dance to the music.  Is that the funniest thing ever.  Well, we did that and it was great.  And for some reason, I haven't forgotten that!

Notice the side by the trees?  Our dancing area.
Below is a picture showing the two remaining houses on this side of the street, which is now Iowa street.

So my last picture for this entry is something that I did at the last few minutes in Elmore on Saturday night as we were leaving the street dance.  We were parked in front of the Post Office and I could see that there were still some Post office boxes in the front as in the days I lived there.  I went inside and checked to see if my old box was still there...

Aside from all the things that change everyday in our lives, somethings don't.  There is my mailbox.  I wonder if my dad still remembers the combination????