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1405 9th Street
(c. 2009) |
We moved into a big house that
was about four blocks directly south of the main street and 1 block
east of Highway 75. I spent the summer getting to know my way around
town and meeting a few other kids in the neighborhood. We had many
relatives in Onawa, and had visited there many times, so it wasn't
all that strange to me to live there. Most of the kids were
friendly, and I began to feel at home very quickly. The older kids
had lived there for years (before Mapleton), and seemed to know
everyone in town.That summer, the pastime I remember the most was
going to the chicken house which was about a block from downtown,
and across the street from the Safeway store. It was a big building
used for slaughtering and processing chickens, and the back side had
a fenced area full of live chickens waiting to be processed. A group
of us would hang around there all day waiting for chickens to escape
through the fence. Occasionally, one of the chickens would somehow
fly over the fence and we would catch it, take it around to the
front office, and they would reward us with 2 cents. We would then
go over to the Safeway store and buy candy. After a week or so into
the summer, the pace of chicken escapes became too slow for us, so
we devised a method of helping them escape by cutting a hole in the
fence and patiently waiting for a chicken to come within arm's
length so we could grab him. Unfortunately, the front office noticed
the upturn in chicken escapees and returns, caught us in the act,
and banned us from hanging around the premises anymore.
Some of the things I learned
that summer at the chicken yard were how to play mumbley peg, how to
chew fresh tar (that dripped down the drainpipes from the roof) in
lieu of gum, and a whole string of new swear words and off-color
stories.
Occasionally, we walked out
to Guard Lake or Blue Lake that were oxbow lakes close to the
Missouri River. We fished for bullheads from the bank. Our fishing
gear consisted of some string, a few hooks, some small sinkers, and
a couple of bottle corks all carried in a Prince Albert can that fit
neatly in a pocket. We dug some worms in the garden and they were
put in a tin can. When we got to the lake, we cut a branch from a
creek willow tree for a pole and tied the string on it, rigged up
the line and baited it. Bullheads were plentiful, and we would bring
home stringers full. Carp were also plentiful, but we didn't usually
keep them unless they were big (Mom would bake them, and they were
delicious).
I started the 4th grade that
fall with a great deal of apprehension, since I would be the new kid
in class, and I thought I would be behind everyone else
scholastically (since Onawa was a bigger school). My teacher was
Miss Brown, and she was very congenial. I thought she was beautiful,
and experienced my first "crush" on a teacher. My memories of the
fourth grade are all very happy, I liked school, and got along well
with my classmates.
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1942 - Grade Four
Leon - Back row, 3rd from left |
I only remember a few of the
kids in class. I remember faces better than names. My girl friend
was Joyce Loomis, and oddly enough, I can't remember what she looked
like. The only other names I remember are a kid named Clayton and
another boy by the last name of Jars, who was very poor and had a
continuing problem with head lice (the teacher would comb through
his hair periodically with a fine tooth comb to determine whether he
should be sent home or not).
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Onawa Grade School
(c. 2009) |
The schoolyard had a great
playground with the tallest slide I can ever remember. They also had
a maypole with ropes with little ladder-like rungs on the ends. The
thing was called a "giant" swing, and you would run around it
hanging onto the ladder bars until you got up enough speed for your
feet to leave the ground so you could coast. They also had a
merry-go-round and several swings that were very high. I used to
spend hours playing there in the evening as it was only about two
blocks from my home.
In our neighborhood, the
only people I remember were the Colletts that lived across the
street and the Pings that lived about a block north.
In 1942, my Dad got a
job at the Sioux City Air Base, so we had to move to Sioux City. I
remember some of my friends and cousins talking like I was "doomed"
because I was leaving the comforts and familiarity of a small town
and going to the big city. I wondered myself how I would ever
survive...
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