Chapter Seven
Burma Shave


There’s a couple of things I remember from our trips from Topeka to Cherryvale and back. It seemed like a major trip even though it was only about a 150 mile drive. However, 150 miles can be a major drive when you’re only averaging about 45 to 50 mph. Not only were the cars of the 1940’s not designed to go much faster, but the real problems were the roads. I don’t really remember any multiple lane highways back then. Like the road to Cherryvale most roads only had two lanes – one lane going each direction. So, if you got behind a slow car you might be stuck there for a while because there were a lot of dips and rises in the road making it difficult to see the oncoming traffic in order to pass safely.

One of the things that has stuck in my mind over the years is that mom would pack a lunch of bologna ( we always pronounced it ‘ba – lo- nee’) sandwiches. She would make them on a bun and was one of my favorites.

The other things that I remember about those trips were the Burma-Shave billboards. Burma -Shave was what they called a “brushless shaving cream”. Men use to make a shaving lather by putting water on a cake of shaving soap in a mug and using a bristle hair brush to work up a lather that they would spread on their whiskers to shave. My first memories of my dad shaving, he used a shaving mug and a straight-edge razor. When I first starting shaving in the eighth grade I had a safety razor but I did use for a while a shaving mug. I never used a straight-edge razor. Some barbers will still use a straight edge to trim a man’s hairline.* Anyway, back to the Burma-Shave billboards. For advertising purposes Burma-Shave would have these small signs, billboards, spaced along the road at intervals that you could comfortably read them as you sped along at 45 mph. On each sign there would be a word or two which all together would form a limerick or humorous saying. The last sign would have the words Burma-Shave. An example would be “Every shaver / Now can snore / Six more minutes / Than before / By using / Burma-Shave “. (see the picture at the beginning of this chapter).

While we’re on the subject of shaving, razor and barbers, I don’t remember the barber shop being a social center like you see happening in the barber shops in the movies like “Coming to America” with Eddie Murphy or “Barber Shop” with Ice-Cube. When I was a boy air conditioning was when you had the door and windows open so that a breeze could come through. In office building and homes if you were fortunate you might have a desk fan or floor fan. But I remember in the barber shops and hotels they had these big ceiling fans with four blades. But when real air conditioning started coming in the ceiling fans disappeared. Of course now they’re back in vogue. In the next chapter I’ll talk about Gramps.

* (Edit) Since I first wrote this I have been to my barber and found out that instead of using a straight-edge razor like I thought, he uses a razor that looks like a straight-edge but actually holds a narrow safety blade. He said it was easier to keep sharp.

Chapter Six
Emporia


Still reminiscing about locomotives brings to mind Emporia, Kansas. Why? Well, Santa Fe had a Roundhouse in Emporia. A Roundhouse was a maintenance and storage facility for locomotives and featured a large turntable much like a lazysusan. The above picture isn’t the Roundhouse in Emporia but shows the turntable with the maintenance/storage building on the left. Since early locomotives weren’t designed to move backwards it was necessary to have such devices to turn engines and train cars around. Emporia was a turnaround location for trains to turnaround and head back to their point of origination. Often the railroad personnel would have a layover at the turnaround destination. That’s where my memories are connected. My grandfather and grandmother on my father’s side had a large home about a block from the rail yards and they let out rooms on the upper floor to the railroad workers for their layovers.

My earliest memories of my father’s father is of him being bedridden. Early on in my memories, he died and going to his funeral service was a bit spooky for me at a young age. Consequently, I don’t know too much about my grandfather on my dad’s side. As for his mother, I do remember her. I don’t have to many memories about her but I remember her as a pleasant and happy person. There are a couple of things I remember from her home. I remember her “ice box” and I don’t mean a nickname for a refrigerator. I remember the ice man coming to the house with a large block of ice that went into a compartment at the top of the ice box which allowed the cold air to settle down into a lower compartment where the food was stored. The iceman was a common fixture in those days just like the postman and the milkman. Yes, they used to deliver milk to your door. The iceman had these huge tongs with which he would grab a hold of these large blocks of ice from the back of wagon like truck and hoist it up on their back to bring into the house. He had a large rubber pad on his back to protect him from the cold and wetness of the ice, but still a lot of those men developed back problems from those years of hours a day hauling that ice on their backs.

I remember that my grandmother had a picnic like table and bench in her backyard on which we would have family gatherings. Both in Emporia and Cherryvale I remember family gatherings being a big part of my childhood. When I say “family” I mean not only your immediate family but your aunts, uncles and cousins. In those days with no TV, iPods, video game consoles and concerts you didn’t have any choice but to get together and entertain each other. Today we’ve become such a modular, transient and high tech society.

My aunt Maude and uncle Fred lived across the street from my grandmother. Aunt Maude was an older sister of my dad. Uncle Fred owned the local golf course and they had a son named Ted who became quite a golfer. After a tour in the Navy he was able to play and do pretty well in pro-amateur tournaments. I believe Gary caddied for him once or twice but I never did. I’ll talk a little more about caddying later.

There’s one more cast member in my memories of Emporia. My aunt Helen who was my dad’s youngest sister. I have fond memories of her. She spent most of her youth being a caregiver for my grandmother and taking care of the large home there by the rail yards. Happy to say that later in life she was able to find a mate and get married. In the next chapter a little more on Cherryvale.

Chapter Five - Steam Locomotives to Space Shuttles

Chapter Five
Steam Locomotives to Space Shuttles

Well, space shuttles would be jumping way ahead but the title sounded cool. Now steam locomotives do fit in at this point. The Santa Fe railroad was originally called The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe. The Santa Fe railroad had a large office building in Topeka and for many years provided many jobs in the community.

I remember seeing passenger trains pulled by a steam locomotive running along by the highway. At night you could see the red glow from the tinder box which heated the water to produce the steam to drive the engine which pulled the train racing through the night at speeds of sixty to seventy miles an hour. The sometimes plaintive wail of the locomotive’s whistle echoing through the night is a sound you don’t forget.

I remember going down to the railroad station to see the first diesel drawn passenger train which was phasing out the iconic steam locomotive. It looked streamlined, modern – it was the future, but its harsh diesel engine sound and air horn just did not evoke the nostalgic aural sensation of the locomotive’s whistle. When I came to Pasadena, California to go to school I came by a Santa Fe train arriving at the Alameda station downtown Los Angeles. Even today as you stand in the cavernous waiting room with its high vaulted ceilings and Spanish tile walls and floor, closing your eyes, in your mind’s ears you can hear the hustle and bustle of the heyday of the railroad era. Ah, those “rose colored glasses”.

Another experience that comes to mind that involved a train indirectly happened when Gary and I went down to the fair grounds to watch them set up a traveling circus. As we walked towards the site where they were setting up the big top we noticed some excited action going on at a boxcar which was on a sidetrack. We had to check it out. We witness a cow giving birth to a calf – quite an experience. There sure was a lot of gooey placenta mess.

While we’re talking about circuses I’ve never been a big fan of the Big Top shows. I think the hectic pace of three rings of action going on simultaneously was too much for me. What I do remember fondly about a circus is Cracker Jacks! The caramel coated popcorn and peanuts in the box with the surprise inside. It never really turns out to be a surprise. It was never the diamond ring they advertised as possibly being in the box. It was always something plastic – a ring, a special coin or a little figurine. Still looking for the ring! Do they still sell Cracker Jacks?

Chapter Four - Capitol Page to Schwinn

Chapter Four
Capitol Page to Schwinn

I got my first paying job when I was in the 4th grade at Central Park. My aunt Mary, an older sister of dad, was able to get me onto the staff at the state capitol as a page in the State Senate. Aunt Mary worked at the capitol as either the department head or one of the supervisor in a department that handle some kind of licenses. That’s what I remember anyway. She was also very active in the local political party. As a page in the senate I was basically a messenger boy. As I remember there were four to six of us kids, mostly boys but I believe there were some girls, working in the senate and there were more pages over in the House of Representatives. We would sit in chairs up by the podium in the front of the Senate and a senator would hold up a message or possibly a bill he wanted introduced. One of us would scurry over to the senator and either take the copy of the bill up front to an "in basket" or their message to whomever they wanted it delivered. Sometimes that would mean taking a message over to the House. It was an interesting job and I enjoyed doing it. I worked there for one year’s session. Mom I guess worked something out with the school for me to miss some classes. I guess the school felt the experience was a good learning opportunity for me. A couple of things that I remember about the work in the senate were that the senators didn’t really seem to pay a lot of attention to what was going on but I probably was missing something. :-) :-) The other thing was that sometimes somebody would send a senator a bushel of large red delicious apples. I guess to gain some kind of influence, and they would give each of us pages an apple.

Now what would a 4th grader do with all that new found wealth. Buy a nice, new Schwinn bicycle. Dad and Gary took me downtown to the bicycle shop and I picked one out and paid for it. In those days it was cash and carry – no credit cards. Now here’s the irony of the tale. Dad didn’t feel I was old enough or have the experience to ride the bicycle home. So how were we going to get it home. We couldn’t take it in the car. You probably have already guessed. Yep, Gary rode it home. He was the first one to ride my nice, new shinny bike. Oh well, over the years I’ve forgiven him. I got a lot of use out of that bike and it will reappear later in this saga.

While we’re in the subject area of the Capitol building, there are a couple of things I remember about it. First, on the main floor in one of the wings was a huge, impressive mural of John Brown at Harper’s Ferry. He was a fiery man in history during the Civil War times. Kansas was a very bloody state during the Civil War due to the fact that it was a swing state divided almost equally between pro-slavery and abolitionists.

The other thing that stands out about the capitol building was climbing to the top of the dome. Getting up there was quite an adventure but the 360 degree panorama of Topeka was worth it. You could take an elevator up to 4th or 5th floor where there was a circular gallery that went around the edge of the base of the dome from which you would have an unobstructed view all the way down to the bottom floor. A bit breath taking in itself but nothing compared to the final ascent. You went up another level of stairs around the outer edge and then there were approximately thirty stairs suspended on nothing reaching up to a center, spiral, opened staircase up to the top. Once at the top you went out through a door to a viewing area encircling the top of the dome. Once you got up there it was not spooky; however, you can’t stay up there forever. Coming back down was as frightening or more so than going up. The last I heard they closed the dome and you could no longer have that harrowing experience.

In the next chapter steam locomotives.

Chapter Three - Early Days in Topeka

Chapter Three
Early Days in Topeka

The first home we moved into in Topeka was a short block away from Central Park Grade School where both Gary and I went to school from kindergarten through sixth grade. A few things I remember about school there were cutting my head on a mud scrapper, piano lessons, late for class because of trying to get a ride in a jeep and my first crush on a girl.

A mud scrapper was a very simple but not child proof device to scrape mud off the bottom of your shoes. It was a vertical blade like device that was at ground level with an inverted U shape bar by which you could hold on to while scrapping the mud off your shoe. The problem was the U shape bar was also an inviting apparatus to perform gymnastics on. Which I attempted to do and fell hitting my head on the vertical blade and putting a nice gash in the top of my head. I did survive though.

I remember that both Gary and I took piano lessons from a teacher that lived in the same block as we did but closer to the school. Mom was all for her boys learning the arts. I believe that I did perform in one recital but just as I was about to progress to playing cords with the left hand I got tired of playing "Here Come the Postman" and I quit. I don’t remember whether I quit before Gary did or after. In later years I think we both regretted we didn’t stick with it longer. I know I regret it.

By the time the ride in a jeep incident occurred we had moved to our home on Fillmore Street which was two to three blocks from Central Park Grade School and our route to school took us through Central Park. One day on our way to school, Gary and I were going through the park when we noticed pieces of paper falling from a small plane flying over head. We of course went chasing after the falling papers. They were kind of a ticket for a free jeep ride at some kind of a military show or display on the grounds of the capitol building. We figured that chasing after the tickets was a legitimate reason to be late for class; however, our teachers didn’t see it that way.

Ah, now for the first crush on a girl. I don’t really remember too much about it – not even her name. I was a shy lad and I finally got up enough courage to express my feelings for her. As I recall, she expressed similar feelings for me. At least looking by through my "rose colored glasses" that’s the way I remember it. We didn’t get married though.

Another emotional type experience that probably benefits by questionable memory capabilities was when a somewhat of a bully, Quentin by name I believe, was chasing me around the school yard for some reason that I have forgotten with intent to do me bodily harm. However, by the time he caught up to me he was too tired to do anything.
I lived in Topeka from grade school through graduating from high school; so most of my young years and their memories come from there. So, next chapter more of early life in Topeka.

Coming soon...
Chapter Four - Capitol Page and Schwinn
Chapter Five - Steam Locomotives to Space Shuttles
Chapter Six - Emporia

Chapter Two

Writer's note: Since I'm a few chapters ahead in my writing I decided to post a new chapter on Mondays and Fridays.

Chapter Two
Abilene – Cattle and Eisenhower
Abilene, Kansas was the trail’s end for cattle drives bringing their livestock to the railroad for transport to the slaughter houses. The 34th President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, attended and graduated in 1909 from Abilene High School. Memories of Abilene are a mixture of things I actually do remember and things I’ve been told.

Things I’ve been told include a tale of me watching our pet dog give birth to a litter of puppies and saying "poop, there’s goes another one!". Also, I’m told I walked to town (across the street from where we lived) on my own and went on a shopping spree using make believe money. In addition to shopping at the nickel & dime store I bought my mother a car. Abilene was and still is a small town and I guess many of the people knew me or at least thought a child buying things caught their fancy. It apparently even made the front page of the local newspaper; you see, I couldn’t have been more than 4 years old. (Ah, more stories like that and the newspapers wouldn’t have to go out of business. :-) )

Things I do remember is a flood that that creek where Gary had fallen through the ice (remember I told you earlier it would come up in the Abilene section) overflowed its bank and flooded our part of the town. I remember seeing a guy go by in a rowboat where the street by our house should have been. We lived in a house on a corner lot and the house was on a small rise of land. Still, the water got high enough to get into our basement(any of you readers who live in the Midwest or the East know what a basement is). I remember going down the basement stairs after the water had receded and seeing a layer of caked dirt up to the bottom of the stairs.

I remember a "night crawler" adventure in our backyard using flashlights to search for them; "night crawlers" are juicy earthworms that are good for fishing bait. By the way, this was not just a bunch of kids engaged in this nocturnal event; there were adults too.

My dad worked in a cleaners shop and became a part owner or something - my memory is faulty on this matter. But more on the equipment from the cleaners later. That’s pretty much it for Abilene. I was about five years old when we moved to Topeka.

Preamble & Chapter One

MEMORIES OF A GRANDFATHER
Preamble
I had been thinking about writing down my memories of childhood and growing up through teenager, young adult, adult and you know what follows. But I had put it farther back on the shelf for a later time, and then the other evening a couple of friends and I were visiting together. One of my friends started talking about his early memories from Arkansas and how he had written some it down. I don’t believe he’s shown it to anyone, but he’s far ahead of me because he has written it down. Well, I’ve started writing my memories down. I’m going to try to keep this blog going, updating it weekly. Brief chapters so that it doesn’t take long to read and hopefully some relatives and friends may find it amusing, entertaining or "boy that’s sure an ego trip!" There are a few things I’ve done in my past that I’m not proud of which may get mentioned but not in depth. I prefer to look at my past as "the good ol’ days" seen through "rose colored glasses". Besides I’m not planning to sell my memories to Hollywood.

Chapter One
Memories I’ve been told
As you can probably guess, I don’t remember being born, but I’ve been told that I was not born in a hospital. As was common then, I was born at home on March 7, 1937. Just so that you don’t get the wrong idea, there were hospitals and cars. I was born in Cherryvale, Kansas a small stop on the train route in southeast Kansas. Incidentally, watching the passenger train stop, disembark any passengers and board any others was one of the exciting events to enjoy. One of Cherryvale’s claim to a spot in history is that it’s only a few miles west of Coffeyville, Kansas where the Dalton Brothers were shot and killed during an attempted bank robbery. Before my time though. I had a lot of relatives who lived there in Cherryvale, mostly on my mother’s side. I haven’t been back there in years. I don’t know how many are there now. Both my mother and my father are buried there in the local cemetery.
Now for a few words about the immediate cast members. My father’s name was Floyd and my mother’s name was Bettie. I have an older brother named William Gary but I call him Gary. I also have a younger sister named Ginger, but she comes later in the memories. We also had an older sister name Cleo Jane but she died before I was born and is buried along with my father and mother in Cherryvale. Another important cast member in my early childhood was my grandfather – "Gramps" - my mother’s father. He appears later in my memories.
The next era of "my memories I’ve been told" occurs in the small town of Burlington, Kansas. A story my dad liked to tell happened on the edge of town. As the story goes, my brother Gary was suppose to be keeping an eye on me. I believe I must have been about 3 years old at the time. Anyway, he and a friend wanted to go exploring along the railroad tracks and of course I went tagging along. My brother was always one to go exploring and checking things out. He especially found the ice on creeks or ponds inviting. I’ve been told that he fell through the ice on a creek in Abilene but that comes later after Burlington. However, I’m digressing. Gary and his friend had gone across a railroad bridge over a creek or ravine and I had started to follow after them when dad caught up to us. Boy, did Gary catch (expletive), because the bridge was built to support the rails and the railroad ties but was completely open between the ties. The openings were big enough for my small size to fall through. I didn’t fall though as you may have guessed since I’m telling the story.

I have some memory of Gary and I spending time by the creek or river (I don’t remember how big it was) which ran through the center of town catching frogs and tadpoles. I also have a fragment of memory about speedboat racing on the river to the north of town. That was exciting. Next is Abilene, Kansas.