November 2005 The Megaphone Page 7
A Funny Thing Happened . . .
by Bob Hinshaw
Remember
years ago when a funny saying turned into a
My plans were to attend the 65th class reunion and then go to the East Street Motel in Tipton to freshen up. Two friends we have known for 50 plus years, John and Clara Updike, were to pick me up and we would go some place to eat dinner and talk as I had planned to go back to Warsaw Sunday morning. Now I can say, “A Funny Thing Happened To Me On My Way To Tipton!”
I
had passed
Upon arriving at the motel, I had the manager call the local police to make out a report. As he was writing, he paused and said, ”Hinshaw—you had a drug store in Elwood,” to which I agreed. I knew his family and he remembered me.
I
called the Updikes and had them bring over a camera. I called the insurance
company who said, “There are no glass shops open on the weekend, but I’ll
see what I can do and call you Monday at
Off
to dinner with the Updikes we go again and I came home Tuesday morning.
Thanks to two wonderful friends, I had three meals a day and was in good company
almost the entire time.
As
the pictures show, there were no feathers, no fur and no blood on the glass.
There were no dents anywhere on the car and repeated searching
of the area by the police proved fruitless as for what hit the
windshield.
The
good LORD was with me . . . When a Funny Thing Happened To Me On . . .
Bob Hinshaw
'40
Warsaw, IN
Memories of Mom
by Rebecca (Hahn) Capps
My
mother, Wavalyn Guydana (Smith) Hahn, will be 80 on November 6th, 2005. My
siblings and I have decided to do a Memories of Mom type thing at a birthday
dinner in her honor. I want to honor her here also. Mom was born and raised in
Elwood, living on the South end of town most of her life. She married my father,
Sylvester Hahn, at the age of 16 and is still married to him today. They lived
in Anderson, IN, for a few years but returned to Elwood in the early 1950's for
the last time. Mom did jobs cleaning houses for people and working at the
canning factory in the summer, but only part time. She did not work full time
until her youngest child, me, was in the first grade of school. She was a full
time mom and to her that meant being home until her last child was in school all
day. My parents were not rich but I didn't think we were poor either.
Mom
had a lot of hardships in her life. She lost her mother at the age of 21. She
tried to help her father raise her younger siblings but having children herself
it was just too hard and three of her siblings were put in the Indiana Soldiers'
and Sailors' Children's Home in Knightstown, Indiana. Mom was 19- years-old when
she lost her first child, a daughter, who was only 15-months-old. I am sure that
was one of the hardest things to endure and being a mother myself I often wonder
how she ever got through it. I am sure the love she shared with my father and
the family had a lot to do with being able to cope. Mom had 5 more children, 2
boys and 3 girls. We were all raised in Elwood and the 3 girls graduated from
Elwood Schools. Gloria (Hahn) Carter graduated in 1966, Sylvia (Hahn) Arnold
graduated in 1971 and I, Rebecca (Hahn) Capps, graduated in 1977. My 2 brothers,
Sylvester Hahn, Jr. and Mark Hahn joined different branches of the service and
continued their education there.
When it comes to memories of mom I remember the smell of tomatoes. Mom had a plastic apron and it had tomato stains on it . . . she had a hairnet over her hair and the smell of tomatoes was awful. I remember going to houses to clean with my mother. She cleaned Edwin Stamm's house and mom used to find money and put it in a coffee can for him . . . it was all over the house in the strangest places. Mom would tell him not to put money there but he did not believe in banks and he was very old and wanted to hide his money, so he hid it and mom found it and put it up and he would hide it again before she went there the next week.
I remember as a teenager asking Mom if I could have $5 to go skating and she
would say ask your Dad . . . so I would ask Dad and he would say ask your mom. I
finally learned to say Mom, Dad said it was OK with him if it was OK with you .
. . and I would tell Dad, Mom said it was OK with her if it was OK with you . .
. and of course I got the $5 and was on my way skating.
I remember Mom being with me when my daughter was born. Mom said she had 6 children and had never seen one be born until that night. My daughter, Leigha, loved her from the moment she was born. When the nurse came in with Leigha she handed her to Mom . . . Mom checked her out and then laid her by me. Leigha started screaming as soon as Mom laid her down so Mom picked her up and she shut right up. I knew right then that my mother was going to be a big part of my daughters life.
I remember Mom telling my sister, Sylvia (we call her Cookie), that she had to
take me with her when she went places at night. Like I was some sort of
protection or would tell on her if she did something I thought Mom would not
like. Little did Mom know I was usually asleep in the back seat. I could not
have told Mom any thing that Cookie did or who she was with. I remember going
with Gloria a lot too but I am not sure why I was with her.
I remember my brother, Mark, teaching me to ride his "big boy" bike. He stood me on a rock and told me to pedal . . . I did and off I went up and down the street. Mark would catch me when I wanted to get off. One time I got on the bike when no one was watching but could not get off so I kept riding and screaming. Mom came out of the house very mad. Mom got me off the bike and said she was going to whip whoever taught me to ride that thing so I never told her it was Mark. I told her I figured it out myself.
I have so many memories of Mom but the greatest one is probably knowing that
she, a 16 year-old girl, and a 16 year-old boy, made it through getting married,
having 6 children, have 1 child die, watching their children grow up and move
away, having grandchildren and great grandchildren and they did it all together
for 63 years. They still live in Elwood and probably always will. My parents are
a big part of my life and I love them very much.
Rebecca
(Hahn) Capps '77
Elwood, IN
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