December 2005                                                      The Megaphone                                                                  Page 5

Linwood Birdhouse Day 

 from Frank Jameson, Jr.

Hi Den Mates

I have been going thru my pictures and I found one that dates back to the late 40's. The picture was taken at Linwood Grade School and it was our birdhouse day. Each student was to build a birdhouse and show it in class and we had many different designs and sizes. After the class picture was taken, we had to take the birdhouses home and hang them in a tree somewhere and report back as to when there was birds living in it.
These kid went on to be part of the class of '56 so I checked the Crescent for the class of '56 and wasn't able to put names to all the kids.

Linwood Grade School 

Front Row -- left to right

1st - Patricia Hancock; 3rd -Frank Jameson, Jr.; 5th - Luther Barnes; 6th - Diana Etchison; far right - Donna Brooks

Middle Row -- left to right

2nd - Kenny Hill; 4th - Kent Smith; 7th - Marilyn Beeman; far right - Philip Brown

Back Row

Robert Jameson holding birdhouse up

Frank Jameson, Jr. '56

Snow, Birthdays, Family and Thanksgiving

by Diane (Usfo) Peters

I got my first birthday present this morning when it began snowing large flakes so beautifully and for an extended period of time. What a sight! I'm so glad it has begun as it did when I was a youngster, in time for my birthday.

The most special of my birthdays were the snowy ones. I have one in mind in particular where Mother awakened me extra early so I could enjoy seeing the flakes falling. It was a school day, and she wanted me to be able to take my time walking to school in the snow so I could really enjoy it. I think we must have gotten six or more inches of snow before I left for school. It was glorious!

Her way of getting me out of bed on my birthday when I was young (I was a sleeper!) was to announce to me God had gifted me very specially.  He had sent snow just for me. I felt it was true. What better gift could a person receive than one straight from God Himself. He was celebrating me and covering the entire land with one of my favorite things. Wow! Didn't I rate! Wasn't I special! A person just doesn't get more loved.

Now, any time it snows, I get a birthday glow from it. It feels especially for me, a celebration of me. It makes me smile out the top of my head and through the ends of my toes and out the rump. It is grand.

I can remember Thanksgiving birthdays when the first "real" snow came down. We may have had flurries before that, but snow on the ground to rollick in was real snow.

I think hunting season began at that time too, so that Dad would usually have gone out early in the morning hunting and bring home rabbits. I expect he went to his mother's farm so that he would get to see her for the holiday and spend time hunting with his brother.

I remember Thanksgiving as a happy time, a warm time with the smell of foods mingled with the warmth of the oven. The house had been cleaned in time for the holidays to begin with all fresh curtains and woodwork, super clean bedding, and linens all ironed and ready for the kitchen table.

Relatives who lived in the country and in the neighboring town would be coming through for the next month as they came into our bit larger town for shopping. They would stop in for a piece of dessert, probably pie Mother had baked which caused the house to have a continually good smell in the air along with that warmth.

The dessert was always served with hot tea or coffee, and the scent of brewing coffee is still irresistible, even though I didn't learn to like coffee until the past few years.

The men were always glad to see one another, because they teased and joked at their wives who were spending more money than they were earning at the moment. The women were full of giggles and laughter, sharing recipes they had found or been served already at club luncheons or other family members' homes.

All were delighted to have come from their cold shopping trips when the word mall didn't yet exist. They would stand stomping on the front porch and pulling off snowy boots, sweeping the snow from our porch if the wind had blown it on. One of the men might even pick up the shovel which had been left by the front door and clear the walk.

I think they felt worth their dessert by the time they came into the house that way. How heartfelt, helpful, happy everyone seemed to be. Of course, each was younger, more in the prime of youth at the time. Little would they think then what lay in store for them as they aged.

Dad's family was larger than Mother's and lived farther apart from one another, though within twenty miles anyway. They never seemed to grow out of their childhood's when they were with one another, and they kept creating ways to play with one another by having progressive dinners, or having summer get togethers and going into a bare field to play softball.

That side of the family we saw least and were most fascinating to me. With them I had sparklers at the Fourth of July, arrived at parties where miniature orchid boutonnieres were pinned on girl's party dresses, ate foods we had never known before like ripe olives and pepperoncini.

Mother's side of the family played euchre and music. There always was song and dancing with my aunt at the accordion, my uncle at a guitar, another aunt playing anything which had strings and singing, and another uncle playing guitar and acting as band coordinator, much to the chagrin of the other aunt and uncle.

My grandfather always asked for his favorite Polish song to be played and sung, while my grandmother became irate. My aunt with the accordion would say, "Oh, Mom, let him have his fun. None of the kids know what the words mean anyway."

Recently I met a distant cousin from Poland. Here was my opportunity to learn what the words were to Grandpa's favorite song. I still do not know, because that cousin turned beet red with embarrassment and got me to stop singing quickly as possible. It was a bawdy song too bawdy for even his ears to hear.

Grandpa had been a telegrapher on the railroad and had been in the Russian army, so it likely was a song he learned at that time. It was evidently accompanied by good amounts of alcoholic beverage and stress relief when they traveled in Siberia, as Grandpa used to tell me about the sixteen-foot deep snow there.

So, all these memories are being dredged just because of snow as my birthday begins arriving. As I said, I'm smiling.

Here's wishing smiles and snowflakes upon each of you as the holidays begin!

Diane (Usfo) Peters '62
Logansport, IN

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