Megaphone -- Page 5

Many years ago, quite possibly 1944 or 1945, my neighbor and friend, Jan Newcomer, and I were walking home. Since years tend to dim memories, I can't recall whether we had been to June Ripberger's home on West Main Street or to a movie. It was one of those cold, crisp days in Elwood when a nice blanket of snow had covered the ground and was yet untouched.

As children often do, we dawdled and played in the snow. We found a patch on 9th Street between Main and South A where the ground gently rose as the street sloped towards South A. It was a perfect spot to lie down and make our snow angels. Clad in heavy woolen coats, snow pants, thick hats and gloves, we lay there staring up at the sky. It had just turned dark and we could see the stars -- and the steam from our breath -- from our positions on the ground. It was a dry snow and the wetness did not penetrate our winter wear.

We began to wonder what we would do when we were older. I recall that we mentioned that it would be nice to travel. We thought about what it would be like to be grown up. We wondered if we would still be friends. Years have passed. I believe the last time I saw Jan, I was in Elwood preparing for my wedding. That was over 40 years ago. The thoughts that we had that evening were insignificant, the words too trite and childlike to be remembered. However, the beauty of the moment, the comfortable companionships of childhood, the secure feeling of growing up in a place I loved have always lingered in my memory.

Karen (Stine) Hollies, '54
Virginia Beach, VA

Most all of us (boys anyway) had a favorite swimming hole when we were growing up. I didn’t discover mine until just after I learned to swim when I was nine.

Of course, the hole had been there many years; I just didn’t know about it. For the kids who grew up in the south end of Elwood, most all of them had taken a dip there at one time or another.

This swimming hole was well off the beaten path and was secluded enough that we never seemed to feel the need for swimming suits. Just strip down and jump in. It wasn’t particularly big, maybe 20 feet long by 18 feet across but it was over four feet deep which was just right for shallow diving.

This swimming hole provided welcome relief from those long hot summer days of July and August and if there had been a big rain in the preceding week, the creek would rise and we had the added adventure of feeling along the banks of the swimming hole for turtles and catfish. I know one of the Goins boys caught a turtle that way and it was a big one. He informed me that there were seven different kinds of meat in one turtle and since I had never eaten turtle, I couldn't disagree.

This favorite swimming hole was in the woods behind of north and east of King's Ranch, which was located just at the end of South J Street where it made the curve into 29th Street.

I haven’t been back to the old swimming hole for over 50 years and I doubt that it still exists except in my memories as the creek is always changing with each season, but for several years it was sure a lot of fun. Eventually though we outgrew the Old Swimmin' Hole, and as we grew we looked for bigger and better swimming holes like Fox's Pit which was located across the creek just north of the Elwood Drive-In Theatre or Ray’s Pit by Ray’s Canning Factory. The best thing about all these places was that they were free!