March 2007                                                                            The Megaphone                                                                                Page 4

Our Winter Friend, Mama Bear

by Diane (Usfo) Peters

When Tom and I first moved to the Logansport area in November of 1979, we were between towns. In our area of the countryside, if the wind blew, the electricity went out. We had plenty of candles, and they got lots of burning time while we were out there. Of course, with no electricity, there also would be no heat from a furnace in the house.

Before we had moved from Elwood, Tom had purchased a Fisher Mama Bear wood burning stove. The country had passed through the 60's hippie syndrome and had moved now to a fashionable self-reliance mode, with greater effort to live off the land. 

Gas and oil prices were at premiums and President Carter mandated 55 mph highway speed limits in order to conserve gas. In fact, there were shortages of gasoline and long lines at the pumps. We needed to end our dependence on foreign oil. Wood burning stoves became chic. 

The Mama Bear was a two-step flattop stove. Tom even bought a metal box oven to sit on top of it which could be used for bits of cornbread or brownies. There was a fire screen insert for the front of the stove. A person had only to swing open the two doors of Mama Bear, clip the screen onto the front, and the fire in the box became more of a fireplace for ambiance.

The huge home we were in between towns in the Logansport area was a lovely, three-storied brick craftsman style house and had a nice front porch across the front of it. The first oil bill we got, we realized we would not be heating with oil. It was something like $3 a gallon that year, and we had used 300 gallon in one month. $900 for one month of heating! No, thank you. In fact, that wasn't even a cold month. I cannot imagine what heating during February would have been like.

We asked the landlord if we could install our wood burner in the family room, as there was a flue already there for one, and he agreed. We burned one rick of wood per week at a cost of $25. $100 per month was much more reasonable than $900. That front porch always had a rick of wood on one end of it. 

Because we had moved, friends and family members took turns coming up to visit with us weekends. We would put a Dutch oven on the woodburner to make huge pot roasts for suppers, or a canning kettle full of vegetable soup or soup beans. We always had a teakettle going, and mornings we made breakfasts of bacon and eggs cooked on that stove top.

The hard part came when summer arrived. You cannot imagine, as we could barely believe it ourselves, but that inanimate object, the woodburner, had so taken care of us in winter that it had become like a family member.

It had kept us warm, fed us, been a gathering spot for evening stories and tales, and had much love and friendship surrounding it. It had helped dry wet mittens and coats from the children playing in the snow, and even dried some of our laundry on a rack beside it. 

The cold woodburner felt, to us, the same as the coffin of a dead loved one might in our midst. We had knots in the pits of our stomachs as we walked past it.

When the cold winds of winter came again, we all smiled and were jubilant. Our friend had come back to life! 

Diane (Usfo) Peters, '62

Panama City Beach, FL

When You Care Enough . . . To Send The Very Best

by Marvin Crim

All of us have received distinctive cards from family, friends and neighbors over the years. 

But it's rare to get a unique card and for no other reason than "just because." The holiday seasons had passed. There was no special occasion. But someone thought enough to send a personal card for no other reason than "just because." This one was extraordinary on several counts. 

An expression of friendship is always something special. Expressing it in a personal card beyond the usual holidays and occasions we all celebrate is something out of the ordinary. The cover of this card was done in the hand of the sender. Now that is unique. It was done in watercolor and it's one of the most unforgiving mediums of all. To express yourself with watercolor and make it work is extraordinary.

It's the artwork of Diane (Usfo) Peters, '62. She never asked to have it posted. She was gracious in allowing it to be published at my request with her name attached. The thoughtfulness, the expression of it by way of a card and the artwork made it priceless. It hangs on our wall. 

Thanks so very much, Diane.

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