Moving to Findlay in 1948 and the years that followed were a memorable time for Visit Findlay Blogger Pat Bauman. Read the first in her series about the “Good Old Days” here and see what came next below!
Junior High School was a fun time. Too young to get a part time job so when your homework was done, it was time to just “hang out” with friends. We were basically clones. We wore navy blue pea coats in the winter and we all wore saddle oxfords. Spalding of course from Turner Fenstermaker Shoe Store. Because we were cool, or at least thought we were – we bought out Levis at Plotts Saddle & Luggage Store.
I was a Glenwood cheerleader – “Feeling happy, feeling gay. Hope this game will go our way. Look at the scoreboard what does it say? Sixteen cheers for Glenwood HEY!” We wore gold sweaters and purple twill skirts that came down well below our knees. They were so heavy, you couldn’t spin around much or you’d fall over! They were a real pain to iron because they wrinkled very easy.
Glenwood had a talent show and of course, my friends and I had to perform. Since we wanted to dress a like, we wore our gym suits – a royal blue one piece outfit with elastic around the legs which resembled bloomers. If I recall, we wore knee socks with them. Is that cool or what!?!
We had a Sadie Hawkins Day where you got to invite a boy to go with you to the dance. But, the highlight of the year was our ninth grade dance in the spring. My “date” who lived a block from our house, picked me up in his father’s car. Do the math, we were 14 years old. But, boy were we cool. We both lived 2 blocks from Glenwood so there wasn’t any traffic.
Summers were spent at Riverside Park. We rode out bicycles there every day. Starting at Melrose and Main and being joined by our friends on our way singing “99 bottles of beer on the wall” and “White coral bells”. One of my friends was Judy Folk and she was a wonderful diver. I can still see her on the high dive perfecting her graceful swan dive or jackknife. Since I was not fond of heights, I preferred the lowest diving board. My form was not a pretty sight. I babysat for our next door neighbors 3 children to earn money which was not a lot in those days – 25 or 50 cents an hour. But, if you saved it long enough, you could buy yourself fun things.
Speaking of our next door neighbors. One 4th of July, they announced that they were going to have a wonderful fireworks display……so I invited all of my friends to come over. When I arrived home from the pool, I asked my parents what time was the grand display going off. They told me I missed it. “What, it’s only 4:00”. It seems that someone threw a lit cigar in the large box of fireworks and they all went off at once. Their porch caught on fire and they had to call the fire department. Well, dang. Sounds like I missed more fun than just watching fireworks.
My father had turned part of our basement into a recreation room. It was really neat and it was the hangout for their friends and mine. The Smith and Gulker families and my family had weekly get togethers with cookouts and games which was continued until all of we “kids” (9 of us….got married).
Time for Ninth Grade graduation. Our music teacher, Miss Guise, chose 3 girls (me included) to sing a song which we had performed before. And…..I was one of the many class speakers. Guess I liked to perform!