Once upon a time
Random items from my past, present, and future.Sunday, May 06, 2007
444 1/2 South Lowell
Sometime after my parents divorced, Mother, Anne, and I lived in an apartment in Casper with an address of 444-1/2 South Lowell. Right across the street were several small log cabins that were rented as apartments. We met the people in one of the log cabins. We used to go over and play games with them (monopoly, etc.). I can remember our apartment complex had a small fenced, grassy playground area with a sandbox.
I was in the 5th grade, so this was 1954. Mother was soon going to be marrying Mel Chism. They were buying a house in a new addition in Casper, so Anne and I started our school year going to the school (McKinley) where we would go after we moved into the new house. That was a long ways from where we were living. We would go down to the corner about half a block from our apartment complex to catch a city bus. A radiator repair shop was on that corner. I would talk to the guys who worked there while we were waiting on the bus. Then we would catch the bus. I gave the driver one dime for each of us to ride. We would ride to near our school, get off the bus, and go to school. During lunch break, I would take Anne to a drug store in a strip mall near the school. The drug store had a lunch counter. We would order and eat lunch there. Then we went back to school. After school, we would walk about five blocks to the house of a friend of Mother's. I think her name was Margaret. She had a nice house with a large fenced yard (metal fence). We stayed there until Mother got off work and picked us up. Once while walking to Margaret's someone gave us a kitten. Later, when Mother and Mel picked us up, we had to go give back the kitten since Mel was allergic to cats.
When Mother got married to Mel, I can remember telling my teacher that I might not do so well at school since my Mother was getting married. I don't think I liked the idea of her doing that. My teacher was sympathetic. Her name was Mrs. Phelps. She was about my favorite teacher ever. I seemed to be a whiz in her class. I knew all the state capitals. I could work math problems on the board faster than everyone else. Mrs. Phelps had a lot of contests in class to see who would be the last person left (you were eliminated when you missed a question). I recall winning most of the time. I was also a crossing guard. I wore a white belt with a piece that came across my chest at an angle. I would man the street crossing at the school to assist the younger kids across the street. I think I was the teacher's pet.
Anyway, after Mother and Mel got married, we moved into the new house at 1547 Kearney Street in Casper. Anne and I would stay at home by ourselves in the morning until it was time to leave for school. Then we would walk what seemed like a long way to school. I just measured it on Google Maps and it is right at one mile. Mother and Mel picked us up and took us home for lunch. Then they dropped us back at school. After school, we walked home. I can remember listening to two radio shows while we were home for lunch. One was Paul Harvey News. The other was the Eddy Arnold Show. Eddy started by singing his theme song, Cattle Call. I really enjoyed both shows.
My best friend lived up the street. His name was Robert Stratton. During the summer after my 5th grade year, I got a dog named Shep for a pet. He was a German Shepherd mix, somewhat smaller than a German Shepherd. There were several other kids in the neighborhood that I played with, but I don't remember their names. I do remember that Shep and I roamed all over the neighborhood together.
One time Shep and another dog cornered a cat by some one's fence, a wooden fence at least five feet high. I went between the dogs and picked up the cat, holding it in one hand over my head. The dogs were jumping up on me to get the cat. The cat was scratching my arm. I threw the cat over the fence so the dogs couldn't get it. I wasn't too fond of cats after.
I tried to find the apartment complex when we visited Casper in 1982. It turned out to be in the middle of a four block square area that had been torn down and turned into a park and sports complex. McKinley had been a three story school. It appears to have been torn down and replaced by a one story school building.
My step-brother, David Chism, attended McKinley later. He had Mrs. Phelps. David told me that Mrs. Phelps still talked about me and how good a student I was. I guess I peaked in the fifth grade. I think David was about four years younger than me.
One of the worst experiences I can remember happened to me in the fifth grade while Anne and I were walking to school one day. The wind was blowing very strong. The next day, the newspaper said it had been blowing 60 miles per hour. Anne and I were struggling to move. I had my school notebook which had a collection of homework papers we were supposed to be saving. The wind blew it out of my hands and the papers flew off at 60 miles per hour. I never got any of them back. I was so devastated that I just took Anne back home. We didn't go to school that day. I can't remember how I explained it to Mother. I guess it wasn't too traumatic or I would have remembered it.
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