Article reminded visitor of 1948 frog sculpture
Published 10:52 pm Tuesday, June 12, 2007
By Staff
I had a nice visit with one of my old school classmates, Shirley (Suits) Phillips.
She had read where I mentioned Leon Pray in one of my articles.
She told me she put her paper down and went and found a sculptured piece Leon made for her husband's father, I believe is what she told me.
I knew her husband Roger and his brother Vic, but never knew their father.
This sculpture was of a very realistic frog that Leon made in 1948 (the year Shirley and I graduated).
It was a nice gesture for Shirley to bring it for me to see.
Did you know that before the "Betsy Wetsy" doll there was one called the "Dy-Dee?"
Little girls fed their Dy-Dee dolls water from a little glass bottle with a rubber nipple and you can guess what happened next.
Our favorite summertime shoes were those Ball Band Red Ball Jets tennis shoes made in Mishawaka, Ind.
Remember that little car in the 1970s called a Gremlin and one called a Valiant in the 1960s?
Thinking that all of my article readers were old fogies like myself, I've found out quite differently, as a lot of young whipper-snappers are also some of my readers, as reported by their folks, who told me their kids "dug" some of them.
This kinda made the old Cardinal feel good.
Did you know a lot of people refer to eggs as "hen fruit" or "cackleberries?"
Did you ever drive down a dry, dusty road of gravel, where the dust followed behind in a long squirrel tail?
Back in the 1950s you could get gifts by saving your "Popsicle" polka dot bags.
You know, I think people should give admiration to old Rein Leitke for still having a "mom and pop" grocery store, don't you?
Remember those old quart jars of peanut butter that had a lot of oil on the top that had to be stirred up before you could spread it on your bread?
Here's a story I read in my neighbor's Reminisce magazine.
A child in Wisconsin went out sledding too long and got cold, went home and warmed her back end up against their pot-bellied stove. When she took off her snowsuit she had the name of the stove, Round Oak, printed on her bottom.
Against we hear of Dowagiac Round Oak popping up in an unusual place.
When I was young, May 30 was always Decoration Day.
Was it Congress that decided everybody needed a three-day holiday in May?
So they made the last Monday in May the holiday. Somewhere along the line, it went from Decoration Day to Memorial Day. Oh, by the way, my child bride wife being a traditionalist still puts out our flag on May 30.
Did you know that walnut trees are the last trees to grow their leaves in the spring and the first trees to lose their leaves in the fall.
I once had a bike that had a leather thong around the front wheel axle.
As the wheel turned, it kept the axle shined.
Back in the '30s when pennies meant a lot to us kids, jawbreakers were a real good buy because they lasted so long.