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There was 8 of us kids. 4 boys and 4 girls. My daddy worked on the L&N railroad as did his brothers, father and grandfather did. So he made good money and could afford to raise that many "baby boom" kids.
We lived on the outskirts of town about 5 miles or less, so we could afford to go to what was once called Big K, Grants, JC Penney, Montgomery Ward, Woolworth and Kress. We got new school clothes, 3 outfits a pieces, underwear, socks, slips and shoes. The oldest sister and brother got 5 new outfits. All us younger ones got their hand me downs. Our elementary school only allowed the girls to wear dresses year round, but my brothers usually got a few new long sleeved shirts for winter. Coats were also passed down; except for the oldest.
Our table was black oak with 6 chairs, a china cabinet and a side table (bureau) or something like that. It was handed to my father when his mother died. I wish I had it because they don't make them like that anymore. My mother always had a new baby every couple years as I can remember; so there was usually 2 highchairs sitting round the table. I remember her getting up while it was still dark outside to cook our breakfast before we went to school. You could smell her coffee pot perking on the stove with the smell of bacon or sausage sizzling and wafting through the air. What a way to wake up.
We too didn't get McDonalds or Burger King or such. There were 3 little "Dairy Dips" between our home and my grandmothers. Once in a blue moon, my daddy would stop at one of them to get us an ice cream cone. Those were the days.
Only three of us and Daddy came back from WWII and worked with his father as a custom home builder. He later took over that company when Granddaddy retired. No babies - we were all within four years of each other. I was the oldest but the one who got hand me downs because my sister was bigger than me. We went to Penneys in the city for dresses - green or brown for me because I had red hair and blue or pink for my sister who had blonde hair. Same here, never allowed to wear anything but dresses or skirts all through school. I remember what a big deal it was for me to get a pants suit in 1969.
Daddy built our house and Mom had him take out the dining room and incorporate it into the kitchen in the early '60s. We had one of those big formica topped tables with a metal skirt around it. Later he replaced the back porch with a big family room and we had a round wooden table with ladderback chairs for people to sit around if they didn't want to sit in the upholstered chairs or sofa.
We lived in town next door to our paternal grandparents. Mom's family lived in another part of the state. We walked to school, downtown was about four blocks away and the shopping center built in the late '50s was a half block away. It had a Peeble's Dept. Store, Woolworths, a shoe store, and so on. That was the first chain stores in town other than Western Auto.
We lived around the corner from a big dairy farm which had a store and grill where all the teenagers hung out and played the jukebox. We went there to buy ice cream cones and Double Bubble bubblegum.
And we had a little restaurant that was about 10 houses down called "The Donut Shop." However they did NOT sell donuts. They had a delivery truck that supplied a few of the factories with burgers, fries, pop and milkshakes. We used to go on a daily basis for their ice cream cones and shakes if we had the money.
Also the Double Bubble bubblegum; do you remember Double Cola? We used to drink those too.
Sorry to be so slow replying. We've had a death in the family and my guy is the executor and we're run ragged. I would much rather have a burger and fries than donuts! My ex bought me a Wimpy doll one time because I love burgers so much. I don't think we had Double Cola. We didn't have sodas very much. Kool Aid or milk but iced tea with every single meal other than breakfast, brewed from scratch. One of our jobs at dinner was often to cram every glass full of ice so the still hot tea would be cold.
Oh my goodness. My mom made Lipton ice tea from scratch and we drank a lot of Kool Aid too. You can't get a kid to drink Kool Aid anymore.
Sorry about the death in your family. I lost my oldest Brother February 7 of this year. He was a healthy 6 ft. 170 pound healthy man. The found him next to a tree beside the bank with his shirt and coat off. It seems when the coroner did his autopsy that when he cut into his chest; his heart was as big as a basketball. Yes the coroner said basketball. He said that was why he had his shirt and coat off. His heart was struggling to pump and it was as if my brother had ran a marathon. Therefore he got extremely hot just before he had a massive heart attack. He would have been 64 on the 22 of April.
He took 2 of the Covid vaxes before any one knew. I begged him not to take the booster; which I don't know for sure if he did or not. But we think perhaps that is what caused his heart to enlarge.
Again, I am so sorry for your loss. Slow down and take it easy after everything is done. God will prepare a better day for you. Blessings and Love being sent from me. Have a blessed week. Mary
Gosh! It sounds like we could have been sisters. My father added a bedroom, a dining room and an enclosed back porch for my mother to do laundry (wringer washer/wash tub for rinsing) and a clothes line out back. My daddy bought her an automatic washer and dryer and she REFUSED to use it. So he took it back. I guess that's where I get my (stick with the old ways) attitude. If it works great; why change it.
My daddy bought a lot of things from Western Auto. He had a (charge account) no credit cards then; at Western Auto, Mongomery Wards, Firestone, a family owned Grocery Store GOFFS and a furniture store KEACHS here in town when we needed new mattresses, stove and such. This way if we needed something and he didn't have cash at hand, he would charge it. Most times he paid for our school clothes up front, but there were a few times he would charge our clothes at Montgomery Ward.
My father once worked in Louisville KY where he would leave out at about 4 AM on a Monday and would be gone until about 5 PM on Friday night. He would stay on the so-called (railroad camp cars) during the week. This is why he kept an account at the Grocery Store. All my mother had to do was call GOFF's up and they would deliver the groceries to our house. With a lot of kids/ she quit driving after me; we needed a lot of milk for the little ones, so my daddy knew when he was gone every week that she would have to be able to supply milk.
I remember on his paydays/ he got paid every 2 weeks, that he would sit at that black walnut (did I say Oak before? If I did, I meant walnut) table and figure out his bills. He tabulated everything by pencil and paper, unlike we do today. He would probably not have used a calculator if we had of had them then. He too was a simple man.
Mom drove mainly because Daddy was in the Navy reserves and was called back up for Korea when I was a baby so she learned to drive. When I was about five, Daddy got her this monster station wagon for kid hauling and ended up taking it back to the dealership because it got about five miles per gallon. Even at 1950s prices, that was awful. LOL That thing must have had one heck of an engine.
Mom loved the good old days, but she grew up on a tobacco farm with no running water or electricity, so you would have had to pry her modern appliances out of her cold dead hand.
Daddy was like a human calculator. He could do any math you could think of in his head, never on paper. One gene I missed that I wish I had instead of his arthritic feet and spine. Thanks, Daddy. sigh
My parents never had a credit card, even paid cash for things like new cars.
It sounds like your mom was a great lady. Instead of learning, my mom gave it up. She used to drive all over Louisville Ky until she had another baby after me. Then I guess us crying kids made her nervous. I do remember occassionally she would drive through the cow fields where her mother lived. They would have gates to keep the cows in; so my father would get out and open the gate and have my mom drive through it while he closed the gate. I always stood on the hump in the back floorboard 1952 Chevy car/ and she would dump the clutch and throw me in the floorboard. Haha That was the limit of her driving days.
Sorry about your arthritis. I have one hand/ my left/ that hurts badly from time to time. I guess we can't help who we inherit things from.
My daddy bought our house in 1958 plus his first new car/ a Plymouth that looks just like Christine the car in the movie. My oldest brother who just died in February was born the same year. Child number 3. I came after him. So my homelife was set when I was born. I don't know how he paid for it, but I'm sure he made payments buying 2 major items the same year. He and Momma, and my 2 older sisters moved from Louisville to where I presently live. So Daddy must have made a bit better money in Louisville, because he would spend the week there and drive home for weekends as far back as I can remember.
I love chatting with you about old times. It's good to reminisce. I will be gone all day as I am leaving in an hour so I will be back on tomorrow if the good Lord is willing. Have a blessed day.