Memories Shared From Yesteryear...

 There is a neat thing taking place on Facebook lately…I have been seeing a lot of, "You might be from Danville, Boyle County if you remember -----------)." If I could give this another title, I would title it “Memories Shared from My Yesteryear.” So many people are getting involved by bringing up memories of their past. .. Things they did for entertainment, places they went, and people they knew.  People have become reacquainted and new friendships established. I talked with acquaintances I had not heard from in years. It was wonderful to know what they were doing now.  Before long I began remembering some of my own early years stuff…Being one of the after war baby boomers I have many years to recall.

My high school years were in the laid-back times of the 1950s. The “Happy Days” era…

Boys with sideburns, duck-tail haircuts, leather jackets and blue jeans… Girls all decked out in their bobby socks and saddle oxfords shoes. Poodle skirts, pullover sweaters, and a ponytail. Now, how cool was that?

Elvis Presley, Rick Nelson, Pat Boone, Chubby Checker, and the Big Bopper came upon the scene and changed the sound of music forever. Fats Domino’s famous song “Blueberry Hill,” was a “must play” for every school Sock-hop. Let’s not forget American Bandstand with Dick Clark. Did you ever dance to the beat of Rock n’ Roll, or do the Twist? Could you do the hula with the (still popular) Hula Hoop? Those were the days!

Every small town had their “Fonz.” He was the high school dropout, yet considered a hero to his friends. You can remember the type; they had a good heart but wanted others to think they were bad to the bone. Believe it or not they were often the ones to give good advice to the younger kids.     

It was a time when outhouses were still plentiful and washtub baths were the common practice. Country roads were still dirt with big potholes in the rainy weather and eat-dust during the summer. The only time cars were driven was to work, to the grocery store, and to church. The price of gas was around twenty-five cents a gallon. Families never went into town other than to see the doctor or to go once a month on Saturdays and make it a family day out.

Most every woman that lived in the country bought her household staples from the country store. There was no such thing as prepackaged and already cooked items. Their shopping consisted of twenty-five pound sacks of flour. Those pretty sacks served for many uses in the household; from dishtowels to a pretty piece of material for sewing children’s clothes. I had a few sack dresses myself, and was proud of them…   

Other necessary items they would buy was cornmeal; a can of coffee beans, sugar, salt, pepper, and other spices for adding more flavor to the food. Every mother would buy a bag of penny candy to take to her children. Most everything else the family ate they raised on the farm. There was enough food raised in the garden to feed the family through the summer, share some with the neighbors less fortunate, and a bountiful supply preserved for the winter.  

Every family who lived in the country had their own source of milk and butter. City folk had a milkman who delivered milk and butter in the early morning hours while the family was still sleeping. Country folk milked a herd of cows before breakfast in the early hours before dawn. Leftover milk from the day before was poured into a crock churn and left to clabber. There was most usually homemade cottage cheese, creamy butter, and cold glasses of buttermilk/sweet milk at the table for every meal. Have you ever tasted anything as delicious as a hot biscuit dripping with country butter and stuffed full of homemade strawberry/blackberry jam? Nothing is better than that!

The one tradition I wish we could call back is the ringing of the church bells on Sunday.  

I grew up living on the top of a high hill called the “Knob.” Down the backside of the hill is a valley. This valley is called the “Fork, or Forkland.” On the Fork there was a small white church sitting in the very heart of the valley. For many years the building claimed three congregations. Sunday morning was the Baptist services,  Sunday evenings belonged to the Methodist, and the Church of God, laid claim to the building for the Wednesday night services. Some folks went to all three denominational services. It was not that they were trying to decide what doctrine they wanted to follow; rather they did not have anywhere else to go.

There was never a service that you did not hear the toll of the church bell. It was just as much a part of the service as the singing and preaching. In our little church, we had a man by the name of Billy Burger… I will never forget Mr. Billy B… There was something special about Billy. He was blind; but God gave him more sight than any person I ever knew. His sight came from his soul. Nobody could make the sound come from the church bell the way he could. God gave Billy B, a special talent for ringing that old bell. It sent out the tones of a hymn heard throughout the community for miles around and everyone knew when Billy rang the bell.  

It is good to go back and relive the past in our minds as long as we only visit for a little while and return to the present. We often say, “I wish I could go back to how it used to be.” However, God did not mean for things to stay the same. Things change, people change, the world changes. We cannot call back time. We can only move forward.

Man cannot change what God planned. He allows us to change a city by building new things and tearing down things not so new. He allows us to build roads; bring industry to our towns, and plant flowers, trees, and shrubs. But, He absolutely will not allow us to tamper with time. The most intelligent among us cannot bring back one second of time; and the most brilliant doctors among us cannot hold a life here on this earth one day longer when God says it is time for us to leave… Ecclesiastes 3:11 –He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

 The control of time belongs to God, and it is a good thing He has kept control over it, Because man would surely mess it up. That is the way I see it....


Have a great day in the Lord,
Mary Frances King

Memories

Memories are heartbeats, 

Sounding through the years,

Echoes never failing,

Of our smiles and our tears. 

Moments that are captured, 

Sometimes unaware,

 Pictures in our album,

    Or a lock of golden hair.

Images that linger

Deep within our mind,

Bits of verse we cherished,

Once upon a time.

Through the musty hallways,

     Of the days we knew,

Ever comes the vision,

Beautiful and true.

Memories are roses '

Blooming evermore,

Full of fragrant sweetness,

Never known before.

Life must have a reason,

Goals for which to strive,

Memories are lights that burn 

To keep a heart alive...

Grace E. Beasley