Saturday, June 19, 2004
CLOSING OUT 1964....
School started with a bang. George’s school supply expenses were going up with every grade. It was always a chore getting everyone outfitted with clothes and the things required for all the classes. There were trips to the dentist and to the doctor for shots….and always the visit to the doctor for John’s next pair of corrective shoes. During this preparation time Rosalie commented at one of our coffee times together that our neighbor, Jerry Chapin had asked her to transport kids to the Kansas Med. Center Re-Hab Unit. He was working at the Unit and they needed someone with a station wagon to bring in about 13-kids for therapy and classes.
Rosalie wasn’t interested as she had two young children at home and no station wagon. I was immediately interested. I didn’t want to go back to the school cafeteria and we did have a station wagon. Rosalie volunteered to see if Jerry had hired anyone yet and if not…….tell him I was available. Jerry came to see me as soon as Rosalie talked with him and hired me.
It was worked out ahead of time where the children were and how to pick them up…what time and all the details. The children were strung out all over the area between where we lived and where the KU Med. Cntr. was. Jerry went with me on the first run and introduced me to the parents as well as showing me how to get to the best pick-up spot. Sometimes it would be down an alley in the part of town you wouldn’t want to be in after dark……these were all poor kids whose parents had been poverty stricken for generations. Some of the parents were concerned and wanted their children to have every opportunity possible….others could care less.
The children were grade school age and had every kind of handicap you could imagine. Some were in wheel chairs with leg braces and had to be lifted into the wagon, others wore football helmets to prevent injury when falling, some had attached bags to their abdomens and a couple of them had serious mental problems. Driving with 13-children in a family station wagon with the problems they had called for creative driving and thinking. I can still recall over half of them and the heartache they were born into.
Little Vickie Havens really got to me the worst. I would pull up to her house and she would be sitting in her wheel chair at the curb. I was not supposed to lift any of the children but that was not my problem. The problem was trying to understand why anyone would put this little girl at the curb in winter weather until ice would freeze on her wheel chair and braces. She would not have her hair combed or her bags emptied. She had a terrible odor because of the bags being too full and running over on her clothing…….in spite of all this she was a little ray of sunshine. She never created a problem during the ride and never once complained about anything. Thankfully while she was at KU someone evidently took pity on her because when I picked the children up after school she was always combed, clean and fed. I don’t know where Vickie is today but wherever it is I pray her life got better.
You may wonder how 13-children could be packed into a station wagon but it wasn’t that bad. The smaller children rode in the back in a little cluster and the larger kids with their braces etc; rode in the seats. We were three in the front seat, four in the middle seat and the rest in the back. There were seldom any problems.
October came and we decided to have a Halloween Party. I had fixed the garage up for the Campfire girls anyway so decorations were already in place. I put the jack-o-lanterns on a table for the centerpiece and fixed some finger foods. The Fowler’s from across the street and the Cannon’s from next door were invited and we had a great evening after the kids had all been out in their costumes and were settled. It was fun to see how our friends came dressed. Jim Cannon had a flat Gaucho hat on and sported a thin mustache with a cowboy shirt, Dee came as a lady ready for bed wearing a night gown, hair in rollers and cleansing cream on her face, Gene came as a bum complete with a dirty face and Rosalie was a witch with her hair frizzed out and greenish make-up. George and I dressed as a clown couple with painted faces and goofy hats…I sported a big bow at the neck. It took days to wear off the red makeup used on our faces……..
Those good times we had on 65th Street still bring a smile when I think of them or look at the photo album. The country might have been going through one crisis after the other but not a lot touched our little corner of the world at that time. Rosalie and I would get together almost every morning for a coffee break and once in a while the other gals would join us who lived nearby. We talked of our children, our husbands and our on-going projects. In those days most all of us had hobbies to pick up when the children were in school or had gone to bed in the evening. Life was uncluttered and pleasant for the most part and pretty much under control. The years when the children are young and you are everything to them are the best.
The KSSB teacher approached me about John this fall and suggested we agree to let him begin learning Braille. She explained it takes two years to learn the “touch” for Braille and he should start right away. I personally felt since he was a “sighted child” it wouldn’t be necessary and felt he should be encouraged to use the sight he had. However, I told her I would discuss it with my husband and get back to her. George Sr. and I talked it over and both felt it was unnecessary in his case. The teacher thought if he should lose his sight at a later time it would put him back too much to learn Braille then.
I’m not belittling her concern. I’m sure she was correct in pointing out that many children do in fact lose much of their sight when they have John’s condition. I just couldn’t shake the gut feeling that our decision was the right thing to do in John’s case. He didn’t figure in the statistical outlook with us….this was a personal situation and we were stepping in with the call. Thankfully time bore out that it was a good one……….
Thanksgiving, George Jr.’s birthday and Christmas were enjoyed in our traditional way with just our own family of five. Relatives were all engaged in events that prevented them from coming and so 1964 came to a quiet close………..
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
Rosalie wasn’t interested as she had two young children at home and no station wagon. I was immediately interested. I didn’t want to go back to the school cafeteria and we did have a station wagon. Rosalie volunteered to see if Jerry had hired anyone yet and if not…….tell him I was available. Jerry came to see me as soon as Rosalie talked with him and hired me.
It was worked out ahead of time where the children were and how to pick them up…what time and all the details. The children were strung out all over the area between where we lived and where the KU Med. Cntr. was. Jerry went with me on the first run and introduced me to the parents as well as showing me how to get to the best pick-up spot. Sometimes it would be down an alley in the part of town you wouldn’t want to be in after dark……these were all poor kids whose parents had been poverty stricken for generations. Some of the parents were concerned and wanted their children to have every opportunity possible….others could care less.
The children were grade school age and had every kind of handicap you could imagine. Some were in wheel chairs with leg braces and had to be lifted into the wagon, others wore football helmets to prevent injury when falling, some had attached bags to their abdomens and a couple of them had serious mental problems. Driving with 13-children in a family station wagon with the problems they had called for creative driving and thinking. I can still recall over half of them and the heartache they were born into.
Little Vickie Havens really got to me the worst. I would pull up to her house and she would be sitting in her wheel chair at the curb. I was not supposed to lift any of the children but that was not my problem. The problem was trying to understand why anyone would put this little girl at the curb in winter weather until ice would freeze on her wheel chair and braces. She would not have her hair combed or her bags emptied. She had a terrible odor because of the bags being too full and running over on her clothing…….in spite of all this she was a little ray of sunshine. She never created a problem during the ride and never once complained about anything. Thankfully while she was at KU someone evidently took pity on her because when I picked the children up after school she was always combed, clean and fed. I don’t know where Vickie is today but wherever it is I pray her life got better.
You may wonder how 13-children could be packed into a station wagon but it wasn’t that bad. The smaller children rode in the back in a little cluster and the larger kids with their braces etc; rode in the seats. We were three in the front seat, four in the middle seat and the rest in the back. There were seldom any problems.
October came and we decided to have a Halloween Party. I had fixed the garage up for the Campfire girls anyway so decorations were already in place. I put the jack-o-lanterns on a table for the centerpiece and fixed some finger foods. The Fowler’s from across the street and the Cannon’s from next door were invited and we had a great evening after the kids had all been out in their costumes and were settled. It was fun to see how our friends came dressed. Jim Cannon had a flat Gaucho hat on and sported a thin mustache with a cowboy shirt, Dee came as a lady ready for bed wearing a night gown, hair in rollers and cleansing cream on her face, Gene came as a bum complete with a dirty face and Rosalie was a witch with her hair frizzed out and greenish make-up. George and I dressed as a clown couple with painted faces and goofy hats…I sported a big bow at the neck. It took days to wear off the red makeup used on our faces……..
Those good times we had on 65th Street still bring a smile when I think of them or look at the photo album. The country might have been going through one crisis after the other but not a lot touched our little corner of the world at that time. Rosalie and I would get together almost every morning for a coffee break and once in a while the other gals would join us who lived nearby. We talked of our children, our husbands and our on-going projects. In those days most all of us had hobbies to pick up when the children were in school or had gone to bed in the evening. Life was uncluttered and pleasant for the most part and pretty much under control. The years when the children are young and you are everything to them are the best.
The KSSB teacher approached me about John this fall and suggested we agree to let him begin learning Braille. She explained it takes two years to learn the “touch” for Braille and he should start right away. I personally felt since he was a “sighted child” it wouldn’t be necessary and felt he should be encouraged to use the sight he had. However, I told her I would discuss it with my husband and get back to her. George Sr. and I talked it over and both felt it was unnecessary in his case. The teacher thought if he should lose his sight at a later time it would put him back too much to learn Braille then.
I’m not belittling her concern. I’m sure she was correct in pointing out that many children do in fact lose much of their sight when they have John’s condition. I just couldn’t shake the gut feeling that our decision was the right thing to do in John’s case. He didn’t figure in the statistical outlook with us….this was a personal situation and we were stepping in with the call. Thankfully time bore out that it was a good one……….
Thanksgiving, George Jr.’s birthday and Christmas were enjoyed in our traditional way with just our own family of five. Relatives were all engaged in events that prevented them from coming and so 1964 came to a quiet close………..
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
