The Best Time in Anderson or In Your Life

[Anne]

When I was in grade school, Franklin, (another township school) we went to Deckers and just had to tell them which school and what grade we were in and they had everything packaged up, books, workbooks, paper, crayons, paint, pencils and pens. There was always a very long line.

When we got to 7th grade we bought our books at the high school. My husband thinks all or most of his books were rented all through school but he went to city schools.

I don't remember the x-ray for your feet at Sears but Hoyt Wright had one. My sister and I would sneak over and play with it when our mother was buying her shoes. One of the few times we were out of her sight when we were little.

Anyone remember the chest x-ray truck that would come and park down by the old courthouse and you could go get a chest x-ray for TB without a doctor's order?

[Ma and Pa]

Those old X-ray machines in shoe stores supposedly disappeared because they leaked radiation, or some such urban legend. Personally, I think it was because mean girls sneaked away from their mothers and abused the devices, and were a nuisance to busy store employees!   

[me]

I would say the devices being abused and a nuisance to the shoe salesmen is probably the most likely reason.....

[Mr442]

Couldn't tell you about those un-licensed x-ray machines, we got our shoes from Mason Shoes, a mail order outfit.  Dad was a "salesman" for them, just like anyone else could be, but he thought it was special.

I remember Sears having the large candy and nut counter.  I believe it was at the bottom of the steps in the lower level.

If you went over to the Automotive section in a separate building, you could drool over the cool motorcycles.  Italian built, with Allstate on them.  All of small displacement.  Those fueled many a dream of us Bronson wanna-be's.

I think the last time I was in the downtown Sears was 1979.

[Ghost of Jaco]

....I also used to love to run the old xerox machines....the smell of warm paper and carbon..... ......

Wow, Henry, I thought I was the only one who liked that smell. Maybe that explains a lot about you 'n' me, lol!

[Ma and Pa]

442: I caught that motorcycle jones from one of those "Allstate" Vespas back in 1963. First time on two wheels and an engine. My buddy Phil Alexander had one; we were all over Madison Co. with it that summer. We thought we were some real bad dudes. Didn't even have learners' permits. We could go all day on 50 cents worth of gas!

[Henry Hawk]

....I also used to love to run the old xerox machines....the smell of warm paper and carbon..... ......

Wow, Henry, I thought I was the only one who liked that smell. Maybe that explains a lot about you 'n' me, lol!

Kind of scarey, huh?..

[Gardengirl]

Pa,

What you wrote about the crayons reminds me of the author Jean Shepherd, who wrote A Christmas Story. I think someone could put into words what it was like growing up in Anderson after WWII into the 1970s when GM starting going down. I think you could do it.

[Ma and Pa]

GG: "A Christmas Story" is one of our family's favorites! Can't even guess how many times I've seen it, but it seems like every time, I spot some little detail I've never caught before. Jean Shepherd was an absolute master at telling stories which strum a chord within the reader. If you want to read the book the "Ralphie" stories came from, look around for a copy of "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash". My introduction to these great narratives came in the 60's, when some of them were offerred up in "Playboy". Ah, boobs and Ralphie; two of my favorite things.

[Anne]

Those old X-ray machines in shoe stores supposedly disappeared because they leaked radiation, or some such urban legend. Personally, I think it was because mean girls sneaked away from their mothers and abused the devices, and were a nuisance to busy store employees!   

You are probably right , even though we were never banned from the store! I thought they were banned because of the radiation. I told my daughter who is/was an x-ray tech (they hate being called that) about those machines and the chest x-ray truck and she was absolutely appalled! All that unmonitored radiation!

[Anne]

I don't want to offend anyone, but does anyone who went to school in the 50's or early 60's remember any classmates who were Asian? I never had any classmates who were anything other than white except in high school there were sisters whose parents were from India. My husband, who attended city schools had many black classmates but cannot remember any Asian classmates. I am pretty sure there were people from China and Japan in Anderson at the time, where did their children go to school?

[Ma and Pa]

Good question, Anne. Other than some Europeans who emigrated after the war, (some fleeing Communist takeovers), I don't remember any minorities other than Blacks (back when they were Negroes). Any other races I ever encountered in the Anderson School System were foreign exchange students. How provincial we were! Exterminator would say inbred.   

[me]

Hum, Muncie was the same so ya'll weren't unusual.  I hadn't even thought about it.

[Anne]

I had forgotten about exchange students. The only one I remember was Marium from Brazil when we were seniors. Maybe that was the first year of the program?

I also don't remember religion being an issue when I was in school. We were a go to church family, so maybe it was just us. I had friends that were Catholic, Baptist, Church of God, Church of the Brethern and Jewish.

[Mr442]

We had a family of Philipine origin at PHHS.  The daughter was a hottie , and as I remember, their dad was a doctor at the reformatory. 

I also remeber in the early days of school, the Catholic kids got to eat fish on Friday's, while the rest of us were stuck with something inedible, like baked chicken.  Should of told them I was Catholic.