When we lived on the farm in that Great Stone House, I went to school in Womelsdorf. This was in 1955 to 1957 for first and second grades. One day, and I’m not sure exactly when, or even in which grade it occurred, a new kid showed up for class. But unlike the rest of … Continue reading A Stranger in Our Classroom
Autobiography
A Cat’s Eyeball
While we were still seeing the dentist Dr. Ginopolis, and this must have been when I still had baby teeth, so I’m guessing I was about seven, so we would still have been living on the farm in the Great Stone House, I must have had some problem with a molar or two, such that … Continue reading A Cat’s Eyeball
Children Will Listen
Children may not obeyBut children will listenChildren will look to youFor which way to turnTo learn what to beCareful before you say"Listen to me”Children will listen —“Children Will Listen” by Stephen Sondheim The first dentist I remember was, I believe, Dr. Noll, whose office was across the street from Kruger’s grocery store in Richland. All … Continue reading Children Will Listen
A Night Out
It must have been back in the late 90s, probably 1998, I’d guess. A group of us from work were dining out. It was Christine, Simone, Don, and me, plus we were joined by Simone’s friend Angel. Simone had picked the restaurant, a Chinese eatery called Mustard Greens in Queen Village just below South Street. … Continue reading A Night Out
How to Access Census Records Plus Another Surprise
I had been taking the long way around to get to the census records by going through the family search site. But there’s an easier way: go directly to the census site itself at https://www.archives.gov/research/census From there you can access gobs of information or go directly to particular census records such as the 1950 census. … Continue reading How to Access Census Records Plus Another Surprise
Surprises from the 1950 Census
Delving into some more records from the 1950 census, I began to explore Richland. The first surprise was the total population: 514 That couldn’t be right. That would mean that Richland more than doubled in population size between 1950 and 1960. My guess is that this is due to people not being at home when … Continue reading Surprises from the 1950 Census
The 1950 Census
Census records are only released to the public after 72 years, which means that the 1950 records were made available earlier this year. Now that the family search site has had some time to scan them and digitize them and convert the handwritten census takers’ scrawls into computerese, I stared looking for them. And I … Continue reading The 1950 Census
The Second College Bowl
A couple years ago I wrote about the College Bowl that Elco put on during my junior year and my humiliating performance in it. As it happens, I didn’t learn my lesson, and during my senior year, I once again participated in that year’s College Bowl. I guess Elco had decided to make it an annual … Continue reading The Second College Bowl
Jennifer Kenny
After some further searching, I discovered in the newspaper archives that Sally Price and Jennifer Kenny were often involved in Library Club activities, so it seemed that Jennifer Kenny must be the name of the third girl that I wasn’t certain of in my previous post. But I couldn’t find her in the yearbook, or … Continue reading Jennifer Kenny
Sally Price
While looking through my 8th grade yearbook for something else, I came across this photo of the Library Club, and I found it contradicts my memories in numerous ways. First of all, I’m not in it. OK, so maybe I was out sick the day the photo was taken, because I know that I was in Library … Continue reading Sally Price