Hiya Folks,

Elementary kids crack me up.  Do you remember the original drawing for the phrase, ” Keep on Truckin’,”  with the guy who is leaning way back and still taking a step forward?  Well I saw a second grader walking that way this morning on his way to get a tissue.  I think he was trying to be invisible since he was crossing in front of the teacher during math class.

I had to cover my mouth to stop from snorting with laughter.

Volunteering certainly has its advantages:  staying young being around young people and seeing the world through their eyes, staying alert as you’re testing kids on their letter sounds, and staying appreciated by teachers and students alike as you see their eyes light up when they see you.

Now I can add clearing out the sinuses by snorting with laughter. I tell you, it’s a win-win.

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It’s amazing to me that a single picture can bring up so many memories.  I know, I know,  a  picture is worth a thousand words.  But, to put you back in time to a specific moment that you hadn’t thought of in years?  How wondrous is this brain of ours!!!

See this bottom picture with the fireworks?  This is the picture that re-charged that moment. And the strange part is, the picture is of an area that looks nothing like it did then.

In 1960.

When President Eisenhower came to visit.

 

The picture is taken now of a large intersection in Red Wing, the town where I grew up.  The intersection is large because, well, first of all, it’s Main Street, with all that entails for a small Midwestern town.

When you drive into Red Wing from the north, from the Twin Cities, the highway becomes Main Street, the main drag.  The four lane highway actually gets wider  as it becomes Main Street for the first six blocks or so.  It is so wide that it is much easier to get in your car and drive across than to walk across it.  There is no median, no safe place to wait out halfway across.

By the time you get to the intersection in the picture, Main Street is a little narrower.  But at this intersection, there are not one but two streets that cut across Main Street, with John Rich  Park in the middle of them.   It is a huge area and it’s flat, which is somewhat unusual in Red Wing, sometimes called ” Little Switzerland” for its hills. (not by anybody who ever lived there!)

I am sure, though, that the people in charge  in 1960 thought that this intersection on Main Street, near the Mississippi River, just in front of the Y.M.C.A. would be a great place for Ike to speak.

And, it was.  He stood on a platform on the corner by the Y.  You can see the Y in the picture, it’s that big building on the right.

(The Y was a  considerably smaller building in those days, but it had no less an impact on the youth of the town than it does now. I know this for a fact because my father, born in 1913, spent many happy hours at the Y,  playing sports and escaping his busy house with four sisters and one baby brother. )

The speaking platform was just a few blocks from the new Hiawatha Bridge that the President came to dedicate. It was later named the Eisenhower Bridge in his honor.

And the huge intersection was filled with people who came to hear him speak.  I remember that my dad took me and even lifted me onto his shoulders so I could see better. In the high school band on the corner opposite the Y, to the left in  the picture, my brother and sister  proudly played  “Hail to the Chief.”  I think my mom was selling the commemorative Red Wing Pottery ashtray for Eastern Star.

(I have one of these, thanks to my sister. Thanks, Judy!)

I had just turned 8 and was in 4th grade and I remember exactly where we were standing in the crowd.  If the President had pointed at a 45 degree angle with his right arm, he would have pointed right at us.

And I felt he was going to, of course.  In my eight year old mind, I waited for him to say, in the middle of his speech, ” And is there anyone here who has the same birthday as I do? ”

Because, of course, I did.

And I would wave at him and shout, “I do, Mr. President.  I do!!”  And we would share a smile and a nod.

Ahhh. It’s been a great visit to my eight year old self and to the simple times I remember. Maybe I’ll look through some photo albums tonight.  Here are some pics of his visit and the RWP ashtray.  Oh, yes, and Mamie received a set of RWPottery dishes, too.  🙂

Love,

Janet