"Memories"

Memories

It has taken me a long time to make up my mind, to write about my "Home Town", as requested.

I moved from Fenton, when I was about 18 years of age. I am nearly seventy four years old, so you see, many years have passed by. Street names and people are vague, however, I will endeavor to share my memories, as I remember them.

I was born, March 1910, on the Tom Hadley Farm - he was better known as Uncle Tom. It was a large dairy farm. Many years later, he sold it to Dan Jaynis. I understand, it was sold again, and the New Fenton High School, has been erected there..

My parents were Lyle and Lavina Lince Parker. I had one sister, Ercelle Parker. She was nine years older than me. She resented the idea of having a "Kid Sister". I was always in her way.

Having no one to play with, I must of been mischievious, according to the stories,told to me, by my elders. The windmill, had a great attraction to me even though I was less than two years old. I would climb nearly to the top on three different occasions, and three times, my father climbed up and brought me down. The last time, I received the spanking that I should have had the first time. He was so afraid I would get caught in the blades. My next adventure was to toddle down the road and set down to play in the sand. A farmer and his team of horses came along. The horses stopped and refused to go on, so he got off his wagon and walked to the front. There I was, having a good time playing in the sand. He picked me up and returned me home and to another spanking, of course. I marvel at those horses, they didn't want to walk on me. My other escapades are too numerous to mention. My father was happy to move to town with me when the farm was sold.

A home was bought at 503 Main Street, where I grew up and attended the local schools. How well I remember the house. There were two ladies, Lottie Arnold and her sister, Elizabeth, lived in the front two rooms, and in the basement apartment, an Indian family lived. Finally they all moved out and we had the whole house to ourselves. Then my Dad began to remodel. He removed the barn type windows and put in dormers upstairs in my sister's room and one in mine, then redecorated. Ercelle's room was done in blue and mine in pink. My father bought 2 good sized pink rugs from the Olson Rug Company for my room.

When I was playing in the garden area, I found Indian knives and Indian arrow heads, and other artifacts. Perhaps the family living there must have left them, although I was told several Indian families had lived in the area at one time.

Our heating system comprised of a hard coal burner in the living-room. It was round and had ising glass windows and decorated with nickel trim, which my mother kept polished up everyday. The hard coal made a bluish-red fire, it was so pretty shining through the windows. In the kitchen was a wood-coal range. It had a grate in it running to the hotwater heater, but soon, this was replaced by a Holland Furnace in the basement. The electric lights were next. They were nice, but I missed the pretty mantel lamps with their bubbly glass shades. The large back porch was divided in two and a complete bathroom was installed, I'll have you know that was the end of the outdoor privy. I can remember two wall telephones in our diningroom. There were two phone companies. I'm not sure, but it seemed one was a Union Telephone and also the Bell System.

Next door to us was a vacant lot with a barn on it. The owner, "Ted Delehanty" used it for a large garden. Mr. Delehanty and his family had a good sized home next door to Clifford Phillips on Main Street. He used to talk to me while working in his garden, and explained to me why the lower end of both of our gardens was always damp. It was due to a creek running underground. Both of our gardens were really great, along with our black walnut trees and asparagus. Dad always called it grass, but I loved it and still do. In the front of the lot was a spearmint bed, between the sidewalk and road. All of the neighborhood children loved to play there and nibble on it - much to the dismay of my mother. The children then were Judson Philips, Helen Lusk, Loa Sparks, Florence Yerdon and her sister Jeanette; Violet Goodfellow moved into the banker home across the street.

The Fenton Normal School and College was on the corner, in back of our home. It sat on a beautiful lot of shade trees. The building was three stories high. Young ladies and gentlemen attended the school to study for their teachers diploma. Much later the school moved to Flint, and the building was rented out to families except the third floor. It was closed off. I've often wondered what became of the bell. Other families, living on that street, were the Carmers, Harold and Russel Haddon and parents, Mrs. Appel and son, the Duns, Harringtons, Armstrongs and Beebes.

Joseph Mount, lived on our street, he had a statue in front of his house of a horse jockey. What a colorful little fellow he was, with a whip in one hand and a ring in the other that was used to tie up the visitor's horse. It was loved by all the children, and received many a generous pat and hug.

Floyd Chapin, I believe he was a former postmaster, and the Pattersons and Grandpa Newman (that's what the kids called him) lived across from Mr. Mount.

For awhile, the neighborhood had a potluck-get-together for those living on our street, but eventually it faded out. A home coming was held. The residents took in many who had come long distances to attend. Their homes were opened to the visitors. What a difference then, to what it is nowadays. We had a lovely elderly gentleman at our home. His name, I do not recall.

At the beginning of World War I, I remember army trucks stopping across the street, with many of the Fenton boys. They were allowed to say goodbye to their families and friends. It was a sorrowful time with much crying. Some of my cousins were with the group. "The Parker boys" Ervin, George and Lydie, they all came back safely, but Jerry Appel was gassed and shell shocked.

He came back, but wanted to be left alone. My Father and I, on one cf our Sunday walks would often find him at Highbanks, in the woods at the river, beyond the railroad tracks.

My school days started at the North Ward School. My teachers were Gladys Brooks, Rose Major, Mabel Pamfret and Bessie Cramer. The writing teacher, I do not recall her name, but she was very strict and walked up and down the aisles with a ruler, which she used frequently on our knuckles, if she caught us using our fingers. She taught us the Palmer Method of writing.

In reading class one day, a story of Lazy Irene was read. That was my middle name, but that name was used to please my mother's people, while my father's people wanted it Ruth. After unmerciful teasing by the students, I did find my birth certificate and it was Ruth Irene. When I passed into the fifth grade at the other school, the new teacher Catherine Carmody, asked me my name, and I told her Ruth. How I glared at the kids, they better not tell her different, and bless their hearts, they didn't.

The following grades, several of the teachers, were Edith Hadley, Helen Gould, Mabel Pamfret and T.R. Nunn. That is just a few of them. The principal was Mr. Dalrymple and the superintendent was Mr. Shattuck.

My father worked for the Aetna Cement Plant and my uncle Elijah worked for the Egypt Plant, both on Linden Rd. across from Silver Lake. The companies finally provided an open truck for the men for transportation to and from work. Before that you either walked or rode a bicycle, such as my dad had. It had a carbide light on it, and he carried a square tin lunch pail with a container for his tea, and used as a cover for the pail. I can still hear my dad say he wanted his tea, "Red as a fox's tail." Clifford Phillips was the bookkeeper there. One day one of the pits filled up, and Mr. Comstock and my dad volunteered to go down and clean it out. The pit caved in on them. The men were rescued, but my father's lungs filled up and his heart failed. Mr. Comstock survived, thank goodness. Dr. Wright and Miss Brown gave excellent care to dad, but he expired within a week. He had worked at the plant for seventeen years. I thought my world had ended, for Daddy and I were very close. When I returned to school, with a note from my mother, I was met by the principal, lashing out at me with anger and ordered me to the study hall. I was in shock and crying. One of the teachers went to his office and made him read my mother's note. He came and apologized to me, but by then I was thoroughly angry and wouldn't talk to him. I had watched him before with another girl whose father had committed suicide, I will not mention the name.

The rest of my classes and teachers were nice. Of course, like many, I had my favorite teachers. They were Edith Hadley, Helen Gould and Bessie Cramer. Mrs. Gould was the grandaughter of our Doctor Gould. He had taken care of me from the day I was born. During the war we had an influenza outbreak along with diptheria, and of all things, the itch. They called it Seven Year Itch. I got them all, and was in bed for weeks. Our doctor told my teacher not to let me play on the regular teams in gym class. I could be there as a substitute, what a boring life. Even my precious roller skates were taken from me. I would rather skate than eat.

After my father's death, mother decided I should quit school and go to work. Those days widows had no income like they do now days. She needed me to help keep up the home. My father wanted me to graduate, but what could I do, mother needed help. I went to work at Michigan Bell. My sister had worked there before transferring to Durand. I liked the work and soon learned most everyone's number. I used to tease my Aunt Jane. I knew every morning she called Osmun's Store at a set time with her grocery order. When her phone jack buzzed, I never did ask her, "Number Please" but just connected her to the store. It took her quite some time before she realized it was me teasing her.

The chief operator put us on rotation, so soon it came my time to work nights. That was an interesting experience, especially one night a call came from Beck's Tea Room, and a voice said, "My God Ruth, call the Fire Department, Tony's Store is going to blow up". That was the fruit store across from the telephone office. I had visions of all of us blowing up with it. I was petrified and for a second I wanted to run and get out of there, but common sense told me to get on the ball, so I called the Water Department, then the Fire Chief (Mr. Woodworth, I think). Then I ran to the opposite wall and started to push buttons up and down for the whistle. I also switched on the red light stationed on top of the City Hall for night watch Kellogg. It seemed everyone in town called to find out where the fire was, which we were not supposed to give out information. I finally went to the window to peek out for I had heard the fire truck arrive. They broke the glass in the door and the flames sprang up. "Yes" it was arson. The floors and walls were sprayed with a flameable solution and a large hay rope was soaked in oil and laid on the floor. When the parties who did it ran out closing the door, the air was shut off. For a second, I watched the flames, then I called Mr. Granger who owned the hardware. He came right down and with help he removed all of the shot gun shells and powder that was against the wall next to the fire. I also called the McClouds, who owned the paint and wallpaper store on the other side. They too removed their wares to the other side of the store. There was a lot of smoke damage, but no explosion. I felt sorry for the owner. He was in Lansing with his wife, who was hospitalized there. Their apartment over the store, was badly damaged. The Fire Marshall asked me who had called in the alarm. I told him what I knew. That night before going to work I went into the store to buy a snack. I heard the clerk lock the door when I left. He and the shoe repairman were the only ones in the store at that time. It seemed that night was bewitched, for following the fire, the Flint Police called to warn me of a jail break, and they were headed for Fenton. I called for help, and they were caught on the edge of town. A couple of other incidents happened, but not serious.

Stores

The stores in Fenton were my ideal. Especially Rollands Department Store.

This store had a trolley that was used by the clerks to send the money to the cashier's cage. It was manned by Lottie Arnold, the lady who had lived in our home. It was an interesting store, with nearly everything you needed, and yet had two floors. On the main

floor there was a wide opening into Becker's Shoe Store. From there another door let you in to the Osmun Grocery Store. It was really nice, no need to go outside in the bad weather.

Of course there were other stores like these, hardware stores, Grangers, McGuires and Harrels. The grocery stores were Grant Whitman, Harry Lemen, Judevines and Osmuns. The meat markets were separate. One or two for the North side and Grahams for the South.

The Damon Building was on the main corner of LeRoy and Caroline St. with its many apartments and Ray Parker's Shoe Store. George Pellets had a nice clothing store.The Opera House was in the same block and I spent many happy hours there after work doing my favorite thing "Roller Skatinq." The Post Office was in that block, next to the furniture store. The furniture store burnt one night and set fire to the Methodist Church. The Printing Office was there and run by Mr. Beach and son Bob, then Mickey McBroom's Dairy.

The other side of the street was a small ladies hat shop, run by a Mrs. Faulkener, then Tinker's Law Office, and Harry Lemen's Store. He always gave me a sack of candy, when my dad and I went in there on Saturday nights. I do not recall the other stores, though it seems to me there was a bank on the corner. Carl Osman had an electrical shop and the telephone office was upstairs. Next to that was Bob Goodfellows Men's Clothing Store. There was English's Ice Cream and Candy Store. They were generous to the telephone operators. We each received boxes of candy at Christmas time.

After the war was over, I remember several army trucks with tanks and arsenal, and a Big Bertha Gun came Lolling into town and demonstrated how they worked. They were in the area when the Round Brick Water Department was by the Shiawassee River. The tanks knocked the trees over so quickly.

I do not recall any carnivals, but a Chautauqua came to town. They asked me to be a Dutch Dancing Girl wearing those wooden clogs. How stupid I felt and more so when I reached home to my mother's ire. I had disgraced the family, so she said.

I was wondering if the large rock is still at the old Fenton school. It seemed like everyone headed for it, to see who could get on it first. My sister made it one day, but was crowded off hurting her side. Our Doctor Gould was called and he took her to the Wheelock Hospital in Goodrich for a removal of an abscess. Those days people in Fenton went to the Goodrich Hospital, instead of Flint. I don't know why.

Back to school and Freshman Days. We went out to Ray Hunts parent's farm to a spot between two knolls. It seemed like such a safe place, or so we thought. Before we could eat, a war whoop sounded and people rushed in from all directions. Some of us were grabbed and shoved into cars, so fast it was impossible to see what happened to the rest. Eula Carpenter was one of us and I can still hear her telling the driver of the car, he better not hurt us, or she would tell her mother. It turned out to be her brother. We were taken to Holly and treated to an ice cream cone. The flavor was sand, and it tasted yucky. We were then delivered to home safely. Next day we learned that the rest of the girls were taken to town and set on top of the corner water fountains. As for the boys, well they walked to town slightly stripped.

My First Car

Mother and I were walking up town one sunny afternoon. We were down between the depot and creamery when all of a sudden, this horrible sound came around the curve. It was my first view of an automobile. I tried to run, but my mother grabbed me by the neck of my dress, and there I stood shaking and scared to death.

One evening at dusk, a tornado hit Long Lake. The Bankers and Mr. Becker came and took us to see the damage. It was terrible. One house was squashed together like an accordian. Their piano was flat like a pancake. At another house the grandfather stopped to blowout the lamp. The wind sucked him out of the house and tossed him across the power line, killing him. His grandchildren were pupils in our school. This tornado had a long lasting effect and horror on all of us, every time the wind blew.

The Hotel Fenton, with its sign of "Fresh Frog Legs - Served today", never changed. They had a big business.

The Huffman Grain Mill burnt down taking the trestle with it, over the dam. The windows in the Phillips Library was cracked from the intense heat. I never could understand why the structure of Bumps Bicycle Shop remained untouched. It was so close to the fire and looked like tar paper. That end of town had two disasterous fires, the other was the Phillips Door & Sash Factory. I was almost five years old then when that happened.

We had several train accidents at the LeRoy Street Crossing, killing all people in the cars. One accident I remember seeing men picking up members of the bodies and putting them in sacks. I do not recall when the crossing gates and the little house on Stilts were removed, but it shouldn't have been. The Grand Trunk had a midnight flyer and a fast afternoon train that zipped through our town, like we didn't exist.

I can remember when the Flint Fenton Road was paved, also Main Street passing our home to Holly and eventually connected to the Dixie Highway. My parents rented a couple rooms to drivers hauling gravel for the construction. One of them was killed at a train crossing at Rose Center.

There used to be bands of Gypsies pass by with their wares gangling on the sides of the wagon. 'I'he word spread fast and the mothers lushed their children into their homes, and fear put in our minds of being kidnapped and never see home again. The merchants uptown were wary of them for they were light fingered. A sigh of relief when they moved on out of town. No one knew where they came from, or where they went to.

A few times cattle were driven down the street and put in the stock yards at the railroad tracks. The poor cows were so frightened they bawled every step of the way. There was not so much of this after the pavement was put in, or, at least, I don't remember it.

Mrs. Lawson Becker lived on the opposite corner, across from the funeral home. J. Lee Voorhees was the funeral director. Mrs. Becker's son from Detroit, brought her a new car every year, and exchanged it for the car she had. She had a lovely home, with spacious lawn.

The Willis Becker Family lived on the opposite side of the funeral home. He was injured while working at the gravel pit by the cemetery.

Our next door neiqhbor was the John Herberts. They had two married daughters, Mable Thorpe, who lived in the country with her husband, and a Mrs. Warren of Chicago. She came every year to visit her parents. She drove a car, and she did not drive it too well.

There is more I could write about, but I'm sure everyone is bored. There is one thing that you people have that I miss so very much here, and that is the "Church Bells," that glorious call to worship. We don't have that here in the military town.

May God Bless each and everyone of you.

My Memories Continued

I was surprised to be asked to write more of my memories, so I'll try. I don't promise it to be very exciting.

At school we had a teacher, Mabel Pomfret, who always seemed to come up with her favorite quotation. If we complained of the world, she would always say "It's not the world, it's just the people in it," and the weather would set her off. The globe according to her was slowly turning on its axis, and that the weather would change from warm to cold. Florida would be cold and Michigan hot. I think the whole class laughed at her. Last year, I thought of her, for I was told about the mild weather in Michigan. I don't know about Florida, except for a large amount of rain.

Out here in SE Arizona we had cold weather with snow. I have pictures of my grandaughter and her husband, building snowmen in my front yard, and that's unusual. My flowers, shrubs and palm tree were really a mess. So maybe Miss Pomfret meant Arizona instead of Florida in her prediction.

I forgot to mention, Mildred Hodges. She was a very likeable teacher of our sixth grade. She lived with her parents and sister, close to John and Elisabeth Jennings.

Whenever I think of Thomas R. Nunn , I always get amused. He was " new teacher fresh out of school. The fourth grade at North Ward was large and I'm afraid unruly , He would get so frustrated. One day he told us to sign our papers with our initials and our row number. That was just fine, except in row one, there were three R.P.'S, but we did as he asked. The three of us were Ralph Petts, Ralph Pillen, and myself, Ruth Parker; oh was he ever irritated with us, so the three of us had to write our full name and row number. Of course, that wasn't fair, ha ha. I understand he was happy when the school year was over, and so were we. I don't know where he went from Fenton, poor guy, but wherever, it surely had to be a happier experience than our fourth grade. It's a wonder that he passed any of us.

We had a book store, stationery I think they called it, run by the Webber Family. It was on LeRoy, close to Harry Lemens store. They were the nicest people, so patient with the crowd of students buying school supplies and books, for they handled used books from older students. On one side of the store they had painted dishes. They were so pretty, I bought a couple for my mother. The three books I bought used to belong to Violet Goodfellow, one about a whale, another The Lady of the Lake and the Tale of Two Cities. In our English class we were to learn large portions of each book. It sure hasn't stayed with me, for all I can remember is "All that glitters is not gold, often have you heard that told." I have collected several rocks here in Arizona and everytime I run across a rock that glitters, I think of that verse. It is called fools gold out here.

In the sixth grade (I believe) was a brother and his sister, by the names of Alvin and Fern Thanes. Alvin was such a tease, especially when I was reading outside at recess time. I would get so angry with him, and usually ended up by hitting him, over the head with my book. Several years later I answered a knock at my door in Pontiac. When I opened the door a man's foot came in. It startled me, and I yelled "Get Out" in no uncertain words. He laughed and said Ruth, you haven't changed a bit. You still are a spitfire. I looked at him, and wouldn't you know it, it was that Alvin Thanes. He explained to me that he had stopped in to see a friend by the name of Clifford Bently, another Fenton boy. He told Alvin I lived just a few houses down the street from him. So Alvin carne down to see if I was still a spitfire. He was pretending to be a vacuum cleaner salesperson. It had been years since school days, I hardly recognized him. He only stayed a few minutes, and I never did see him again.

Back to the telephone office, we had all been warned of a man who had kidnapped a little girl in Flint. He was a tall man and wearing a long black overcoat. About midnight the buzzer on our office door began to buzz madly. I knew it wasn't one of the operators, for we had a certain signal. I raised the window carefully and peeked down, and there stood a tall man in a long black overcoat. I rushed over to the switch for the red light on top of the City Hall, for the night watch, but he did not come or call me. The buzzer kept buzzing, plus pounding on the door. I finally called our repairman, his name was Tony Cummings. I told him what was going on, in fact he could hear it over the phone. He came right down, but by that time, the man had left. Tony used his pass key and came upstairs. He hardly had got to the top when the buzzer started again. Tony rode the rail down and flung open the door so quickly that the man fell inside. After much talking and identification, Tony brought him upstairs to use our pay phone, to call a wrecker, his car had broke down. It was bitter cold and his girlfriend was alone in the car. After the phone call, he apologized to me for scaring me to death. He owned a restaurant in Flint. He left and hurried back to his car. That was the first time I ever saw a tall dark skinned Oriental. I advised him to wear somethinq else besides that long black overcoat. Well anyway, Tony went to the City Hall to see where the nightwatch was. He was in a chair beside the stove fast asleep. He said he had lust made his rounds, and being so cold outside, he set down by the stove and fell asleep, that's understandable. Tony got him wide awake when I turned the red light on again. I had received a call that two men were chopping a house down with axes, so they went and put a stop to that noise. They were two brothers and drinking and decided they no longer needed the old house. I don't recall what happened to the brothers, but the house was remodeled, and a family by the name of Parker (no relation) moved in. They had two children by the name of John and Theda. Their father worked with my dad at the cement plant. They were originally from Lake Odessa. The last I heard of them they had moved to a farm out in Denton Hill area.

There were a lot of Parkers in and around Fenton, but very few were related. Noreen and Madeline Parker lived there, but I don't think they were related either.

We had a well liked f:amily by the name of Hill. They moved into the Becker house across from our home. Their children's names were Harold, Uarda, Madeline, Lena, Walter and Mary, but Mary passed away quite young. From the Becker house, they moved on S. LeRoy Street. From there I do not remember.

I loved the way the store owners decorated their windows near Christmas time, especially Coles Variety. They always opened up their upstairs for Christmas shoppers. Their extra clerks were Savella Sparks and Mae Smith. I never was allowed to even window shop. I had to go home directly from school, but one day at Coles Store, a doll was in the window, and I stopped to stare at it. I don't know how long I stood there, for suddenly my father took me by the arm demanding why was I there. I pointed at the doll and said it looked so real, then started to cry. He sent me home a flying. The next day or so at the hardware, Mr. Harrell put a real pretty sled in the window. It was green with flowers painted on it. Again my dad caught me, and again I went home crying. When Christmas morning came, and I went downstairs, there was my doll on that pretty green sled. Oh, I was so happy. That doll wore a six month size clothes, so it was not small. I loved that doll, but my mother gave it away. She said I was too big to have doll.

Savella and Loa Sparks had a brother by the name of Victor, he was the oldest. The other family of Sparks, brothers I believe, worked a farm on N. Main Street. Each family had their own house, Muriel belonged to the other family. On the next lot to them is where McNeils lived with their three children, Mary, Stuart, and John. Their father lit a firecracker on the 4th of July. It exploded and blew part of his chin away. Next door to them lived the Stroms (or was it Strongs) and then the Miners, whose two children were Leo and Margaret. Across the street lived a family, whose name I can't recall. One night a parade of K.K.K. marched by carrying a cross and put it in this family's yard after lighting it. I do not remember anymore of that activity.

Ralph Pillen's father had a horse and snowplow. He kept the city sidewalks plowed out. That was so nice of him. I hope the City paid him for his work. It seems that in the summer time that he worked on the grocery dray. In my mind I can still see it with its covered top and side curtains and shelves where each grocery order was placed, and in the back kerosene cans were filled up and delivered. We had no city gas those days. We also had a milkman. It was either Richards or Richardsons Dairy, out on Flint Rd. He gave me the cutest puppy, black and white terrier. My mother made him take it back. She said it tore up everything. I was heart broken, for I loved that rascal. She gave "Old Shep" away after my father passed away, because it howled every night when it was time for daddy to come home from work. I remember Shep howling late one night. The next day Harry Lusk, a close neighbor, was found dead in his home from a heart attack.

There were several new houses built on our street. One was the Garveys. Their two children were Mafalda and Phillip. What a snob Mafalda turned out to be, because she lived in a new house. I hope her attitude changed, for really she wasn't too bad of a girl.

George Pellett built a nice house on Main Street and Caskys or McCasky built a new home across from Mr. Mount on Main Street.

On the street behind, a new house went up, built by Mr. Wortman for his wife and his sister-in-law, Bessie Cramer. Across from them was the Marc Peck family and the Jamieson's in the pretty yellow house on the corner. MacFaddens also lived on that street, next door to Lynn Welch. The McCurdy's lived across the street. He and Mr. Goodfellow had the mens clothing store together. A family of Brices lived on that block also, but their house was burned. I do not recall if it was torn down or remodeled.