Du Quoin, Illinois is home for me and my family now.
I've lived here since 1978.
I was drawn initially to Du Quoin because a Doctor and his Nurse-wife needed a Chief Pilot for their helicopter Charter Service.
The town reminded me a lot of the atmosphere we grew up in.
Hard to beat.
In 1986 I found myself out of work, drawing unemployment.
The honcho at the unemployment office was a fellow Viet Nam Veteran, and we became friends. He called one day.......
"Ready to do some grunt work?"
"Sure, what ya got?"
"Some outfit putting on the Street Machine Nationals at the Fairgrounds needs a local guy to be a go-fer."
"I'm your guy!"
I worked as Chief Cook and Bottle washer for "The Promotions Company" for 6 days......laborer, parts fetcher.....driver.
The money helped keep the wolves at bay.
When I asked where they were from, they answered, "Indianapolis."
"Oh? My home town!"
When they found I had attended Center Grove High School, they got "Wow!" looks on their faces!
That was the first time I had an indication how "upscale" the old neighborhood had become.
They laughed and were surprised when I told them about Mrs. Hawkins' 4th grade classroom:
It was on the Southwest end of the grade school, and had the pig farm right out the window. Those of us paying attention got a sex education class from the pigs!
(Most of us feigned disinterest!)
Those of you still living there have watched as the school and surrounding area evolved.
But you can imagine the shock coming home now, expecting to see Mark McCarty's farm on Smith Valley Rd!
I know, "You can never go home."
But I get melancholy when I see what they have done to the intersection of Morgantown and Smith Valley Roads, where I used to work at Bill Doty's old Standard Station!
I wish I had taken more pictures back then!
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I got LOST the last time I was near Bargersville! I was driving from Nashville, missed my turn off near Trafalgar, and somehow ended up near Kinder and then at Bluff Creek Church! Don't ask how I did that because I don't know. And that was just for openers!
Did you know there is a reindeer farm near Bargersville? I didn't even know there was a road where I was driving ( I know that doesn't make sense, but well, you know what I mean)
It took me 3 hours to complete a 45-min trip. So many huge houses!! What do those people DO anyway? They must be doctors and lawyers and such. They surely aren’t teachers!
And the name Duke Construction is everywhere. Turns out he is the grown-up grandson (or maybe great grandson) of my bus driver and neighbor!
It’s just too sad.
Just one extra note for Greybeard: I know the pig farm wasn't a good deal for your 4th grade class, but I would have traded places in a heartbeat to get out of Miss. Tearman’s class. What a mean old witch she was. :::shudder::::
After having Mrs. Calvert, Miss. Clore and Miss McKinzie, I thought I’d been left at the Orphanage for the Hopelessly Bad Kids instead of the 4th grade!
My parents always sided with the teacher, no matter what, no questions asked. I could talk to the hand but they knew the teacher was right (I tried to tell Daddy that I thought Miss Tearman was one of those Communists! Where was Joe McCarthy when ya really needed him?)
A suggestion:
Go to Google Earth and try to find your old home. I'm amazed at how much I use open spaces as landmarks....and since they are few and far between in our old haunts, I have trouble finding my old house. It's also imformative to look at the CGHS school grounds there.
I remember being glad I wasn't in Mrs. Tearman's class.
Another memory....a sub by the name of Mrs. Christie had a rep. as a martinet, but I got along fine with her.
I'd say Mrs Tearman helped to produce a pretty decent product though.......
anyone want to argue?!
Well, of course all the kids in our class are perfect in every way but I don't think Miss. Tearman had much to do with it! :))!
For me, she had more to do with my having stomach aches in the morning, learning to put a thermometer over the heater and trying to feign all manner of illnesses. (Mother was a nurse and tough to fool. The thermometer trick didn’t work twice. )
Ferris Bueller would have been my hero then
There was a little boy named Eddie in my class and he really took the brunt of her bad temper. He was small kid with reddish hair and a ton of freckles. I don't know about his home life but I guessed it wasn't the best. She terrorized him regularly and the rest of us were too frozen in our tracks to do anything
I dunno, Greybeard. Teachers like the Terrible Tearman Sisters are a lot like some nurses I've met. They hate the job but can’t seem to think of something else to do. I’m sure Ms T’s options were limited
She might have been a good pig farmer! Naw, that would lead to ASPCA getting involved.
Ya know, I saw her smile once and that scared me more than her scowl :))
I have a bad memory of Mrs. T myself. I remember during recess, they always had the teachers patrol the yard and I was climbing that really tall slide we had that had the bar at the top you could flip over, anyway, I was halfway up when the bell rang and there were a few kids in front of me, so I decided to climb back down rather than wait, since I has scared to death of her. Well, when my feet hit the ground, she was there and swatted me across the butt with all her might for no reason at all. There were still dozens of kids out there. That has haunted me to this very day.
In the third grade I had Mrs. B. and she was a little cross sometimes, okay, alot, most of the time, but I survived her class. I was always very careful around her. So one day many years later, she walked into the clinic I was working in to board her cat. She kept looking at me and finally she said, I know you, I had you in the third grade. Amazing, this was over 20 years later. So we chatted a bit and caught up with life. As she left, she said, well, we will be gone for 30 days and this is Mr. B's favorite cat and she is a little old,so take good care of her. She was in her carrier, so I hadn't really looked closely at her, waiting until I got her settled in the kennel.
Well, I took her back and started working with her and noticed she had some age on her,allright, about 23 years.
She didn't have but maybe 2 teeth in her whole mouth and I am thinking, How am I to keep this cat alive for 30 days.
Well, each morning when I came in I carefully walked back to the kennel to see if she had survived. I had her on a heating pad, feeding her Gerber's strained beef with a suringe, and a subcue drip. She wasn't going to die on my watch. I am happy to say, she didn't.
WOW GH, I can feel your fear! I don't remember Mrs. B. but that must have been the LONGEST 30 days in history.
We had Mrs. McK in the first grade and I loved her. I always liked going to school even though I often got in trouble for talking, not being in my chair etc.
The thing I remember most about that year is Danny K. He was SO cute and I loved his white shoes. He already had a "girlfriend" but I was ready to take her place at the drop of the hat.
I think that room was on the same side of the building as the pig farm ?? Not sure.
But I remember some boys found some baby rabbits in the fence-row one day. Bet the kids can’t do that now!
Do you guys remember Mrs.Rueff?(Sp) If I remember correctly, She was my 2nd. or 3rd. grade teacher. I never had Mrs. T, but she had to be better than Mrs. R. Among other problems, I had a speech impediment back then, Ha - still do for that matter, Can't talk right to this day. Anyhow, she made 'fun' of the way I talked in front of the whole class. I will never forgive her for that. I got to the point (same as PT) where I was coming up with various reason not to go to school. Well, I got found out fairly quickly and then, I decided to 'Just say No!' Meaning that I would tell my Mom "No - I am not going to school today....." Well, of course, that did not work, even for 1 day. I did come up with something that did work one time,though. I said No - Mom said Yes. Tug went out and got on the bus and I told Mom that she would have to push me out the door. To my surprise, She did and then locked the door behind me. I stood there screaming , trying to get back in -Mom eventually walked away. The school bus was waiting and I jumped off the porch and hid next to it-out of sight of Mom. Mr. D., the bus driver, started honking the horn - got Mom's attention, but evidently, she thought that I was already on the bus so, she opened the door and waved the bus on.. He drove off. I stayed where I was for a little while, trying to figure out what to do next. Too scared to move. Unknown to me - our neighbor (the Duvals - remember Mike?) accross the street was watching as this whole drama unfolded. When the bus drove off, She evidently called Mom - the next thing I knew,Dad came driving up (he worked nights at the funeral home) and I got a good blistering when he caught me. Never tried that again... Kids can be cruel - but, teachers can be just as cruel. 1st grade teacher are always great - somewhere along the line, though, you have to grow up and face the real world. In my case, that was Mrs. Rueff..... That same year, we had barn swallows that made nests in the eaves of our house and they terrorized me for a long time. I got smart one day and decided to throw the cat out the front door ahead of me. That worked great - they dive bombed the cat instead of me. It wasn't long though, every time that I headed for the door - the cat ran the opposite direction and I couldn't catch her. I was probably all of 8 years old and already having a rueff time of it!!!!! Story of my life.. I had alot of issues throughout school though. From about the 5th grade on, mostly girl problems.....one right after another.... Wouldn't leave me alone !
Oh, I had Mrs.McKenzie also. I loved her so much and was sad when she had to quit teaching to have her baby. Her husband was a 5th grade teacher and he was so nice.
I remember one day, she had us put our heads down and one by one while she wrote out names on the board until she got 4 of us chosen and we got to go with her to Franklin and pick out a class parakeet. I felt so proud. That was the year that Marty U. told me when he got big, he was going to marry me. Danny K. was also a special friend to me all through school.
Two Dogs, I remember Mrs. Rueff, she was in the room at the end of the hall, right where they built the new add on. She scared the bejesus out of me. I don't think she ever smiled. Mrs. B. was Mrs. Bunnell. She had black hair and glasses and smiled kind of crookedly. She smiled once in a great while, but didn't seem to be too overly mean. She did let the kids tease me when I got my glasses for the first time. I had Mrs. Merilese (sp) in the second grade, she was okay, but not too noticable. In the 4th grade I moved to the middle building and had Mrs. Linehan. I think back then, all teachers wore those granny dresses and old lady shoes, at least back then that's what they looked like.
Then on to Mr. Stewart, now there was some stories there.
And in the 6th grade I had the best teacher of all. Mr. Hillenberg. He did so much for the school, like large recess breaks on Fridays, so we could play volleyball that he had introduced to us. And tetherball. Carol S. played a mean tetherball back then. She was so much taller than me then. I was all of 66 lbs. in the 6th grade.
He used to let us order donuts and milk on Wednesdays because Ruthanns dad worked at Saps and could bring them in. We thought we were so cool.
Does anyone remember the huge merry go round we had that you had to pump and one side would go up as it went around. I loved that ride. At least it looked big back then.
Do you remember the year end picnics that we always had back in the woods behind the school or across the street? We played games and had a great day.
Purple tabby:
You are right, the pig farm was right outside our window in the first grade. Yummy.
Two Dogs: I just can't tell you how upset I was to learn that an adult, let alone a Teacher made fun of you!!
My niece and nephew, who are perfect in every way, both have speech problems. They have had therapy and are doing much better but still have problems with some letters. (My first thought was "that's no big deal. There was a handsome dark-haired boy in my class who had that problem -- plus he was smart, popular, a leader, a Babe-magnet, and a gentleman. And he has done VERY well in life. This is not a big deal")
Still, I couldn't sleep just thinking of how angry I would be if a Teacher made fun of them. It would NOT be a pretty sight.
Then I thought of my parents, and the fact that your folks may have been very similar in many ways. My folks would not have intervened. They would have told me to suck it up.
It would have been a harsher lesson but maybe one that served better over the long term; that is knowing that no one was going to bail me out of problems (not entirely true but you get my meaning). That I would have to learn to deal with whatever happened. ::::sigh:::
I’d still like to punch that old hag! :) OR show her the paper silhouettes from my last weapons training class! ;)) I got ‘em all in the chest or the head! I’m so proud of myself, I almost broke my arm patting myself on the back. I hung the silhouettes on the front door in lieu of getting an alarm system! LOL
G.G.(GH) - That merry-go-round was more fun than alot of the rides at the County Fair. Do you remember the bus trip that we took to West Lake? I remember Ruthann and her buddies, Suzan and Nancy, Mr.Stewart and That infamous cloakroom!!!! and Mr.Hillenberg, I agree, He was one of the best. Learned alot from him - more than just bookwork. He had a big family and was always talking about them. Great Guy! What about Mr. Gray.- G.B., wasn't you in one of his classes? I've got a great story to tell about him sometime. Mr. Legan, Mr. Dieter, etc., etc.. I agree w/ G.B. Collectively, they did put out a great product for many years. Even Mrs. Rueff. Most of our brothers and sisters had the same teachers. Heck some of our parents even had some of the same teachers. All held great influences over our lives. None so great as Vandy's, though. Once he knew you, he didn't forget you. If you needed a friend, he was it... Just about as even-handed person as there was. Never held a grudge. You could be the nastiest person going and he would get on you for it - the next day, it was like nothing ever happened. G.B. Do you remember the fight between J.T. and (I can't remember his name,but,he must have been about 25 y.o.)? It was on the west side of the Gym. Mr.V and Mr.C and a few others helped break that up. I thought J.T. was going to get killed.
P.T.- Thanks for the compliments. About that chick magnet thing, though - It was more of me being attracted to them than the other way around, thats for sure......
I did know of a pretty dark haired girl in a few of my classes,though. One of the prettiest! Cheerleader-type. Problem was, Seems she was spoken for most of the time. I also knew of a pretty little blonde girl that lived in the Hiatt addition. So many pretty girls in our class - so little time...
I remember Danny K. and his white bucks. Started a trend in our class. Everyone wanted white bucks...... What a great class we had. Hey, How about some of you other guys jumping in here..
Gosh, two dogs, you bring back so many memories and thanks for the wonderful compliment.
I loved growing up in the valley and going to good ole CG.
I will never forget the merry go round or Danny's white bucks. He was so cool.
I can still remember the smell of the old building. And all the newly redone floors at the beginnng of each school year.
Yes, I remember going to Westlake in the 6th grade. Danny was my date and I have the cutest picture of us wearing matching navy hats.
I agree about Mr. V., never a fairer man walked the halls of CGHS. I always had the utmost respect for him.
You brought up Mr. Gray, now there was an alcholic. He had a bottle in his desk. I remember one day in jr.high and he got po'd about something that I never figured out and he took all of us one by one into the hall and paddle us all, girls also, then gave us a F for the day.
I think CG had some wonderful teachers over the years, but two that stood out for me were Miss. Kivett and Miss Pennock, both opened up doors for me, that I will never forget. They were new to the school, so they took interest in the girls also, sorry, but it was a good ole boys thing back then. I expect to hear some screaming on this, but that is what I felt back then. Girls were to get married and have kids back then, so we kind of got passed over in alot of things. But it was a way of life, so we didn't know any better, and we were happy.
GH, I think there was a Mr. GREY and Mr. GRAY. I’m not sure; others may remember better.
The guy you wrote about was a trip! I think he bought some serious trouble with that paddling episode. I think one of the boys was really hurt (broken tailbone?)
Too bad someone didn’t mention Assault and Battery to him!
I wonder whatever happened to that guy. Hopefully he got the help he needed.
We had so many wonderful teachers that he sure stands out as real a piece of work
I agree with you about the attention the girls got in school but I'm not sure it was solely because of gender. I think a lot of it had to do with separating us according to academic scores.
Remember taking those tests every year? Then next year we were divided into five groups according to our scores?
The top sections were giving College- prep classes. The middle sections were steered to Commercial classes and the last ones steered to General classes in home-ec, industrial arts etc.
A boy who lived down the road from me was always in the Fifth Section; he learned all kinds of things everyone needs to know. And he certainly wasn’t dumb! I think grouping people by test scores did a lot of damage; it was common practice then, and maybe still is.
We had a Counselor in JrHS, Mr B.; he had a daughter in our class but she dropped out. Remember him?
He liked to keep girls in their place. :::sigh::: He had a terribly sad life so I have decided against smacking him until he loses the ugly part of his face! I know he is relieved at my decision.! ;)
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