1401 Views
4 Comments
1401 Views
The American Legion Hall was upstairs in the building across the street from the theater. Most of the time it was used by veterans for meetings, drinking, poker games, and whatever. Every few weeks, on a Saturday night, the Legion brought in a Country/Western band and held a dance that was...
1222 Views
1222 Views
A few steps down Fourth Street from the high school a wedge-shaped marquee hung over the sidewalk. In neon letters and paint it identified the Gregg Theater. Clean, soft carpeting, comfortable furniture in a sunken lobby, padded seats in the theater and a well-stocked popcorn and candy booth made The Gregg...
1398 Views
1398 Views
Every small town in America has a “main” street. Caney’s was called “Fourth Street. Our High School and the “Clifton House”, a hotel which I thought was quite upscale as a child, marked the end of the business district on the eastern end. Four blocks west “Main Street” ended where Pendleton’s...
1498 Views
1498 Views
“Smelder Hill,” kids never used the correct pronunciation “Smelter” when talking about it, was a mile or so northeast of town. a rocky and rutted road ran north from the east side of town, went past “Smelder Pond” and on to the top of that hill. Smelder Hill was too steep...
931 Views
931 Views
The earliest recollection I have of what I wanted to be when I grow is probably elementary school age. I wanted to be a stewardess. This was before we had to call everyone a "flight attendant". This was a short-lived dream for two very big reasons: First I had a growth-hormone...
1403 Views
1403 Views
2389 Views
2389 Views
Wow... this one is making me dig into the memorybanks... I have often wondered what would have happened if I had made Junior Nationals at the Zone Swim Meet in August 1983.. How far could I have or would I have gone? Instead I missed qualifying by a fingernail...Literally .01 of...
1569 Views
1569 Views
My career goal was to be an attorney... Mom was going to be my paralegal. I even went to Auburn and earned my BA in Political Science and Philosophy with minors in English, History and Business. (Yes over achiever I know). I even became a certified Paralegal with Mom. Then I...
1695 Views
1695 Views
635 Views
635 Views
2615 Views
2615 Views
I wouldn't change anything I did in my adolescence.
1994 Views
1994 Views
1246 Views
1246 Views
2040 Views
2040 Views
There was a lot of coming and going of employees in Caney’s cafes, but the line between “boy jobs" and "girl jobs" was clear and bright. Boys washed dishes or cooked. I was too young to be a cook, so I became a dishwasher in “Chet’s Café” on Fourth Street. If...
1250 Views
1250 Views
Caney was located at the crossroads of two railroads. The Santa Fe ran trains north and south while the Missouri and Pacific, the "MOP", brought trains from the East and West. The Santa Fe had all the glamour. It had "The Streamliner." In the `40's most trains were pulled by steam...
1448 Views
1448 Views
Caney had a bowling alley unlike any bowling alley ever seen before or since. It was in a storefront building on Fourth Street, our “Main Street” just east of Winkler’s Drug store. It did a boomingly noisy business until television came along. It also was a business where the owner didn’t...
1258 Views
1258 Views
The hike to the dam was a leisurely walk. There were plenty of things along the way worth doing. Those cone-shaped glass insulators found today in flea markets were sat on the crossbars of the telephone poles that alongside the railroad tracks. They shattered with a glorious display of shrapnel when...
1385 Views
1385 Views
In early times someone built a dam across the Caney River out west of town, just at the bottom of Standpipe Hill. It was a rudimentary dam, not much different in construction from those which small boys to dam up rainwater that runs in street gutters. That dam had only one...
1372 Views
1372 Views
1157 Views
1157 Views
