I got the regular Christmas package from my parents yesterday afternoon. There was the usual stuff inside. Mom always sends some horehound candy (which I’ve yet to find in Rhode Island) and lots of presents for everybody, and also in the bottom of the box, there was a videotape.
I thought it would just be home videos, although my folks aren’t real big on either taking pictures or making home videos. So I didn’t know what to expect when I put it in. I started it up and it began with a few commercials. Okay, I thought, maybe dad just taped a TV show that he thought I wanted to see.
But then a regular local network news broadcast came on and it featured a local town that had done a great thing in preserving a part of their history. It seems that the old high school that my mom and dad originally met at was slated to be torn down. There apparently were a lot of memories for a lot of other people there too. The last graduating class left in the mid 60’s, but during it’s heyday they were state vollyball champs, among other things.
The town was never that big. At it’s biggest, the population only topped about 101. It’s so far back in the Missouri Ozarks that when my dad tells people how to find it, he says “You just drive into the woods as far as you can until any direction you’re driving in, you’re coming out and there we are.”
But they all got together and decided instead of tearing it down, to make the old high school into a town Community Center. They now have a small library where my father reads to some of the local kids, tractor pulls out in the playground (it’s rather big) and other types of entertainment for the area.
The news story featured my mom and dad prominently and was all about what they did to preserve their community, their heritage, and their memories.
So, here’s a toast to you mom and dad. I’m proud to be your son.
That is SO cool! I love to hear of people preserving old buildings or other parts of the past! And what a great use for the building! Your parents do indeed sound like someone of whom to be proud (can’t leave a dangling preposition.)
[hijack] Wow, I was just thinking of horehound candy the other day and then you go and mention it…weird…wish I had some of that now…[/hijack]
Hey, Euty: tell me what you think:
My guess is that your standard issue Doper is as well-read or more so than your average Joe…I know that Mrs. Chalupa and I have collected an inordinate number of books over our lifetime. Occasionally, we donate them to our local library when our shelves are bursting.
What do you think about an SD Book Drive? It would be an honor to contribute to Ma and Pa Euty’s Community Center. I am aware that many libraries can only accept books that have library-standard binding, so it may be that some books couldn’t be accepted. But, hey, what’s the harm in asking?
BTW, what town is this? I spent a portion of my school years in Springfield: “Queen City of the Ozarks” (…no, we didn’t have an exceptionally high number of gays in town, although the “main drag” was a transvestite).
That was a great gift from your parents, probably in years to come that will be remembered as the best gift. The way your wrote this up shows how proud your are of them. So, how many times have you watched it?
