May 16, 2020
Stories of our Youth from Gayle Robey.
My Crocheted Dress
When I was very young, my step-grandmother, Catherine Jackson, wife of my maternal grandfather, Leslie Jackson, crocheted a beautiful pink dress for me. It was worn by me before I was 2 years old and a portrait was taken in black and white.
And now, two more generations of girls in our family have worn the dress and been photographed doing so. My daughters, Allison and Ainsley, wore the dress as toddlers and were photographed in color. Finally, Ainsley’s only daughter, my granddaughter, Carson (now over 12 years ago), has most recently been photographed wearing the lovely pink dress. (We almost let her grow too much to fit in the dress!) See the picture of the 3 generations in the dress – my granddaughter sitting on my husband’s childhood chair and portraits of my daughters and me are in the lower frame.
Of course, I don’t remember actually wearing the dress, but it is one of my most-prized and special possessions and is on display in our house, along with my maternal great-grandmother Clara Hull’s flower garden quilt (also accented in pink). Hopefully, this dress will be worn by a generation or two more of little female descendants of Henry Jackson.
Experiences at Willard School
When I was in grades 1-3, I walked each day to Willard School, in Parkersburg, WV. We also walked home for lunch and then back to school for the afternoon – no lunch service was available at school. The building was large to me as a young elementary student, but it was really 2 relatively large classrooms separated by a wide center hall. When I was in 1st grade, only the classroom on the left of the entrance hall was in use with one teacher, Mrs. Chenoweth, managing the 1st and 2nd grade classes together.
As I entered 2nd grade the next year, the second classroom was opened with a second teacher, Mrs. McCullough, in the building. The first graders and some second graders were in my former first grade room, while I and the other 2nd graders were with the 3rd graders in the newly opened classroom. School was an exciting experience for me and I remember many times with our reading circle and math instruction. We had lots of fun at recess time when our teachers would play games with us on the playground. Art and music teachers visited us for special classes a few times each year. My mother was an officer in the PTA (later PTO) at the school.
During my 2nd grade year, I asked my mother if I could cross the street at the end of our block to visit my friend’s grandmother, Mrs. Clayton, on the way back to school after our lunch break. This was the last of many times that I had made that request, and she had finally said I could. All went well as I first crossed the street, but, as I was crossing back, after looking both ways, I was hit by a car. I did lose consciousness and remember waking up with my mother looking down at me as the ambulance arrived. With the sirens blaring and emergency lights flashing, my mother and I were taken to the Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital (the City Hospital) where I spent a few hours in the ER. With only bumps and bruises found, I was released to go home. I was very sore and remember that I felt I couldn’t walk for a few days. I also remember a visit at home a couple of days later from the driver of the car who came by to check on me.
Fast forward, 11 years, I started at Camden-Clark Hospital School of Nursing and graduated from there 3 years later. I was employed at the hospital for one year after graduation.
Saturday Morning at our neighbors
In the mid-1950’s, before our family had a television, we were invited to go to a neighbor’s house to view the circus on TV every Saturday morning. We weren’t the only family without a TV then, so there would be at least 8 or so “extra” children in the Drain family’s living room, quietly watching the Saturday morning episode of a circus program.
Adventures of Davy Crockett(s) at our house
In the last half of the 1950s, a very popular television show was Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, starring Fess Parker. He wore a coonskin hat in character. The theme song for the TV show had a phrase, “killed him a bear when he was only 3!”
At the time I had a large brown Teddy Bear which was covered with dark brown “short-haired” fake fur. His nose was made of molded plastic and it appeared quite convincing to me.
My brothers were 2 and 5 years younger than I. They loved the Davy Crockett show and watched it at every opportunity. They had toy cap guns which they used in playing “Cowboys and Indians” with neighborhood boys. One day they started telling us that they had “killed a bear.” Several days passed when I discovered that my bear was missing. After a time, we found my bear stuffed in a bedroom closet. He was “killed” because my brothers had used a sharp object and sliced the middle of his plastic nose!
Experiences at Jefferson Elementary, Washington Junior High School and Parkersburg High School
My 4-6 grade years in school were at Jefferson Elementary School in Parkersburg. This was a much bigger school with grades 1-6 housed in the building and a cafeteria with lunch service. At the time, my least favorite lunch served there was sauerkraut and wieners, which was offered at least once a week, causing major objections on my part. Now I have learned to like this combination and would like to be able to eat it more often.
At the end of 6th grade, we knew Washington Jr. High, in downtown Parkersburg, was our next step for 7th and 8th grade. This much older building, with an upstairs, basement and a big gymnasium, was the original high school in town. Its age was showing while I was a student there. This was the first time in school that we actually changed classes during the day. We had the freedom during lunch hour to visit the local G.C. Murphy store, nearby on 7th St, and request to hear the latest hits by Frankie Avalon and Paul Anka.
During our 8th grade year, the Wood Co. Board of Education made the decision that Washington Jr. High would move into the Jefferson Elementary School building, which meant that our 9th grade year would be back in a building that I knew well from having spent my 4th-6th grade years there.
The last public school I attended was Parkersburg High School for sophomore, junior and senior years. It was a huge school with a fieldhouse and stadium for football. I love the sight of the building that still stands on Dudley Ave. in Parkersburg. Our class graduation included almost 1000 students. Two years later the largest ever class graduated. Following that year a junior high in South Parkersburg was converted into Parkersburg South High School, and, as a result, senior class sizes at each school were greatly reduced.
One of my best experiences during high school was working on the Parhishcan (yearbook) staff during my senior year. We were a closely knit group of seniors and we enjoyed our time together doing an important task under the very capable guidance of our advisor, Miss Edmundson (a very demanding but well respected English teacher at PHS). Also at the beginning of our senior year is when my husband [Roger] and I started dating. (Isn’t it interesting that now the word “senior” has a totally new meaning?)
Our dating continued through his 4 years at Marietta College, nearby in Ohio, and my 3 years at Camden-Clark School of Nursing. One week after his graduation from Marietta, we were married in Parkersburg at the Stephenson UM Church where we had met as 10 year olds. We lived in Belpre, OH the first summer of marriage, leaving in September for Princeton, NJ, and have never lived in that area again. This June we will have our 52nd wedding anniversary in Indiana!
Submitted by Gayle Robey