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A lot of small memories came back to me while thinking about the reunion. I remember starting class one day my freshman year in Mr Streed's social studies class. He announced that the words "under God" had been added to the pledge of allegiance.
Young folks today think it has been there forever!
You wondered why I hadn't been with you all for some years. OK, some background.
We were always pretty much a poor family, financially speaking anyway. It never bothered me much because when I was that young I didn't know the difference. I was the oldest of 5 kids. Then my Dad passed away when I was 5. My Mother wasn't emotionally equipped the handle the situation, but she tried, bless her heart. Anyway, from the time I was 6 through age 9, I pretty much roamed Newberg at will. I knew every street in town and how to get into buildings where I had no business going!
One thing that no one ever knew was that I used to stop by the house of Elizabeth McBroom to chat whenever I saw her outside
in her yard. If the name doesn't ring a bell, she was known around town as "the goat lady". The poor woman was pretty looney sometimes but often she was lucid and she talked to me as if she actually cared! She had been a school teacher at one time and was pretty smart. I was only 9 yrs old!!!
I used to hang out with Bob Dent and Alan Blodgett in those years, although they had families who cared where they went and kept some control of them. The only kid who was with me all that time was a guy named Artie Pickens. He was a bigger trouble maker that I was! We used to catch crawdads in the creek in the park across the street from the Hoover house. We caught frogs in the abandoned pond at the end of River street which was part of the pulp mill. We did a lot of mischievous stuff which
I won't mention. But - the police knew all about us. I hear that the child welfare folks were going to come and get us, so one day my
mother piled all 5 of us kids and her into a car with her friend and they drove us to Centralia Washington. All 5 of us then lived with an Aunt and Uncle there for 5 years. They weren't much better off that we were but, back in those days family looked out for family!!! Those were a good 5 years. I learned discipline, manners, respect and civility!!!
In 1954 after graduating from the 8th grade, other family members decided that my aunt and uncle had done their share, so I went back to Newberg to live with my Grandmother in Chehalem valley. My sister and one brother went to live with another aunt and uncle in Dundee. The 2 youngest brothers stayed in WA. So I started the 9th grade back in Newberg. The first day of school I encountered Artie Pickens again! He recognized me and we talked over old times. It was obvious then that I had grown up more than he had so we went our separate ways. I never saw him again. I always wondered what became of him.
After my sophomore year my mother had managed to get a house for us in Long Beach California so we were uprooted again. The 3 of us in OR went down there. My time there was OK. No friends to speak of. It's hard when you move around so much, All my classmates had been together for a long time and social circles were formed long before I arrived. This was true in WA and again in Newberg and then Cal. All three places had 50th reunions this summer. I would have loved to go to any or all. While expenses
were the primary reason, I always had the feeling that I knew them all but few of them would know me! I know that was probably wrong. It's a hard thing to shake, spending so many years in school as the shy poor kid who stuttered and was teased and laughed at.
Just so you know, I turned out alright though! *grin*
I retired from the Air Force in 82. Got my BA and spent 35 years in the computer business programming and consulting.
My wife and I have 2 sons and 1 grandson. They all live here in the San Antonio TX area. We're very proud of all of them.
I tried retiring completely in '04 but that lasted only 18 months before I started going stir crazy, so I'm now working in a local factory assembling commercial sized dehumidifiers. I love every minute of it!
Well, gotta run for now. Hope you don't mind my rambling but its nice to be able to share memories with someone.
Dale Jennings
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I forgot to mention (in previous writings) my relationships with some of our classmates. For one thing Yvonne Hess Fine is my cousin. She has had MS for a number of years. When I was working in Las Vegas, she was living there but I never could make contact. Then she and Brad moved to AZ. I sent them holiday cards and such but never heard from them.
Ann Baker Phillips and her family were always close to ours. They lived on the farm next to my grandmother’s place and were indirectly related by marriage. As a matter of fact after I graduated from HS in Cal., I went back to Newberg and stayed with her folks for almost a year and helped her dad on the farm until I joined the service in April of '59. Ann was away at college most of that time. I've always thought of her as an unofficial "sister".
Our neighbors across the street in Newberg back before we left for WA were the Cloepfils. Donna and her brother Doug used to play with us kids a lot. I have several pics from back then of the Jennings and Cloepfil kids together.
Gotta run.
Dale
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