-------Olney Memories # 43
Norm Axelson
naxelson@comcast.net
My father Arthur Axelson worked on the (IC) Illinois Central Railroad for 20 years out of Chicago, Ill.
I remember riding the Steam Locomotives and when they switched them from track to track my brothers and I would sit on the Train while it turned on the Round Table. I remember riding back and forth in the yard when they were moving empty cars around. My father and mother are still living here in Jacksonville, Fla. and are approaching their 60th anniversary on June 1st. 2006. I have 2 brothers, Thomas and Robert with 3 sisters, Barbara, Susan and Deborah. My brothers remember Luther League at the local Lutheran Church with Roger Boatwrite and Danny and Charlotte (now) Hundley and the Shearers. I worked at the only theatre in town the Arcadia in 1964 as a jack of all trades mainly stoking the furnace in the basement and taking tickets at the door. I remember getting a hard time by the senior football team as my senior year was the only year I got to play (practice). I played in 2 plays but what I went thru for those 2 plays was something to forget.....Ha Ha
I cant make this reunion which is our 40th but if the good Lord is willing I will see everyone in 2010.
Norm Axelson
Class of 1965
---------------------------------------------------------
Suzanne (Conour) Miller
scooter@wabash.net
I have read the first 6 OM's and here are some of the memories that came to mind. Since I have not read all of the OM some of the things I remember may have already been mentioned. If so please bear with me.
A different person named Beal owned the news stand on Whittle Ave not the Beal who owned the Motel. A relative of mine worked at the news stand. At one time we had three Kroger stores in Olney. I can't remember just where they were but seems like two of them were both on Whittle. Gassmans's Town Talk not only had good ice cream they also had the best carmel corn you could find anywhere. You could buy different size bags of the corn. My dad used to take me there every Sat night and the minute "Tubby" Gassman saw us come in the door he would start dipping up the chocolate ice cream as he knew that was all I ever asked for. My Dad Charles Conour was janitor at both Cherry and Central schools. He started at Cherry in the 1930's and finished at Central after World War II. My father-in-law Elmer Miller was the janitor at the Middle School when it was at the old high school on Main Street. Does anyone know what happened to the members of the Congregational Church on the corner of W Main and Camp next to Prairie Farms? Did they merge with another Christian church or what. Frank Martin also played the organ at the skating rink west of town. Fred Noerenberg took over after Martin left. Played good music to skate too!! I believe the Olney Hotel on E Main used to be an Opera House in the early days of Olney. I believe they had stage shows there. They did have dances on top of the swimming pool at the park on Sat nights. There was a juke box and I think sometimes they had a band play. Taylor's Print Shop on W N Ave used to stack colored paper outside the door and kids could help themselves to the paper. Made great paper chains!! You could buy school books at Gaffners and returned them after the school year and they would buy them back, but not at what you paid for the them The white squirrel count is underway now and will be for the next several weekends. It is done every year about this time. Tilton Drug Store next to the Arcadia would give you free sodas for your A's on your grade card. You could go in the store from the street or from the lobby of the Arcadia. My mother worked at Producers Dairy (now Prairie Farms) wrapping butter. They would bring the butter in on big trucks already cut in quarters. She would take a quarter and wrap it in a treated paper. She would bring home boxes of the paper each night and we would set down at the table and fold one corner of the paper so she could pick up the paper one at a time and roll the quarter of butter in the paper. She got real fast at wrapping the quarters. She also worked at Harms Laundry on E N Ave. In the summer time after work she and other employees of the Laundry would go to Whittakers and buy big pitchers of cold drinks. There was no air conditioning in the laundry and it got really hot.
I will read some more of the OM and will send more of my memories at a later date.
On a personal note I married Don Miller in 1965 and we celebrated our 40th anniversary this past March. We are the proud parents of five children, ten grand children and three great grand children and one on the way. Sadly our oldest daughter Linda passed away three years ago after a 34 year battle with MS My e-mail address is scooter@wabash.net and I would enjoy hearing from old friends and classmates.
Susan Conour Miller
Class of 1950
Jim Dale
jdale@uark.edu
Palmer Method of Penmanship
In the late 1920's and early 1930's in lower grade school classes the
teachers tried to teach us proper penmanship with what was called the
Palmer Method. I was taught this method in the Cherry Street School. The
method was devised by Austin Palmer in the late 1800's before
typewriters came into common use. Since all records and bookkeeping were
hand written he thought for accuracy it was very important that such
writing should be legible. Educators soon thought that students should
also learn the method and it became part of the curriculum in most
schools.
The Palmer Method was based on repetitive writing exercises in which
you wrote the letters of the alphabet over and over, both in capital and
small letters. Pads were available that had examples of the letters at
the top of the page, and under them were lines where you did your
practice writing. You were supposed to make the letters exactly as they
were shown. You would make row after row of each letter and the lines
would show you how tall each small and capital letter should be. If you
did not stay within the lines you might get admonished by the teacher. I
remember two things about the method and that was the two ways to make
r's and t's. There was the conventional "r" and the newer and more
modern "r" that was faster and easier to make. I still use the latter
form. There was the normal "t", and the final "t" that you could use at
the end of a word. You did not cross the final "t" and instead after it
was written you just made an upward slanted motion to end the letter. We
made row after row of final t's, day after day and week after week. We
similarly made rows of circles. I do not think I ever used the t's and
circles except for doodles on notes at boring meetings. We were taught
how to hold a pen or pencil in our fingers and that we were not supposed
to write by moving our fingers. You were supposed to write using your
forearm and wrist in a sweeping motion. A good but impractical idea.
In addition to improving our penmanship, the exercises probably
taught us a little discipline about following orders. The method had one
major drawback. It had no provision for left-handed people and many
teachers made lefties start writing with their right hands. Since this
was against an inborn trait, most lefthanders ended up with rather poor
handwriting skills. I know because my brother, Bill, was such a victim.
However, it did help make him ambidextrous.
In summary, I do think that the Palmer Method we learned in grade
school did allow some of us "old timers" to go through life writing
rather legibly. Exceptions would be those that went to medical school
and retrogressed when they were taught how to write prescriptions.
Jim Dale
Class of 1940
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
George Roth
gsroth2@psbnewton.com or
gsroth2@verizon.net
Dear Ann
Sorry about your mother and father. Am sure they told you many stories about growing up in the early 1900's
My mother, Florence Brassie was born in Olney in 1998. She was office manager at the Olney Shoe Factory and a school teacher before she was married.
They lived at 327 E. North Ave. My grandfather had a barn behind their house. He purchased horses for the United States Cavalry. He kept them in the barn until he had enough to deliver.
I remember my father John (Jack) Roth telling many stories about delivering them to Vincennes where they were purchased and shipped out to the army
They would ride the lead horse and tie the next horse to its tail. They formed a long line of horses in this fashion.
You can imagine what happened when an automobile (rarely) came passing by and honked its horn. Many of them were wild horses and had never been ridden. I would sit for hours and listen to my grandfather tell about his experiences.
We owe our ancestors so much for what we enjoy today. Your mother and father were among them.
I worked at Mike's West Side and Mike's East Side when it opened. It was a great place to start working your first job. We met almost everyone sooner or later. It seemed like hundreds of people came to eat there most days.
I am now Deputy Coroner of Jasper County and work at funeral homes in Newton, Dieterich and Greenup.
I think some of the training at Mike's helped prepare me to meet many different people.
I would love to hear from of see letters in Olney Memories from other Mike's employees.
Thanks Ann for the great memories you provide for all of us.
George J. Roth
gsroth2@psbnewton.com or gsroth2@verizon.net.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Billy Bender
bbender@wabash.net
I would like to add my 2 cents into the next "Memories". Does anyone remember gas prices in the 50's? Donna Slunaker had a convertible and about 5 or 6 of us gals would all chip in 10 cents each and we could ride around all day on that amount! Sometimes we even went out of town, but I am sure our parents didn't know!!
Enjoying catching up on all the previous memories; thanks for sending them to me.
Billy Bender
Class of '54
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ruth (Winkler) Reckling
rareckling@peoplepc.com
It is so nice to be missed by someone that isn't related to me. Well for anyone that wants to know I moved to the Grand Strand in Myrtle Beach SC. It is so beautiful here and I bought a very nice condo with extra bedrooms so any old friends thinking for visiting the East Coast let me know. My e-mail is rareckling@peoplepc.com.
Really love reading the memories and hope they continue. It saddens me to know we are loosing some of our memory makers. Let's all stay in touch.
Ruth Reckling
Class of 1959
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cheryl Ginder
lovey68@verizon.net
I have been collecting old Olney pictures for years and now I am the head of a committee that is going to publish a pictorial history of Richland County and we were wondering if you could place a notice in the next issue of Memories to ask for people to submit pictures, drawings, or maps of Richland County. They could submit them to: Cheryl Ginder, 1430 North Silver Street, Olney, Ill. 62450. The submissions will be returned upon completion of the book. They would need to write a commentary about the picture, plus a date (if known) with pencil on the back of the picture along with their name and address. They can also pre-order the books through me at that same address. This will be a quality leather hardbound book that will be published in 2006 in time for the holiday season. The pre-publication price will be $37.95 (after publication the price will be $42.95) plus $6.50 for shipping plus tax of $2.28 if an Illinois resident. This will be a once in a life time opportunity to have a book with so many historical pictures of our county history. We especially need pictures of old schools, churches, stores, and homes of the towns of the outlying areas of Richland County such as Parkersburg, Noble, Claremont, etc. as well as Olney pictures. For any questions call me at 618-392-2282.
We appreciate any help with this project and if you would like to be a committee member we'd love to have you...the only requirement is a love of Richland County, and I already know that you have that requirement.
yours truly,
Cheryl Ginder
Class of '68
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ann Weesner King
pianoann97@aol.com
In looking through some papers of my mother and dad's recently, I ran across this poem written about the history of Olney. Thought it might be appropriate for the Olney Memories. Hope you enjoy it.
The History of Olney, Illinois
Have you ever thought of Olneytown
In quite an early day,
Ere Thadeus Moorehouse settled down
And helped to pave the way.
When he moved in, he drove his team
Where none had been before
There were no engines run by steam
Nor tracks to run them o'er.
T'was eighteen hundred and fifteen
When first he did appear,
And only redskins could be seen
As people living here.
It did not even have a name,
T'was just a wild frontier,
Though it was overrun with game,
Bear, bison, elk and deer.
For three long years of grief and joy
Old Thadeus had to wait
'Til this new land call Illinois
Became a legal state.
And farther south there sprang a town
Quite near where Calhoun stands.
They started cutting forests down
And cultivating lands.
Elijah Nelson settled down
On Fox, some two miles west
And founded there, old Watertown
Which now, has gone to rest.
And then in eighteen forty one
A greater thing was planned,
This famous county was begun
And given name "Richland."
The county had to have a seat,
But where, nobody knew.
Its every hamlet wished to greet
The county courthouse, too.
And thus began a tug of war
For site of county seat,
And each advantage to and for
The settlers did repeat.
At last the matter simmered down,
a vote was later planned,
'Twould either be at Watertown
Or on this center land.
The site selected by Judge Shaw,
The voters chose it too
And thus the will of learned law
Came proudly into view.
The new town had to have a name,
'Tis Olney, said Judge Shaw.
And after contest it became
Another will of law.
Sir Olney was a friend, renown
Of Shaw, who had his will.
He ne'er resided in this town
But lived in Lawrenceville.
And when once started, Olney grew
Unto its present size,
And what it may be coming to,
We only can surmise.
I've lived here twice, before this day
And shall not let it down,
And so, in closing, I shall say
"It's just a darned good town."
James M. Findley, Flora, Ill.
June 9, 1950
Ann Weesner
Class of 1960
==========================================================
