Gone With The Wind

When I was a teenager I read a popular book they made a movie of called "Gone With The Wind." Everyone was reading it and they made a movie of it. It was going to be shown in Topeka at the Grand Theater (our first run theater. Tickets for movies were generally 35 cents but for "Gone With The Wind" they were going to be limited and would be $1.12. My parents were able to purchase two tickets. My mother, knowing I loved the book, let me go with my father. When you went with Dad you always sat in the back row downstairs. I don't think he ever saw a movie in the balcony. I was ready to sacrifice just to see the movie. The Sunday paper had two pages on the movie with many pictures. It was not a disappointment and worth the inflated price of $1.12.

Second Grandchild

The same year Leon was born so was Allan and Helen Martha's daughter, Martha Jean. This time it was greeting cards that made it different. My sister and sister-in-law had the first same name so until my sister was married we had two Helen Burkhardts. My sister was dating a young man at college who lived in Centralia, Kansas. One weekend in October they decided to go to Centralia to see a baseball game. It was dark and when they were going north a car had had trouble and was stopped on the highway. Bill was driving and did not see it in time so he hit it. They went down in a ditch. Helen was hurt. I don't remember if anyone else was. They brought her back to Topeka to Stormont Hospital. At that time the other Helen was in the other Topeka hospital to have her first child. When the mail was delivered full of cards Helen, my sister-in-law, received several of my sister's cards. Saying "Sorry to hear about your accident". My sister-in-law did not think her new daughter was an accident. I don't remember if Helen, my sister, received birth congratulations or not. My parents had 15 grandchildren and I do not remember anything different about the rest of them.