Baseball comes to Shawnee

When our oldest son was on a baseball team the whole family was excited. The Shawnee Police Chief--Charlie Stump-- decided to coach a team. The team was made up of most of my Cub Scout den and a few other boys who attended Nieman School. The police chief lived on 66th Terrace and had five children of his own. None were the right age or sex for the team. The team practiced on the area behind Hocker Grove Junior High. They wore T-shirts. They were called "The Bullets" and had a glove. That was their equipment. When Steve played his first real game we did not want to miss it. Scott was just born so we took his car bed out of the car and put it on the ground. Then I put an umbrella over him to protect him from baseballs. They did not hit the ball often so it was adequate at the time. I shudder a little now as I think about it. One boy never caught a ball but he always waved at it as it went over. Steve's sisters were very attentive. We went to a great many games over the years and the ball field moved west. There is a ball park named in honor of the Police Chief called Stump Field in western Shawnee. By the time Scott played ball his older brother was his first coach. Girls play ball now which they did not then but they seem to lean towards soccer,

11th wedding anniversary

I've had many happy anniversarys but this one was a little different. We had just celebrated the birth of our fifth child and we had some other new things. We had a new station wagon, a new dog--Pogo -- and Scott, our second son. We decided to make an evening of it. First we went to Hank Bauer's Drive-in where our children liked to eat and then we were going to "Kiddieland". We had a fun dinner and then left for our next event. When we got to the car Sally dropped Scott's bottle on the concrete and it broke--shorter evening. She handed her father some change that she told him he had left on the table. At this point we decided to go on to "Kiddieland" but would have a shorter evening if Scott got hungry.

Jim Ryun and the four minute mile

When our oldest child went off to college in Lawrence, Kansas, we shifted our interest in colleges to K U. He was living in a dorm--Pearson Hall -- and became interested in the track team, helping not taking part. He changed dormitories to be with the track team. We went to Lawrence to see the annual track meet. We ate a picnic lunch and went to sit in the stands at KU's football field. We watched all the pole vaulting and activities of a track meet and then came the foot races. There was a freshman named Jim Ryun who was from the Topeka area and we saw him run the four minute mile. The records say it was on June 23, 1967 but I thought it was in May, It was very impressive and we were lucky to see it. When Steve switched to the Journalism School, I'm not sure he stayed with the track team but did work on the sport's staff and ended up being a lawyer in sports. I remember that Jim had a hole in his pants. Maybe that is why he ran so fast.

The other famous funeral I know about

When I was growing up in Topeka, we were honored by having the vice president of the United States from Topeka. It was Charles Curtis. He was a Kaw Indian. They wrote a play about him on Broadway and mentioned he only got in the White House with tours. We in Topeka were proud of him. He was born in 1860 and died in 1933. At this time my father had bought a Packard from a friend who was having a divorce battle with her husband who would not give her any money to live on. When Curtis died, the funeral home wanted to borrow the car. It had jump seats. They wanted it for the pallbearers to ride in. Curtis laid in state in the Capitol building. Our car was in the newsreels and we wanted to see it so we all went to the Jayhawk Theater so we could see the newsreel and see our car. It looked great. We were very proud of our car. I wonder what the movie was?

Funerals

Watching the TV news these days I seem to see them bury someone every week. They always show me more than I want to see. I remember a funeral Ray was going to cover in Wichita. Our Kansas Senator Andrew Schoeppel had died. He laid in state in the statehouse and then was going to Wichita for burial. Ray went with the press group to Wichita in highway patrol cars. They were going to fly but the weather was bad so they drove. The funeral went off well in the church. Then they left for the cemetery. The Senators who had flown in for the service were going back to Hutchinson to fly back to Washington. When they had to make a stop on the way there, they found the hearse was following them and not going to the cemetery. They sent the hearse to the cemetery and the Senators went on to Hutchinson. The group were waiting at the cemetery. The graveside service was a little late but they all had waited for the guest of honor.

Going to Kansas City

When my husband and I were dating we liked to go to Kansas City. One of Ray's best friends really loved theater. We would go with him and his wife to the Music Hall to see plays. We took the train as gas was still a little scarce. The trouble with that is we had no way to get home from the depot so my mother always had to get up and come after us at two in the morning. Topeka was not loaded with taxis. The first time we went we ate at the Muehlebach Hotel. I did not think Ray was very rich so I ordered the cheapest thing on the menu which was chicken. When I tried to eat it, it slid off the plate and landed in his lap. One place I liked to go was the Folly Theater. It was a little spicy for a Topeka girl but they sold chocolate. That was difficult to buy in Topeka. We saw great plays like "State of the Union." We thought the Music Hall was beautiful. I still do.

Flying to Denver

My granddaughter, Morgan, lives in Denver which seems far away. When Ray and I were married we flew to Denver for our honeymoon. It takes Morgan an hour non-stop. We took four hours and stopped very often. They served us a meal and we had wooden silverware. I guess you should say wooden dinnerware. It was the first time I had ever flown although Ray had--I think. I don't remember a lot except I was really scared. I have landed at Denver many times since and flown around the world but there is nothing that matches that scary flight.