"It is amazing to me the names of the people I either didn't know or can no longer remember, yet still sound vaguely familiar. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for what you do on your blog. I do check it out every couple of months. Like this morning, for some reason I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and said, oh, what the heck. I have been working on our own family genealogy and as I sat down at the desk with my laptop for some reason thought I would check your blog to see if there was any new news regarding classmates. Sorry to hear about Jim Olson. I do not remember Jim, at least I don't think so. I could tell you had become good friends.
Your posting of the JerryJazzMusician
[Alan Yount's poetry has been published there twice lately, see earlier posts here] brought back my own horn playing memories. At Keysor and North I played
Alto Sax. Lew Williamson was 1st chair in band at North, I was 2nd
chair. My music teacher at Mel Bay's encouraged me to enter into a
music contest called the "Five Penney Music Contest" named after the
movie of the same name starring Danny Kay who played trumpet in the
movie. I played NOLA and for my age group and instrument won first
place which was my one and only musical claim to fame. For first prize I
think I got a $15 gift certificate from Mel Bay's Music Store and a
"Five Penney" record album. Mel Bay's son, Bill Bay, asked me to join
his band, to which my parents said no. Doc Williamson was our family's
dentist and prior to my musical accolade I thought I wanted to be a
dentist because he was always complimentary after a visit. My parents
thought keeping me on a track of dentistry was a better option than
musician. The music teacher at North asked me to join the orchestra as
the only saxophone player, which I did, although he asked me to insert a
mute to soften the tone. I was also asked to perform on stage at the
high school during some kind of talent show. Bobbie Jo Leech
accompanied me on the piano. I wonder what happened to Bobbie Jo? [she was living in Florida as is Bruce currently. I'm not sure if she's still there.] I
believe she also played trumpet in band at North. I got so nervous on
stage, somewhere in the middle of NOLA I forgot where I was, as I had
memorized it, and Bobbie Jo somehow picked up on my memory loss, and
either caught up with me or filled in the blanks, she was just great and
a real life saver. Either way it was my last semi-professional
performance.
Looking back, I wish I would
have continued playing the sax in high school. I would have enjoyed
playing in the marching band at halftime. It would have been a better
option for me then football. I did try out for football in 9th grade. I
thought I was a pretty good quarterback, at least in our neighborhood.
For J.V. made third string but at 5'8" and around 100 lbs. was no match
for the bigger guys. Jim Ballard wanted to learn out to play the sax
and I gave him some instruction sheets and tips. He picked it up
immediately and really became a great saxophone player and I believe
part of the KHS marching band.
Just last week I
asked my daughter who has five children (two who are in college, two in
high school and one in middle school) if any would be interested in my
sax, which I hadn't played in many years? She replied, no, but wanted
to hear me play as they are coming for a visit to warm, sunny Florida
over the Christmas break. I pulled it out of its case, not knowing if
it would even play, if all the pads were hard and needed replacing?
Surprisingly it did play. Not surprisingly, it was very hard, not the
pads, me. After several days I might be able to play Silent Night, but
NOLA, not a chance."
A bit later I received another fun message from Bruce:
"Alan Yount's memory of his great grandparents' house stirred up some additional ones of my own.
The House on Woodlawn
My
mom was always proud of being a KHS girl. Of course, in her days
Kirkwood High was as we know Nipher. She moved to Kirkwood from the
city in 1925 at the age of 12. Her father, Percy Wall or P.H. which was
for Percival Herbert built the house or at least his company, Wall
Construction, built the house. It was red brick with black mortar, a
special request by her mom, Sadie. The house was located on the "other
side" of the Ferguson-Kirkwood streetcar tracks, just down the hill and
on the same side as the stately residences that lined the street north
of Adams (Lockwood). It was across the street from the Kirkwood.Country
Club (later renamed the Woodlawn Country Club.) When golfers would tee
off from the #3 tee, balls would often land in their yard. Today
streets with the name of Par and Bogey are a little reminder of the
past. The street [Woodlawn Avenue] from their house up to Manchester had not yet been
paved and in the winter they would help to oil it. Heavy rains or wet
snows would cause cars to get stuck and for a modest fee there were
always a few neighbors still with horses and wagons to help in their
distress. My grandfather lived in the house for almost 40 years. When
it was sold the new owners painted the brick white and built on top of
it. They couldn't believe how thick the foundation was. Wall
Construction was a commercial builder. They built schools, factories
and breweries. Very little evidence remains of the street car tracks
next to the house. As boys my brother and I used to collect a few
spikes from the area. Last summer I got out of the car just to prove to
myself of its existence, and although most of the area has long since
been turned into roadways, houses and lawns, I could still see and walk
next to the ditch where the bed of the track use to be. The one picture we have of the house was taken during the winter. The second is as it currently looks."
I love these stories of our childhood and especially those also about Kirkwood. If YOU want to send some memories, please do and I'll post them. And thanks to Alan Yount for his sharing of his memories which inspired Bruce to be in touch too!
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