When we moved back to Fort Wayne, I was in 5th grade. Now Dad and Mom's families all lived South end of town more...it was the river that pretty much divided these things. They were the first upon returning to move North of the river. It was an older home with a huge front porch, two story with a basement, 4 bedrooms one very small single bed did fit..big brothers room.
Being back, we were once again put back into private Missouri Synod Lutheran Schools, we went to Holy Cross Lutheran. Now at these schools there was correction, you got spankings if acting up in classes. There were always two people present...usually a woman and man...man did paddling. I did get some, not many found out more like home I did.
Well our family all sat down together for dinner in evenings. There was a sitting order, boys on one side of the table Daddy's right side, and girls on left side of the table. Boys sat in order age, girls however didn't as well my sisters more afraid of dad? either that or it was just cause I was a Daddies girl and wanted to be there don't know which but that is how sit.. myself, Connie, then Cheri at Edgewater I think. We were taught very young to eat, but if you didn't want it you could go hungry, and sit there and be last to leave the table... no play or send room for our family...and no extra food later. Peanut butter and jelly always on table too for mainly growing boys, enough for all helping, but if want more ate that extra.
Now dinner would be conversation time too. We did have a city park close Lakeside Park, nice it had tennis courts, a big pond that was ice skating in winter, a nice park. Directly across the street from us was an older park like..had basketball court and baseball backstop the rest field as I recall then the big bank to go over other side the river. We played there more than anything, would even with the neighborhood kids play big jump rope a person at each end...learned to do with double people in and out you go. We also would sometimes have dodge ball, now that also was in school too, and play baseball too not at often did girls play.
When forced to stay inside with weather we either played upstairs was the girls stuff in our rooms, boys more basement type toys down there. I remember the boys sometimes playing with us, little brothers, they would be butlers and things like that.
Remember also having chameleons and keeping them in a shoe box with a screen bent over the edges to keep them in when not playing with the. We used to put some jelly on big flat concrete top of porch end post and draw flies to watch them eat. Fun to put them on different color things see how fast they change color. They get confused multi color.
We all got a new pair of shoes for school starting. I was the hard one to fit, so wasn't as fun for me. I had double A foot and triple A heels... so could only get white gym shoes, and couldn't do penny loafers so not fun...did finally get a pair though anyway they let me. I was old enough to go shag balls for Daddy when he went out to practice golf...so would try to go any time I could just to be with Daddy. He taught us how to shoot at river, had a pellet rifle type air pump gun to teach us..I think I was only girl to do that though so more powerful than a bb gun...depended on how many pumps of air you put in it.
Our first Christmas there I think was the big Christmas as Mom's brother Uncle Steve worked at Koehlinger's think called, a lock smith but they had Schwinn bikes sold too...so got them at his cost, so there were 5 of them lined up in the living room in front of the tree that year. So we then had bikes to ride. We had learned it before, living next to grandpa and grandma Ehrman, very young started that, mom had old girls bike, we couldn't sit seat of course but could get between and stand to try ride. Did that in yard.
There were several boys and girls that hung out at the park across the street, so got to know a lot of the kids that lived around. The boys would come over to our house a lot of times to talk to us girls..
Now that was the house we lived in when we received the Lord actually. I wrote about that on another post I think, Daddy had met him and took family to Full Gospel Church wrote it here as he did come to our house.
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