CLASS of 76

The pictures have been great to see and the comments great to read. This is a wonderful idea and I thank you for sharing. I am right now missing my 30 year reunion and this then makes me sad for my decision. Oh well, the 70's in Forrest City were tough times. We unfortunately, the class of '76 don't stay in close contact.

We'd love to hear from the Class of '76 about their 30 year reunion!

Your turn: Comment (below), Blog (at right), Email:
ForrestCityMemories@Yahoo.com

Hall of Fame

By popular demand, we hereby name those who have achieved fame into the Peach Fuzz Chronicles Hall of Fame (Please add - these are only a start)

Nathan Bedford Forrest: (This overview is plagarized from Wikipedia) b. 1821 Tenn. d. 1877. This intriguing character who became head of the family at the tender age of 17 managed to raise his family out of poverty to become one of the South's richest men in pre-war Memphis. At first a farmer, then a plantation owner, he was a slave trader on Memphis' Front St. market when the Civil War started. During the War, he became a legendary rebel, confederate general and perhaps the American Civil War's most highly regarded cavalry and partisan ranger (guerrilla leader). Regarded by many military historians as the war's most innovative and successful general. His tactics of mobile warefare are still studied by modern soldiers. Locally, in one humiliating raid, his band stormed and temporily freed Union-occupied Memphis and in another, he stole the occupying Union general's uniform from his bedroom while he slept. In modern times, Forrest's reputation suffers not only because of the immoral stain of being a slave trader but due also to his involvement in the first few years of the Ku Klux Klan following the war. Forrest later called for the disbanding of the Klan, distanced himself from it, and in 1875 was invited as the first Anglo-American man to speak before a forerunner organization of the NAACP, where he declared his belief in a peaceful inclusion of African-Americans in public life. (See Bio link below for exerpts of his speech). However, his early connection with the slave trade and the start up of the klan still creates controversy and carries a stigma. After the Civil War he became the president of the Marion & Memphis Railroad and established a camp at the present site of Forrest City, Arkansas. He became interested in the area around Crowley's Ridge during the war. Afterwards, he contracted with railroad companies in Memphis and Little Rock to cut through the rough ridge and succeeded in linking the two cities by rail in 1868. General Forrest later built a commissary located on Front St. and Colonel V.B. Izard began the task of designing the town. Most citizens were calling the area "Forrest's Town," thus the evolution of the name Forrest City. General Forrest's camp was incorporated 1870. The county seat was permently moved to Forrest City in 1874. Continued Nathan Bedford Forrest bio.

Rev. Al Green: As stated on Rev. Green's official website, "Green started singing professionally at age 9, when he and his brothers formed a gospel quartet, the Greene Brothers, in their hometown of Forrest City, Arkansas." (The "e" was dropped when they went professional). In the early 1970's Green carved his place in music history with a run of celebrated hits that made him an R&B star and pop icon. Since 1979 he has led his Baptist congregation, the Full Gospel Tabernacle, in Memphis, Tenn. "The music is the message, the message is the music. So that's my little ministry that the Big Man upstairs gave to me—a little ministry called love and happiness." Bio.

Don Kessinger: b. 1942 Forrest City. Former Major League Baseball shortstop. six-time All-Star, signed by Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent in 1964. Married Carolyn Crawley also b. Forrest City. Bio.


Charlie Rich: Class of '50. b. 1932 Forrest City, d. 1995. Called "The Silver Fox." Married Margaret Ann Green of F.C. Grammy award winning Musician, songwriger & performer in diverse genres of country, jazz, R&B, gospel & Rock n Roll. His three #1 country hits won him fame when he slammed the 1973 Country Music Awards. His Official Website says, "He was born in Forrest City, Arkansas, the same town that produced Al Green. A little-known fact is that Charlie and Al worked the very same land for a time." One of his earliest musical experiences involved a sharecropper by the name of C.J. Allen who worked the family land, a blues piano player. C.J. would teach Charlie basic blues piano riffs, serving as a powerful influence in Charlie’s musical development. Charlie played the sax in F.C. High school band & attended Arkansas State on a football scholarship. Served in the Air Force. Afterwards, he farmed while playing part time around Memphis. Margaret Ann, a musician also, dropped off his music at Sun Record and finally Charlie went professional full-time, joining Sun Records as a session writer/musician. Family photos of Charlie & Margaret Ann. Full Bio.


Richard Trail: Class of '62. He did a great job for FCHS and the U of A. He competed in football, basketball and track. He was named All-District and All-State along with being awarded a full football scholarship to the U of A where he enjoyed being a part of the Arkansas Razorback national football Championship team. He brought a great deal of class to our city and our school. (Submitted by Bogie)

Charles "Sonny" Liston: b. 1927-1932? one of seventeen children of Tobe Liston and Helen Baskin. Sand Slough, St Francis Co, Arkansas. d. 1970. Ran away from abusive father at age 13 to reunite with his mother in St Louis. World heavy weight champion boxer. Life and personality were obscure and stormy. Thought of by many to be one of the most powerful punchers in the history of the heavyweight division. Death was featured on TV's Unsolved Mysteries. bio (Submitted by Dora).

Henry Loeb: b. 1921 d. 1992. Dynamic political renegade and controversial 2 term mayor of Memphis busted the old Boss Crump machine that long controlled the city before the mid 1950's. Loeb served during turbulent social upheaval and racial strife, including the asassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King in 1968. He moved to St Francis County, Arkansas in 1972. Popular Henry Loeb Dutch Treat luncheons started during his mayoral reign continued throughout his life to present day in Memphis. Loeb, who had tall movie-star looks and a colorful personality, and his wife Mary Gregg (from a St Francis Co land owning family) who was 1950 Cotton Carnival Queen, married in 1951. During his retirement from politics, Loeb was a prominant Forrest City businessman who owned the first farm implement business in the city. He and Mary lived on and managed a 150 acre farm in Madison that had belonged to her family. Profile/Interview.

Jim Lindsey: Class of '62. Running back for the Minnesota Vikings from 1966 to 1972. Lindsey was a member of the 1964 National Championship football team at the University of Arkansas, and founded Lindsey & Associates in Fayetteville, Arkansas in 1972. Lindsey is a member of the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees, and has been central to many of the decisions made by the board, including the hiring of head football coach Houston Nutt in 1997 and the decision to continue to play football games at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas.

John W. Henry: b. 1949, Quincy, Ill. His early childhood years in Forrest City were spent learning about farming and raising the land in on some land owned by his parents who were farmers by profession. At the age of 15 his family moved to California. At one time, John was a singer-songwriter who travelled the US as a professional singer. John is founder of a company which is the 8th largest managed futures advisor in the world by Assets under Management. Among others he serves as a trustee for the Library of Congress and the Mind/Body Medical Institute at Harvard University. He also received the Ted Williams Lifetime Achievement award. He is the current principal owner of the Boston Red Sox which won the World Series in 2004. Bio.


Your turn: Comment (below), Email
submissions to ForrestCityMemories@Yahoo.com

60'S Culture: Cool Guys

King Cool of the 60's
Ok folks...I want nominations. Gotta be a Forrest City guy, any age, any reason. Give Name & short reason why. (Girls and Guys both nominate)

Lin: Without a doubt the FC King of Cool in the 60's was Stevie Stevens. From the 60's until the day he died he reigns as the FC Kof C.

Anonymous: You'll get no challenges to that one! We'll have to take nominations for King Cool's Court instead. Here's a few:
Lanier Fogg - shopped in the black music store for music before it was cool; brassy brainiac; could see your underwear with all your clothes on and a coat; curley headed sultan.
Ollie Warren - Played drums in Roy Orbison's band, the Peppermint lounge in NYC, rode a motorcycle in high school, wore jeans & a white Tshirt and rolled up filterless camels in the shirt sleeve (with pennies in the camel pack), knew how to melt brass knuckles in boiling water; Paul Newman eyes.
O.C. ___ - Great African-American piano player bon vivant with a smile & a tune for everyone
William Ingram- The brave little Black man (12-13 yrs old) who came to Sam Smith Jr High each day in a cab, carrying a little briefcase, all by himself, into an all white school, the first child to do so, quietly with dignity, walking towards the entrance of an empty school yard just after the first bell, while all the kids were in their seats, staring at him out the windows. The image is sealed in my brain forever but I don't recall his name...he was so totally cool, I was in awe...
Tommy Melton The best Beatle boots & Beatle hair in 3 states
Mr Shuford So NOT cool he was cool in a weird way
Don Kessinger a six-time All-Star, was signed by the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent in 1964.

Lin: We have to include Charley Rich and the Rev. Al Green in the FC Court of Cool. Their contributions to music have put St. Francis County on the music map.

Anonymous: I have two cool nominees: Collie Walker, who let the cheerleaders leave during study hall in his car to go downtown and sell raffle tickets, and "Flash" Harris, the coolest biology teacher ever.

Paul: Hmmmm...I've contemplated this all week...and can think of a bunch of people who should be nominated - but no one person who stands above the rest. Yes, I did think of Donnie Kessenger too. Didn't B.B. King name his guitar Lucille based on a "fire incident" at a juke joint in Twist, Arkansas?! What say you Eddie? Okay, speaking of musicians...Honorary Mention to Levon Helm (The Band...Yes THAT Band) from Helena, Phillips County (that's pretty close - and we all spent some time in Helena...for one reason or another...lol). By the way, William Ingram, who was the lone Black student to first integrate the Forrrest City School System: You have to wonder how much pressure he was under from a lot of adults in his life who some might say were using a 14 year old for their political purposes. Regardless, it took TREMENDOUS courage to come to school each day - and to stay through til the end. William Ingram finished Forrest City High School with the Class of 1968.

B.J.: ...you're right. I think his courage earned him not just our awe, but our respect as well.

Anonymous: Walter Ferguson's hello note just reminded me-- Walter was a hot musician & a cool dude

Paul: I was a bit too young to attend the dances, but Walter had a reputation as an excellent musician as well as a "wild man" - something about what he did with the microphone and cord while singing (uh, that was in the pre-wireless days kids)! lol I think Mick Jagger may have studied his performances. I vaguely remember some unique car (a convertable?) that Walter drove around - I agree, he belongs on the Cool List!

Anonymous: I was just talking about William Ingram the other day...first time I saw him come to school in front of the Jr. High...we were all waiting for the bell to ring to go in that morning...when the cab pulled up....complete silence, cab door opened, he emerged, and everyone parted like the Red Sea. I can almost hear his footsteps on the sidewalk now...my heart ached for him even then!

Anonymous: I would say Stevie or Walter were the two coolest guys to ever go to Forrest City- and I almost forgot Conrad Snyder and Ollie Warren! Too cool

Anonymous: Are you people on drugs?? [Name withheld] and [Name withheld] as the coolest??!!

Administrator: Yes, we pretty much stay on drugs all the time. We think you could use some too... or a different kind than you are using now. Play nice.

CLASS of 68

2007 CLASS REUNION IS JULY 20th. If you didn't get the final notice to sign up, then there's a problem with your address. Contact Linda or Jim Machen. SEE YOU THERE!

Childhood: Carefree & Happy (1952-1962)

Jan Greene Sprott: I remember life so carefree and happy. Walking to school and coming home for lunch, cutting my bangs right before pictures in 3rd grade I believe. Leaves in the fall---crunchy under your feet or wet and slippery. Bible drills at First Baptist Church and GA's and wanting to maybe be a Methodist because they also got to go to Girl Scouts (GA's met at the same time as Girl Scouts), thinking I had flunked 3rd grade the last day of school until Nancy Collins pointed to where it said 4th grade (I thought the 3 magically turned to a 4 if you passed), loving my Moma's wonderful home cooked and mostly home grown meals and Daddy playing H-O-R-S-E in basketball with me, my home I felt so safe and secure in, playing at Stuart Springs Park and saying cuss words I didn't know the meaning of and swinging from grapevines, a surprise party after school for my 11th (?maybe 12th or 13th--Dora do you rememeber?) birthday and I had to stay after school for talking in class and everyone had to hide behind trees for an hour waiting on me --then getting in bad trouble with Moma for talking in class and having to stay after school--and making everyone hide in the trees for so long, swimming at the city pool everyday from 2 until 6, always having to come home from Janet Crawley's house because her daddy was my doctor and when he walked inthe door I got scared and had to be taken home and that was so dumb because he was so nice always--the memories are endless---and happy. And this was all when I was a littel girl ---before the real fun of teenage years started!!!!!

Postscript: OK, so I wrote all that about Forrest City---then read the blog and mine isn't like everyone else's. Oh well. I could write for a week and not get everything in and maybe this is going into cyberspace anyway so it won't matter after all. On the city's northern border, reared against the sky---------------jan


"Old Friends Still Visit" --Recent Pix From Dora:
Dora Flanagin, Nancy Collins, Jan Greene, Margie Sharp, Sula McAuley, Joan McCain, Billie Jean Rowland, Linda Rosica

60's Culture: Music

Album Released: January 20, 1964
I Want to Hold Your Hand (2:27)
Recorded: October 17, 1963
at Abbey Road, London, England
British Release: November 29, 1963
American Release: January 13, 1964

MEET THE BEATLES!
Dora: We all know where we were when Kennedy was assassinated ,but how many of you remember the first time you heard the Beatles sing and where you were? I was with Pat and Lynda in the little, white corvair and the song, "I want to hold your hand" came on the radio. I was in the seventh grade, Pat the ninth and Lynda the tenth grade. Seems like only yesterday when I heard Pat say to Lynda, "this is that new group from England". Will you still know me when I'm 64? Can you believe Paul McCartney is 64? What happened that we managed to stay 35! This is also the era of when Edie would do her British accent. Sula, Edie and I would go to The Place BEHIND GOLDSMITHS, and she would pretend she was from England. Jan was visiting another teenage club in Levy's while we were at The Place.. I can remember Pat calling our "group of girls" the "in crowd". We were so cool!

Sula: On February 14, 1964, my sweet friend Jimbo Justiss (God love him), gave me a first edition release (sold out by that time) "Meet the Beatles" album. I think the first time I heard "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was just before that on Wolfman Jack's radio show out of Chicago...only after "lights out," late at night, could you pick up the signal.

Paul: Yes, the Beatles really shook up our world – along with Elvis, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and before too long…Jimi Hendrix. I think “Meet the Beatles” must have been the most commonly owned record in FC in 1964-65. I also remember doing the Twist at a 7th grade dance party at Dora’s – WHAT?!…Baptists dancing?!! I think I saw “A Hard Day’s Night” three times at the Imperial Theater – and later went to Memphis to see “Yellow Submarine” at the Malco (hmmmm…maybe that was the college years…kinda fuzzy for some reason). I was also really into the Dave Clark Five…and then about the same time as Jimi Hendrix came onto the scene, that FM station in Memphis (can’t remember the call letters) introduced me to LED ZEPPLIN!! I was never the same after that. I still listen to their first album – with the volume turned way up.

Okay, as much as I liked Led Zepplin, Jethro Tull, the Yardbirds, and The Stones, I think we all have to acknowledge that the Beatles paved the way for them all - and Beatles music has stood the test of time. BUT, what record did we play when we really, REALLY wanted to party?!! Louie Louie (The Kingsmen - Portland's first "garage band")!! There has NEVER been a better party song - ever! How many of you thought you knew the words?! Can you ever remember a bad party with Louie Louie playing? I bet Louie Louie takes the prize for the most covered song ever! Sorry, if this creates an entirely new blog...lol (Paul G.)

From Paul: Listen Louie, Louie - Longtime Kingsmen drummer Dick Peterson on the book he's written about the song and the band. (6/12/06; Length 4:47)

From Sula: Here's a vintage video clip of Paul Revere & the Raiders on George Klein's Talent Party, 1966. You gotta see the hair, the dark hose, the dance moves of the girls...and what's that on the back walls? Colored paper plates?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNR7E30i81M

Carnival Knowledge: A Cotton Carnival Experience

*A title “borrowed” from Michael Finger of Memphis Magazine

Paul Gibson:One warm evening back in June of 1964, two years before I could legally drive, a friend and I convinced an older acquaintance (a classmate of my older sister, Neva) with a car and a legal driver’s license, to take us to the Cotton Carnival on the banks of the Mississippi River in Memphis. Naively, we thought we might meet and impress some Memphis girls even though we barely had enough money to get in – and had no idea how to dress properly for this event. We were wearing what most teen boys did that summer, blue jeans, sneakers, and white t-shirts.

Once there I was a bit overwhelmed by the size of the crowd. I am not sure I had ever been in the midst of a crowd that large before – and mainly an older “adult” crowd at that. Plus, we had to pay money to park! I think we were all a bit dazzled by all that was going on simultaneously - exhibits, people in costumes, carnival rides, and various performances. After wandering around in shock and awe for a bit, we were drawn to a stage with loud music surrounded by a large enthusiastic crowd. We worked our way around to a back corner of the stage where we could actually see the performers…

There was an all-Black group of musicians playing R&B/blues type music…but…it was the three women dancing on stage that COMMANDED our attention – they were dancing in a very energetic, suggestive, and “liberated” manner… in very short and revealing dresses. The night suddenly got very HOT. Needless to say, I had never seen anything like this on TV!! Elvis was mild compared to the overt eroticism on this stage!. At times I thought I could see up the dancer’s dresses…and I felt flushed all over.

I knew I was seeing something that 14 year olds were not supposed to see and felt too obviously out of place to be comfortable. I was SURE that any moment I would feel the grip of some disapproving adult on my shoulder and a stern warning…”You don’t belong here son – at least not for another 8 or 10 years!” - as they threw me out. But, no one was noticing us!! The entire crowd was MESMERIZED – especially by the lead (middle) dancer who sang, danced, strutted, shaked, shimmied, and gyrated all over the stage…goodness, did she ever dance! After about three songs I finally remembered to breathe. Then the band leader thanked us all for appreciating the Ike and Tina Turner Revue!! Little did I know…

These photos might give you a small notion of how strongly this experience was burned into my memory. Who was with me? I have NO idea – Tina Turner seems to have hijacked all my memory cells from that evening.

http://www.answers.com/topic/carnival-memphis
http://www.carnivalmemphis.org/
http://www.memphismagazine.com/backissues/
august1999/citysignatures.htm#carnival

B.J. said...
What I remember of the Cotton Carnival was going to the carnival at the fairgrounds. We welked through rows and rows of games where we could throw darts or shoot little rifles or throw balls at milk cartons to win a prize. There were always people walking around with huge stuffed dogs or apes they'd won, but all I ever managed to win was a cupie doll. My dad always told me not to bother because the games were rigged. But, there was one game I just couldn't resist. The game i spend the most money at was one where you tried to throw little rings over coke bottles. At this game you could actually win a live Pomeranian puppy! They were so cute, but I never saw anybody win one.I remember rides that were my favorites. The Twister, and the Pippin. My mother and I loved to ride that huge Pippin rollercoaster made out of wood that looked ancient. I can still hear the clacking of the rails and that first big dive over the top with our hands and hair in the air. My dad and brother waited on the ground while we road it two and three times. And of course my favorite thing to eat was cotton candy. I remember the Mid-South Fair later on when I was in high school, but was this just a different name for the same thing? I may be confused in my old age.

Paul says...B.J., I believe the Mid-South Fair was a different event than the Cotton Carnival. I am pretty sure the Mid-South Fair happened in the early fall – sometime in September or early October (like most State Fairs), while the Cotton Carnival occurred in early June. The Cotton Carnival was right on the banks of the Mississippi River near Mud Island in downtown Memphis, while the Mid-South Fair was at…the Fair Grounds (wherever that was! I just know it was “inland” from the river.). I am sure you remember when the Folklores sang in the talent competition at the Mid-South Fair – and won an audition to the Ted Mack Amateur Hour…?

Your turn: Comment (below), Blog (right) or Email:

ForrestCityMemories@Yahoo.com

The Old Courthouse

Walter Class of 65 sent us this great postcard of the Old Courthouse... captures what a true loss it was. Thanks WF.

Bogie Class of 62: On the left (picture) was my mom and dad's favorite photo -Compliments of F.C. and Pauline Bogart.

B.J. Class of 68: Anyone remember the old courthouse? What a fabulous old building it was. It had to have been a one-of-a-kind. Inside was a wide, dark hallway with double doors at either end that let in the light. The floor was old, worn wood, and there was a wooden staircase that led up to the second floor. I remember going to a big room up there once to get my polio shot, the one that left a scar about the size of a dime. I will always miss that building. It wasn't pretty, but it had great character.

Paul Class of 68: Yes, I made two court appearances in the old courthouse, but that is another story... Funny, the Old Courthouse was one of the first places my sister (Marianne) and I talked about after Lou first sent out her photos of the Imperial and Rosemary Theaters. It certainly was a memorable structure - right across the street was probably the oldest, most run-down city jail in Arkansas (no, I did not see the inside of that building - just word of mouth). The Old Courthouse looked like it should have been haunted. One of the most striking landmarks at the Old Courthouse was the rickety wooden bridge to it that went over the railroad tracks (since when did they stop building bridges with a 90 degree turn?!!). How many of you remember driving across that bridge - listening to the planks clanking beneath your tires - and praying that it wouldn't fall through - similar to the feeling you got driving over the Old Madison Bridge over the St. Francis River.

Gail Bates: I loved the old courthouse with the clock which never worked in my lifetime! The old “wooden bridge” was always used when a train came through and we were tired of counting the cars. I thought that we were the only ones who actually used that bridge. Scary? You bet! The planks never seemed to be nailed down and I was convinced that it was only a matter of time before we were going to fall through some big hold that must be in that bridge!

Yes, at least one man was hung from the bridge and it was not a “legal hanging.” My grandmother told me about it and it was not to be discussed much. My grandfather had a degree in chemistry and became the first “county agent” for St. Francis County . Before that they had bought property and traveled back and forth to FC. It was on their first trip to FC that the hanging occurred—this was in the late 20’s or early 30’s. My grandmother never forgot. This is the first time that I knew others had heard the story. Was it just this one hanging that has become ingrained in the collective conscious or were there others?


Your turn: Comment (below), Blog by Email:
ForrestCityMemories@Yahoo.com

Haunted Houses

Update: July 7, 2006- See reprint of article on ghost investigation of the Rush House at end, below:

Susie: Oh sure. It's the respectable 100 year old home of the Forrest City Chamber of Commerce today. Before that a quaint antigue shop; all dignified, classy-like. But it wasn't always so. The Becker House they call it -- used to be haunted. In the 50's, catty-cornered from this scary place, my grandparents lived in a proud 3-story, prairie-style manor house with a red barrel roof, and servant's quarters behind it -- where the city's first literary society met. (The Post Office parking lot now). The grandest house in the town was next door on the corner of Izard & Broadway: Baby Williams' (Margie's family and the Harrelson boys' family too): sparkling white, towering 3-story Ante-Bellum palace with huge greek columns. Across the street on Hill & Izard was the town's little phone office, (central receiving where operators connected outside calls to homes with phones) and it had a ringer you could hear around the neighborhood whenever a call came in. Rang all day long. I used to visit Baby Williams and her salt & pepper shaker collection & beautiful dolls to and fro from the soda shop at the Palace Drug Store after reading the latest Superman or Supergirl.

We had to walk to the picture show right by the haunted house. Not so bad going to the early show, but if you went to the late show in Summer dusk, you dreaded coming home after a movie in the dark. We huddled and ran past it on the other side of the street...or if we double dared, on the same side. No one lived in it the whole time I grew up. It just stood there dark, staring at you, watching you, menacing, with weeds all over, news paper trash blown on the porch and peeling paint, dirty windows. The worst time walking home was one night after the Saturday matinee, "Brides of Frankenstein." (We stayed to watch it twice, forgetting it would be dark outside if we stayed for the 2nd show). We thought we saw a shadow through a window and ran screaming home. All the other fine houses are dead, gone, forgotten, torn down. This once ugly, century-old crone has the last laugh.

Postnote: I saw the below picture on the Chamber Website but it did not identify the name or location of the house. Because it gave me a weird feeling and took me back to my childhood and made me think about the haunted house on Izard & Hill...I thought it was the Becker house, home of the Chamber. for a moment it looked a lot like the Becker house facing Izard Street, same color, both are on a corner...and there was the immediate thing in my mind about that scary, haunted feeling. Well, thanks for the friends who corrected me. Actually it is the Rush House, now a Museum which is across the highway and a few blocks away in another neighborhood. I was never familiar with the Rush house and do not recall it at all, so it would be great if someone could fill me in about its history. I've looked on the internet and find nothing about either houses and would to know their histories. If you read the comments below, you'll see a note where, ironically, the Rush house (in the picture here) is actually going to be investigated by Ghosthunters shortly -- which I did not know anything about when I saw the picture and mistakenly labelled it as the haunted house of my childhood!

Dora: I remember walking home from the movie and running past the ally and the house directly behind the movie [Becker House on Izard & Hill]. IT would give me chills and I thought it was haunted I dont remember anyone telling me it was haunted, I just knew! I thought the picture was of the house [Rush House-Museum now] where Mr. and Mrs. David Gates lived in later years. The house belonged to Mrs. Gates Dad. I went to visit them with my mom one time and she took me around the house and showed me all the rooms except one . She said they kept that door locked as it was their personal room and they never let anyone see it. It drove me crazy wanting to know what was in that room!

Lin: Mr David and Miss Ann lived in the locked room. That is where they slept , ate, watched tv and read. They even had a hot plate in this room. The rest of the house was kept in visitor ready condition, but when it was just the Gates, they never ventured out of the 'locked room.' Maybe the ghosts were present back then.

Update from Anonymous:

Thursday, June 22, 2006
St Francis Co Museum's 'ghosts' to be investigated
Alan SmithT-H Staff Writer
There are many stories about "haunted houses" in almost every town or city no matter where you go. Probably the most famous of those places in Forrest City is the St. Francis County Museum. There have been tales for years that people have experienced eerie goings on at the historic J.O. Rush House and there may be some answers coming in mid-July.The Northwest Arkansas Ghost Connection will pay a visit to the museum on Thursday, July 13 and Friday, July 14. According to the organization's website, www.nwaghostconnection.net, the Northwest Arkansas Ghost Connection is a non-profit organization dedicated to the research of the paranormal through audio, video, film and digital photography. Those within their group are professionals with a common goal; to research the paranormal around us and to learn from their findings. They want to help those encountering unseen phenomena and to determine if it is caused by the paranormal. They do not charge for their services.Lori Arhangelsky, founder, case manager and director, spoke about the event and what the Ghost Connection does to find ghosts. She said that a lot of people hear "paranormal investigation" and think about the movie "Ghostbusters.""We don't have proton guns like they did in that movie," laughed Arhangelsky. "We do general research of the land and the buildings we investigate to determine if there is any reason for the haunting. We gather as many facts as we can to determine what type of haunting is occurring."We use equipment to record the events," stated Arhangelsky. "We audio record and ask questions to see if we get an answer from an disembodied spirit. We use equipment to record electro-magnetic fields. Spirits put off high electric signals. It takes a lot of energy for them to affect things here, so if there are spirits they will give off fields. We also use digital camcorders to video the events. We do not use regular VHS tapes because of the quality of the digital recordings."Arhangelsky said that while the Ghost Connection is still doing background on the museum case and that they have not yet conducted any recording at the site, she has some knowledge of the types of things that have occurred at the museum."I have heard quite a bit from Harvey Hanna, the museum manager, about what he has experienced. There have been small items displaced. There have been sightings of apparitions, particularly a women that has been seen by several different people. There have been instances were doorknobs rattle and doors open and close, and unexplained loud noises. These are typical things that will happen in a haunting."Many people feel that if they get an uneasy feeling in a place that it is haunted. Generally that is not the story. If they are malevolent spirits they try to create fear for them to feed on. They create noises, maybe voices, and try to build the fear. Once your fear is high, then comes the uneasy feelings. My guess is that there are maybe two different spirits at the museum. I would say that they are not malevolent because they are doing small, silly things. I think they are embedded spirits, they have a history there at that house. That is all speculation of course. My opinion may change after we get in there and do some recordings."According to Arhangelsky, becoming a paranormal investigator is a lot like becoming a criminologist."Just like anything else that you go to get a college degree for, you can get a degree from certain colleges to become a paranormal investigator," commented Arhangelsky. "It is similar to a criminology degree. You learn from hands-on experience at scenes by physically doing investigations. I got my degree from a college in California. We do not practice witchcraft, we investigate hauntings and try to explain why they are happening."Arhangelsky stated that while her group has only been together since August of last year, they have enjoyed some national media attention. "We just did a TV episode of Criss Angel, which airs on the A&E Network," commented Arhangelsky. "He was filming one of his shows at a site that we had just done an investigation at. It is scheduled to air July 5. We also have a television producer talking to us about our own show."On Thursday, July 13, we will speak to the public at between 4 and 6 p.m.," added Arhangelsky . "We will answer questions and talk to folks about what we do. We will spend that night in the museum and do recordings. The next day, Friday, July 14, from 4 to 6 p.m., we will talk about our findings and answer questions. We welcome the public out to speak with us and hopefully we will have some answers on that Friday."

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SHORT-SHORTS: Just Saying Hello

Jenny (Prewett) and David Dearman's son Daniel is with a Guard unit from the Fort Smith area. His unit is currently training at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, MS, in preparation for going overseas,destination unknown. They would appreciate hearing from friends at this uncertain time. Their address is: ddearman@cox.net. Posted July 13, 2006

Frances Walker (McCampbell)FCHS '58... I just 'ran up on' this blog spot. Who put it up? I think you are older than I am, but just wondered. I've enjoyed reading the posts.

Sula says... Hi Frances, read the first post for the story of how it started...Class of 68 folks...glad you like it... Post some stories, we'd love to hear them!

Pat Flanagin: Keep me posted. I like to keep up with the “In Crowd”, my nickname for Dora’s age group when we were growing up, and other escapees from F. C.

Looking for Dora Flanagin
Preston says: [Dora], Really enjoyed reading your comments on Forrest City...What is going on with you these days? I currently live in Milwaukee, WI.

Dora Flanagin....This is Preston....Really enjoyed reading your comments on Forrest City...What is going on with you these days? I currently live in Milwaukee, WI.Dora says...Hey Preston! What are you doing in Wi.? You know I am a Green Bay Packer fan! Is your grandmother still living? I always did like her. I have not seen you since I was at the hospital working back in 86!

Looking For Paul Gibson
Janet Griffith: Greetings from the Mississippi Delta! This is the first day that I've looked at the "Peach Fuzz Chronicles" and I saw your name. I'm really looking for my old friend, your sister, Loretta. We were friends a million years ago and lost touch. Are you living in CA? David Danehower is out there somewhere. (I sat by him on a plane a while back) And who is it that's living in FL? SUJO? I've been living in FL too, although, I'm living off Old Madison Road right now . . . not too far from Sue Ann Drive . . . ring a bell? It's a long story . . . Anyway, I'm Janet Griffith and my email address is jangriffi@aol.com. Please give my address to Loretta the next time you talk. YES! Patsy Griffith is my young aunt. The other side of my family are The Merrell Family . . . grandchildren of Carl's Courts Edmondson. (Cathy, Sherri and Kem Merrell, to be exact) You and I have met, but I wouldn't expect you to remember me. Please tell Loretta to write me and tell Mariann hello too! Thanks in advance

My Mother Found This
John Beane: How could it be that my mother found this blog for me? Aren't I the one who helps her with her computer on every visit? She is still using free dial up for goodness sakes!
I am very glad she sent me the address. Carl's Courts. The Imperial. I would love to see a picture of Faupel's or more of downtown.
My mother would be proud of me, John Beane, in Punta Gorda, FL.
We were just back home two weeks ago to visit and many things have not changed while many more things have changed in not so friendly ways. However, the FCCC golf course looks better than ever, although I still didn't break 80.
I will submit some stories and share the site with others. It should be fun!

My Forrest City Memories
Jo: Hey everyone! Good to read the memories that you all have. They are all so very precious, aren't they? I still get the "warm fuzzies" when I think of all the fun we all had during high school especially The WHBQ, WMPS stations that I listened to at night on my transistor radio . They were my link to the outside world. I loved reading teen mags and writing in my diary in code so my little sister, Jan, wouldn't "read and tell". Beatles, Animals, Roy Orbison, Yard Birds, Dusty Springfield, Stones and on and on. What a great time to be a teenager!!! Smoking cigs, pooling our money for gas that was about 40 or 50 cents a gallon. Driving round and round Faupels, driving round Hilltop Dairy Bar, spending countless hours baking in the sun at Carl's Courts. Swim all day for a buck!! Wow! I will be here all night if I keep on writing. Will add more later. Jo


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60's Culture: UFO's

Click above to see eye witness story of aUFO sited on Mississippi Street in 1965

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60's Culture: WHBQ AM & George Klein

What's wrong with this picture?

Paul: This picture of G.K. and the Pod Girls is a total HOOT! I don't remember, what was a Pod Girl? I recognized Sula first...then Linda...then Jan...and...uh...Okay, is that B.J. or Nancy on the far left? Who is that next to Sula? And who is on George Klein's right - is that Dora? Mare?

B.J.: Where did this come from? I have no recollection of this whatsoever. It must be fake. But, I do recognize everyone, I think. It's me, Linda, Dora, George, Jan, Ellen, and Sula. Please somebody refresh my memory!

THE STORY OF HOW THIS PICTURE HAPPENED

From: Dora To: Sula , Nancii , Jan, Linda
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006

OK SULA YOU CAN SETTLE THIS ARGUMENT JAN AND NANCII AND I HAD. NANCII AND I SAID "THE PLACE" WAS RIGHT OUTSIDE OF GOLDSMITHS IN MEMPHIS. I WAS TELLING THEM ABOUT YOU AND EDIE AND ME GOING THERE AND EDIE PLAYING LIKE SHE WAS FROM ENGLAND. JAN SAID NO, "THE PLACE" WAS LOCATED IN LEVYS AND THERE WERE CLOTHES THERE. NANCII AND I SAID NO IT WAS RIGHT OUTSIDE AND AROUND CORNER FROM GOLDSMITHS AND NO CLOTHES WERE IN THERE. IT WAS JUST A TEENAGE CLUB THING WITH GEORGE KLINE. OK SO WHO IS RIGHT?

Sula: I don't know the name of the place where George Klein had those parties-- But where we went...and this was before we could drive as I recall because Edie's mother took us I think...so we must have been 14 or 15. George Klein broadcasted on AM radio. AM 56 I think...WREG ? He was broadcasting live when those parties were going on. It was like a radio Dick Clark thing. It was in the building where WREG had the radio station...and there was a marquee out front over the door like a V, the old fashioned kind with WREG on it and then where you could put letters up announcing things...anyway, it was the WREG radio offices...you went inside the door and if you went upstairs it was to the radio station...but they had taken the basement and made it into this kids party place where George Klein was in a booth. The place was so crowded though you could hardly move and it was very hard to even see George Klein at all in the mass of people... Was the WREG radio offices were across from Levy's? If you were going down the street and Levy's was on your right...I'm thinking this place was on the left?

Linda (Rosica) Machen: I don't remember Levy's being right next to Goldsmith's. I thought is was on down the street. I do remember the teen place but couldn't recall where it was. Ya'll are a lot better than me. I do remember being really ugly and Judy said Jan, E, Annette & I were gay. I'm going to beat her butt the next time I see her.

Jan (Greene) Sprott: THE CLOTHES WERE NOT IN THE BAND AREA---THEY WERE OFF THE ELEVATOR--YOU WENT LEFT AROUND THE CORNER---LIKE SOUTHEAST BEHINE THE ELEVATORS MAYBE -AND MAYBE DOWN A LITTLE --BUT NOT LIKE STAIRS TO THE BAND STAGE AREA WHERE I SAW THE BOXTOPS ETC. DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU WERE---PROBABLY ALREADY IN AN UNDERGROUND BAR--- BUT IT IS IMPRINTED IN MY HEAD AND BESIDES ANNETTE KNOWS I AM RIGHT---WE WERE THERE TOGETHER A FEW TIMES. LOVE, YOUR INTELLIGENT FRIEND, JAN

Dora: You are only using directions like south east to sound intelligent and make me think you are right. Oh what you will not stoop to prove you are right when you are so wrong. Nancii and I always walked out of Goldsmiths around the corner and the door was on the same side and you walked down some stairs and into the club. YOU were probably in a gay bar!!!!!!

Jan (Greene) Sprott: Wasn't Levy's on the left side of the street: on the (sorry Dora) West side of the street? I am getting tired and it is still morning!

Dora: I really don't know directions at all. I just know by landmarks and that is why I know where The Place was.

Sula: Boy my memory is so shot! ...there was a teenage club in downtown Memphis called the Roaring 60's--- so maybe that's where you all saw the Box Tops? And so maybe we are talking about 2 different places?

Jan: Well I think we must be, too but what I can['t figure out is: Why do I not remember the Goldsmith one? And they don't remember the Levy's one? I would think we would have gone to both---the Levy's one was sort of a ramp you went down west of the elevators and then behind them. It had chairs and a little stage for the band--Cokes and Popcorn I think----I don't remember a dance floor. Annette, look at your emails---do you??????????? Annette really doesn't have the best memory, bless her heart. I have to remember a lot for her. But NO ONE has a memory like Dora--she just gets a little--- confused----- sometimes

Dora: JAN WE WENT TO "THE PLACE" AND THAT MUST HAVE BEEN ANOTHER CLUB WHERE YOU WENT. THE ONE SULA IS TALKING ABOUT. DONT HAVE ON GLASSES AND CANT GET THE CAP KEY OFF. I LOVE YALL. OH JAN DO YOU AND ANNETTE REMEMBER US DRESSING UP LIKE HULABALOO GIRLS IN ANNETTE'S BASEMENT FOR LAURIE'S BIRTHDAY- 10TH GRADE- AND SAYING WE WERE THOSE GIRLS????
Linda: The underground club (Roaring 60's) is not the one where we were either. I don't even remember a dance floor--just chairs...

Dora: You know I do remember two places. In Levys you did go from inside the store down some steps and there was this little place where they would have bands and you could drink cokes BUT there was also the one right behind Goldsmith's that you entered from the street and went down some steps it was The PLACE. George Kline would be there at least he was when I went. only went about three or four times. I remember Sula, Edie and I think Nancii was with me one time.

Sula: They had bands at the Orpheum in the daytime too a few times...It was the Malco back then I think...I remember going with Edie once to hear some big thrill band (I wasn't hip to them) and we rushed out to wait by the back stage door after the concert cause Edie wanted to meet one of the band members & when he came out all sweating & stuff, there were a million girls rushing at him, and Edie told me to put her name & phone number in his coat pocket. I had to hustle cause there were all these girls storming them and I quickly stuffed it in his coat pocket...and he felt it and looked around and I ran...god, the things that Edie talked me into! I remember that guy looked around coming out of that stage door like rabbit in a pack of hounds...he just stood around dazed and all these teenage girls were cackling around the band members trying to get out of there.

You all remember the George Klein WHBQ Cuties? Here's a picture of them I found on the internet.

Dora: Weren't they on Dance Party too?

Jan: Well I just have one question -- why weren't WE in that picture!

Sula: No problem -- give me a minute and you will be with the magic of PhotoShop. Etta's Little Rock friends call people from F.C. the "Pod People" cause we all seem to have some kind of strange bond like in that movie, the "Bodysnatchers." So I'll just make us the Pod Girls instead of the WHBQ Cuties. The only pictures of I have of you all is the one from last November.

Dora: Sula, Ellen and Nancii look the best!! How do you do that? Linda's head looks little with all that hair for her face and my head is big for the hair but ...Jan's looks like a real pic and so does Ellen. I mean looks like it was made like that. So does Nancii. Damn, that is good!

Sula: Well, I had to use 55 year old heads to put on the 16 year old bodies...

Dora: You know we are in our mid-50's and Linda is so pretty and Jan is still so beautiful.

Linda: O.K. so I haven't checked my email in a few days. I saw this picture & thought--OMG, I don't remember this and then looked at what is supposed to be my legs and thought damn, I didn't know I looked that good. I guess the picture made me look 20 pounds bigger. Then I scrolled down. I wish I could have looked that good. I would have even lived with that hair. Then Tally Turk would have like me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND, DORA, you said I am pretty & Jan is beautiful. Excuse me, Jan is NOT beautiful. She is only a little cute---tiny tiny little bit cute. AND, it is WAY TOO MUCH fun being around high school friends. It's like we never left. When I first looked at that picture with George Cline I thought Dora was Sallie Bridgforth.

Sula: I got too loose with the smudge tool... Nancy looks like BJ now and Dora looks like Sallie! Hell, all you white girls look alike anyway. Or maybe something was in those peaches...Pod Girls.

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Carl's Courts

Anonymous: BJ, there were two Carls courts He owned one over by Shell Lake or almost to Shell Lake.

Anonymous said...
I have a lot of memories of Carl's Courts. I don't remember it ever looking like these drawings. It was always painted white. This picture confuses me. It says 25 miles west of Memphis, 25 miles east of Forrest City. What's the deal? Is this a different Carl's Courts?Anyway, Nancy and Dora and I did a lot of sunbathing next to the little pool at Carl's Courts on Broadway next to the Flanagin house. But, the strangest thing I remember was the year we had a really hard freeze and the pool water froze over so thick Dora and I actually walked on it.Don Edmondson ran the office for his dad then. He was cute and cool and never batted an eye when Nancy and I switched bathing suits in the pool one gray day when no one else was there. We went into the office just to see if he would notice. He just shook his head at us. 7/1/06

Anonymous said...
BJ this is you! We did stay over there a lot and Don was so cute. Do you remember us sneaking around and smoking a cigg? thing is you quit and I didnt! 7/4/06

Anonymous said...
When Don and his first wife, Doris Ann, got married, they lived in a small apartment at the motel...she was my second grade teacher and they would invite me to spend the night sometimes. Boy, that sounds like something Opie's teacher, Helen Crump,would do! Times have sure changed...I'm a teacher now and I cannot imagine having a student spend the night at my house. What would I be accused of?! 7/13/06

Jeannie said...
I learned to swim there. Mr. Carl attended our church and I loved Mrs. Hazel and him very much. The story is told that one day I jumped off of the diving board and, being only 2 years old, Mr. Carl ran outside yelling, "Get that baby! Get that baby!" My mother just laughed as Mr. Carl peered into the water and watched with amazement as I swam through the water like a tadpole!By the way...everyone had a crush on Don Edmonson! I think we all still do. 7/22/06

Butch Ford said...
The Edmondsons live down the street from us in Edgewood. Mr. and Mrs. Edmondson were really nice people. They lived in one of the biggest and coolest houses in the neighborhood. Their son, Don, had a '55 Chevy convertible. I think I was in maybe the 5th or 6th grade. I thought he was just about the coolest guy in the universe. It was a case of genuine hero worship. One hot day, I rode my bike down that way and Don was working in his parent's yard. I stopped to talk and he "Tom Sawyered" me into helping him weed the flower beds on each side of the driveway. If you ever noticed, the house sat waaaaaay back from the street. So, the flower beds were twice as long as the looooong driveway. I gladly helped him weed those beds. After it the work was finished, we got in his cool car (with the top down) and he took me down to the Dairy Queen and bought me a milkshake and a hamburger. Years later, when I was visiting my Dad, he called Don and we went over to see his really, really cool house over the hill from Dad's house. He was very gracious in giving us a complete tour of the house but he didn't remember the flower bed thing. 7/25/06

Grammar School

Butch Class of 60: Does anyone remember the little narrow playground on the south side of the Grammar School? This is where I think they first installed those swings with thick wooden seats that had bulky metal brackets on both ends. I chased one of those silly red rubber playground balls into the swing "danger zone." A kid bailed out and the empty swing seat hit me in the face with an uppercut that made me do a back-flip. I woke up in Crawley-Cogburn Clinic with Dr. Crawley shining a light in my eyes asking me what day it was.

Several years later, I think they made a parking lot for teachers out of that area. My mother went to school in that old building. She had Miss Geraldine (Moseley) as a music teacher, too. Maribeth is nine years younger and she had Miss Geraldine, too. Miss Geraldine's desk was down in the forward right corner of the auditorium with her piano. She tried mightily to get us to sing on key. Do, Re, Me, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do! She was the ramrod in a music program for parents most of the kids who could remotely sing on key. My first ever public singing "engagement" was in a barbershop quartet that had five boys. We wore red and white striped coats, those hard, flat, straw hats and little cardboard mustaches. We sang "Dark Town Strutter's Ball" and "Sweet Adeline." The only other kid I remember in that group was Danny Gestring. He moved to Cape Girardeau after the seventh or eighth grade. How about it. Anyone else remember being in that group?

How about that big, old, white, wooden, really tall, sliding board out in the main part of the playground? They must have painted it at least every three or four years, because the paint was always pealing off. The actual slide area was sheet metal nailed to the wooden structure. It was polished to a high sheen by all the butts that rocketed down it during all three recesses. I can still feel the occasional nail head that would work its way up a little. You had to be aware of where they were and dodge them. It was a lot of fun unless it rained and the landing zone became a mud pit and the teachers made it off limits while the mud dried up. That old slide got replaced by a "modern" metal slide before we got out of Grammar School. Not nearly as high or as much fun.

One of the favorite Fall pastimes during recess was tackle football. Then, two boys got broken arms in a single week. I think it was Donnie Kessinger and W. L. Laws. The order came down from Miss McDaniel, "No More TACKLE Football." That was no fun either. Slow, fat guys are at a major disadvantage playing touch football.

Can you name each of your Grammar School teachers? I can.
1st Grade: Miss Douglas
2nd Grade: Mrs. Cook
3rd Grade: Mrs. Beane
4th Grade: Mrs. Ridgeway
5th Grade: Mrs. Hudspeth
6th Grade: Mrs. Gardner

Then we got injected into seventh grade in the high school. It was seven through twelve. Thankfully, they finished enough of Sam Smith Jr. High for us to start eighth grade the next fall.

Sula: I would love to see a trivia playoff between Dora & Butch...only problem would be that no one else but them would know the answers...incredible memories!

Anonymous Class of 68: Ok Butch you are on!
1st grade-Mrs. Armstrong
2nd- Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Fogle half day Mrs. Smith was the principal. She had a son named Mark Fogle. I think he had a sister your age named Dianne.
3rd- Mrs. Blackard
4th- Mrs. Harold
5th- Mrs Hollingsworth
6th- Mrs. Henry

In the 6th grade a group of the girls had a marble co-op! we got in trouble for it and never knew why. We also got in trouble for holding our breaths for as long as we could and passing out! I wonder if our memory is a sign of age? I mean a lot of people in a nursing home can go back as far as we can Butch! One more memory. Can anyone remember sending notes that said I love you do you love me and a box with yes or no and you put an x in one of the boxes. Chinese fortune deals we made with paper? Chinese jumprope? A guy named David Hill who would turn flips all over the playground? How Janet or Sally ALWAYS got to play Mary in the Christmas plays? That we had Christmas plays???

First Baptist Church

Dora: There is a special bond that is made when people grow up in a small town. There is an even greater bond if you happen to grow up in the largest church in town - First Baptist. I have many memories from that experience. Jan, Nancii, Edie, Dora, B.J., Janet, Gracie and Judy were the girls in "our grade" who attended or skipped church at First Baptist. I can still see the huge banner that went from one end of the choir loft to the other- GIVE MORE TO DO MORE IN 64!. No pics of Jesus by it but the huge sign urging you to give to do more. I never knew to do more what.

The Baptist girls were all high spirited and mischievous with the exception of Janet. She was cut out to marry a preacher way back then. The rest of us were rather high strung. We went through Sunday school teachers and really gave them hell. I can remember Mrs. Emerson stopping the Sunday School lesson because we were talking about what we had done Saturday night. She stopped and said,"I will just shut up and let you girls talk". We said thank you and continued to talk and she cried and left the room. I mean I thought , 'We are going to hell for sure making a Baptist Sunday School teacher cry. Plus I knew my mother would find out about this. The Department leader was a lady by the name of Ms. Vegas. I never knew Mr. Vegas. She lived down the street from the church in a little blue house that looked like a doll house with beautiful flowers. She was a huge woman. Actually at the time she looked the size of the little blue house. She was sneaky about telling on us.

We would skip the opening class before we had to go to the individual Sunday school class. Where would we go? We went to the "little store" to buy candy and purple bubble gum. The store was located west of the church and I believe their name was Crutchfield but not for sure. There were occasions when I would take some of my give more to do more in 64 money from my envelope to buy even more candy. That would really make me feel guilty. Now Mrs. Vegas KNEW we were there because she would see us when we returned to our individual Sunday school class. BUT she would always go to my mother and say How is Dora doing we missed her this morning. I mean why she just didn't say I skipped rather than play the mind game is beyond me. I guess she wanted to appear more like a Christian by not looking like a tattle tale.

As the years passed and we learned how to drive, we went on to bigger and better things. BJ would drive and all of us would skip church and listen to it on the radio in case our parents asked what the sermon was about. We would go to Blue Lake, Wynne or where ever we could go in an hour. With B driving, we could have gone to Alaska as she drove like a Baptist out of Hell! One Sunday we had a flat. Jan was so worried. We were between Wynne and Forrest City. They were about to give the invitation according to the sermon on the radio. Dr. Phillips happened to drive by and stopped and change the flat. Jan and I were saying Please Lord help us get back before church is out and we will never skip again. We were afraid of what our mothers would say. Well not so much what they would say as the look they would give us. We pulled up to the church just as people were walking out the doors. We ran and tried to look like we were coming down the stairs and out with the others - but we were caught. I had to sit with mother in church the next few Sundays and Jan's mother made her sing in the church choir so she would know Jan was there. Those Baptist MUST have told jan she could sing and that is what led to her singing career. Kind of like Whitney Houston!

Next time we talk, I will tell you the stories of the Clarke family and how Phillip would get his tongue stuck in the Lord's Supper glasses. Till then have a good life!

Lin Turner: Miss Vadis was indeed gargantuan in size. When my parents were traveling, I stayed at her little blue house for weeks at a time. She had the first color television in FC prominently placed in the living room. I dreaded Sunday's when I was in her care because it meant going to the Baptist Church and being there all day long, or so it seemed, and then not being allowed to go out and play in the afternoon because,"we set aside the cares of the world and rest on the Lord's Day." Her idea of rest meant learning Bible verses, which was unpleasantly foreign to a heathen little Presbyterian. There was an upside to being in that house on Sundays though: Miss Vadis made homemade donuts every Sunday morning. I can still taste them today. Her donuts gave Mr. Faupel's donuts a real run for the money. There was a Mr. Vadis, in reality he was named Paul Isbell. On Sundays he holed up in his workshop doing woodwork and smoking cigarettes. Mr. Paul was a sweet natured man with depressive tendencies. As nice as the day is long, he might be called a no show since he was totally overshadowed by Miss Vadis.

Sherri Merrill: Before my parents built our house just west of town, we leased the house just down the street from Miss Vadis. She was the sweetest lady in the world, with a great sense of humor. Had the most beautiful creeping phlox I've ever seen. Every two years she would change her house from blue with white trim to white with blue trim. I never stole any of her flowers.

Anonymous: That's not what I heard :)

Maribeth Chism: I remember the highlight of Sunday School( I was Baptist,too) was when Miss Vadis would bend over and we would giggle because we could see her hose held up by the elastic garters and her legs!! Drew Woods would try not to laugh, because he was kin to her (he probably had done something else to be in trouble anyway).

B.J. said... Okay, we Baptists did do some driving on Sunday mornings in Daddy's Ford Fairlane 500. It even had "stereo" radio. I don't know how it worked, but every time we sailed over a bump on one of those gravel back roads headed back to church, there was a loud, stereophonic "clang" underneath the back speaker. Sally had the fast car, though. I'm sure we still hold the record for making the trip back from Helena to Forrest City in 28 minutes in her beautiful blue T-Bird with the portholes. Or, was that Dudly's car? Nevermind! 6/28/06

P.S. Sally, I'm sure Dudley musts have known by all the gas that was missing anyway.

Bogie said...First Baptist was my church home from the time my family moved to FC right up to when I moved away to go to college. I remember Rev. T.K. Rucker and his family. He baptized me when I was 11 but was called to a church in LR when I was in high school. Rev. Sam Gash took the helm then and was there until after I married. I was supposed to be married at First Baptist, but like so many of us who are 20 going on 60 and knowing all there is to know about life my chosen and I eloped to Alabama to avoid the high cost of the wedding. Actually, we were so much in lust we didn't want to wait for the large wedding! Oh well. 7/8/06

First Baptist Church 2

Butch Ford: I have many memories of First Baptist Church. It was and is my family's home church. The original structure was on Washington, across the street from the Post Office. The building was sold to AP&L.

One of my earliest memories was of Walter Ferguson jumping up at the beginning of a service and shouting, "Yonder's Brother Ricker!" Walter was probably about two years old. He broke up the place. Brother Ricker's real name was Rucker, the new pastor.

After the congregation committed to building a new church building at its present location, I remember going to an outdoor revival with wooden benches on the empty lot where the church would be built. They hung strings of lights across the area. It looked like a used car lot. Angel Martinez was the evangelist. He wore a white suit and played a trumpet as part of his ministry.

Several years later, the church bosses invited a bunch of us to come to the sanctuary with our BB guns to shoot birds that had nested in the partially completed structure. Of course this was before the stained glass windows had been installed.The birds would buzz the congregation during the services and leave offerings for their trouble.

I remember a bunch of us were playing tag around the church during some mid-week event. With Doug Rucker or maybe Booger Montgomery close on my heels, I ran through the choir room which was up behind the choir loft and had doors on both sides of the Baptistry. I jumped down through the Baptistry which had four or five steps on both ends. I took one step and leaped out into the middle of the Baptistry. No problem, except that about a foot of water remained in the bottom. I had a hard time explaining how both shoes were soaked and my pants were wet up to the knees.

When we reached driving age, after Sunday School, some of us would go over to the little store and wait until church started. Then, we would take one of our parents' cars and ride around. Of course we would listen to KXJK as it broadcast the services "live from First Baptist Church." We would make a dash for the church when the invitational hymn started. We would park and walk up to the front steps and hang around, looking like we were just the first ones out of the church. That worked really well until a late arriver to church got my parking place. Dad came out and looked puzzled when his car was parked three spaces away from his usual spot. He never said a word.

Arne Thompson and I tried the quick dash to Wynne a couple of times. We almost T-Boned a huge German Shepherd just south of Colt. The invitational was about to start and his parents' 56 Ford was topped out. That stupid dog froze in the middle of the highway. As we skidded past him sideways, I looked him right in the eye from my vantage point on the front, passenger-side floor. We made it before the third stanza and never tried it again. Oh yes, we did go to church some, too.

Paul said...Now Butch, that account was truly funny. I always thought that Walter Ferguson COULD have become a TeleEvangelist if he had been so inclined - as it seems that he had the "vision and voice" gifts at an early age!I am beginning to wonder if adolescent Baptists in FC ever really attended church services?!
Wed Jul 26, 10:21:03 PM 2006

B.J. said... Paul,I can attest that we did in fact sometimes attend church. I can remember one Sunday when the kids in the balcony became so loud that Brother Gash stopped his prepared sermon and preached a whole sermon on the balcony. We all sat stonefaced when we realized the the entire church was focused on us.
Thu Jul 27, 11:02:15 AM 2006

Dora said... Bj, I can remember Al Harris mother passing me a note in church in the balcony. It was a Bible verse. When I got home and looked it up, it was about a time to be quiet! I use to put purple bubble gum in the offering plate for Dutch Meredith to get as it came back to him. Everytime I would see him, he would ask for purple bubble gum. I remember Brother Gash also doing that! Mother did not ask IF I was talking, she said Dora was he talking to you! I had to sit with her once again for about three Sundays. I had one sweet mother!
Thu Jul 27, 06:47:18 PM 2006

Paul said... The Balcony in the Methodist Church was a bit rowdy too. I would read novels and magazines that I got from a quick trip to the Broadway Drug Store between Sunday School and church. I remember several times when someone (you know who you are J & B)would crack a joke and we would all have to bite our cheeks to keep from laughing out loud. Unfortunately, the cheek-biting didn't work too well ...and we ended up making snorting sounds. I guess the congregation thought we had colds, since we never got passed a note with a Bible verse like in the Baptist Church. I remember one Communion Sunday when one of our group (who would later become a doctor) put fizzies in the Communion grape juice. Just thinking about that still makes me laugh and snort. Actually I don't remember the preacher or any of the church elders reacting at all. It was such a totally unthinkable and blasphemous act, that they were completely stunned and paralyzed.
Fri Jul 28, 07:50:34 AM 2006

Nan said... Many of us went to Campbell's store to load up on candy and gum during services at the First Baptist Church before we took off in a parents car for a spin. The Campbell's never told on us but they knew what we were up to. Good people. Once I had a wreck in my parents car with Judy Ferguson Smith when we were joy riding during church and the police had to walk down the aisle and tell my Dad, James Montgomery in the middle of church that I had a wreck. I did some fast talking to get out of that one. We always listened to the end of the sermon on the radio so we could tell our parents what it was about if the asked and they would ask. Surprised I was not killed my Daddy for that one.
Mon Aug 21, 12:46:26 AM 2006

Nan said... I think every age followed suit in skipping church at the First Baptist and going to Campbell's grocery store and loading up on candy and gum before heading off in one of our parents cars. Usually mine. Once Judy Ferguson Smith and I were joy riding during church and I had a wreck. The police had to go into the church during the service and get my Dad, James Montgomery, and tell him I had a wreck when he thought I was sitting in church. I did some fast talking. I am surprised Daddy did not kill me for this one. We also listened to KXJK to catch the end of the sermon so we would know what it was about in case our parents asked and they did ask. God bless them, they tried.
Mon Aug 21, 01:01:49 AM 2006

Bogie said: Aug 24, 2006: Hey you guys--------what gives with all this "skipping church"?? We of the more "meek" generations stayed for church and happily so!! (Yea right, and I have a bridge)! No, seriously, my Mom sat about mid-way on the left side. All us kids sat in the rear center. I think that's the way it's always been. Passing notes, jokes, and telephone numbers was really bad behavior when I was a kid! We even wrote notes in my Bible! Holy cow--that would get you grounded for the rest of the week! No picture show that Sunday afternoon! If you were lucky enough to be dating someone of the same religious convictions, you got to sit together--that was frowned on by most adults of the day--my Mom did bear up under the pressure though. I was dating a guy whose parents practically started that church and was in no way about to cause them or my parents any embarassment! (Not to mention all the punishment that I would be awarded with!) Besides, we didn't have a car to "ride around" in! My friends and I walked everywhere we went in FC. You couldn't any more get in it, start it up, and go without having to stop and get out only seconds later! FC wasn't exactly the cruise capitol of Eastern Arkansas!! A lot of the time on Sunday morning my Mom would drive me to Sunday School and home from Church, but some days I would walk and go by my friends house and we would walk together. But skip church? Not on your life--if I was supposed to be there--I was there!! Talk about a sheltered life!!

Peaches

Butch Class of 60: We used to live about a block from the Peach Shed down on South Rosser. Every summer, the perfume of peaches filled the air. Night and day, they worked on those peaches. Peaches everywhere. You could see and smell the squashed peaches that fermented in the summer heat. Never did like peaches very much after that.

After WWII was over and all the soldiers came home, my Dad returned to a town that had changed a lot. While he was "overseas" for 28 months, my mother, my big brother, Charles and I lived with my grandfather, Henry Bernard and his wife and sister-in-law in Helena, Arkansas. So, when Dad got back, we didn't have a place to live in FC. He ran into Newman Stewart (remember 8th grade English teacher, Opal Stewart?) at Vacarro-Grobmeyer Lumber Co. and asked him if he knew of a place he could rent. Newman had an idea and they made an arrangement to divide the Stewart home down the middle and make a duplex out of it. Newman was a farmer and lived on his farm west of town, right off Highway 70, just past the Brown Bomber juke joint. We lived on one side and the Stewarts lived in the other. (I always called Mrs. Stewart, Miss Sopal. By the way, Miss Sopal still lives in that same house.)

Our side of the house didn't have an indoor "convenience," so we used an outhouse out next to the chicken house. Dad and Mr. Newman also rigged up a GI shower because we had been using a #3 washtub for bathing. The partially filled 55 gallon water drum made the whole thing collapse while Charles was standing under it observing. The drum hit ol' Charles a glancing blow to the head. Put a dent in that drum, too. He mostly recovered, but I still think he acts a little strange at times.

I "celebrated" my fourth birthday in that house. When Charles started to school, I didn't have anybody to play with. My only neighborhood friends lived down the road on Honeysuckle Lane. Their names were Lennon and Junior. For reasons that were not revealed to me, my mother would get upset when I tried to play with those kids, but that's another story. A year or so later, we moved to town into a real duplex owned by the Carltons on South Rosser. Actually, it was an apartment on one side of a larger house where the Carltons lived. This one had a convenience indoors. Our neighbors on one side were Mr. and Mrs. Max. Berlotzky (sp?).

What a great neighborhood! There were kids all over the place. Randy Dalton, Ronnie Peevey, Rhesa Davis, Bubba Stratton, Charley Haywood, Tommy and James Earl Ferguson lived down the street for a little while. There were others, but I can't remember their names. We lived in this house when I started to school in 1948.

But, I digress. Back to the Peach Shed. As a first and second grader, I never fully appreciated the scope of that peach processing operation and financial impact it had on the area. All I knew was that, from a short block away, with the windows open all the time in our little half-a-house, you could hear them working all night and smell those peaches.

Funny thing, what I remember most about the building was the Frozen Food Locker. It was in a kind of sub-basement on the north end of the building. You could actually rent space in the facility to store frozen stuff and retreive it from your personal "locker" when you needed it. Apparently, home freezers weren't on the market then. I don't think refrigerators were very common either. I believe we had one and I think it had a cooling coil on top.

To us kids, the best thing about the Frozen Food Locker was that they sold Popsicles. For a nickel, you could get a Popsicle; grape, cherry, orange, banana, root beer, but no peach flavor. Man! Those things were so good. One of the tricks we would try with our Popsicles was to suck all the flavor out and leave an almost white piece of ice on two sticks. Rhesa Davis was better at it than anyone. I usually ate mine before it got to that point anyway.

Paul Class of 68: Over the years I have noticed that it is very rare to see this kind of on-going sense of connection to people from other places and times. Maybe it WAS the peaches...
...two short memories. The first was my initial experience eating DELICIOUS homemade peach ice cream on a hot summer night at Billy Tucker's house (my best friend and neighbor at that time who moved to FL at age 9). The 2nd memory was of shaving the "peach fuzz" from my face with Bev Machen's electric razor - with much prodding and laughing from Jim. I think we were about 12 years old... BTW, I also remember eating lots of homemade peach ice cream at Jim's house over the years.

B.J Class of 68.: I remember the town being surrounded by peach orchards. I also remember going to one of them where we picked our own peaches and I ate one without even washing it. That was probably before DDT was banned, too. I'm sure I'll pay for that someday. I also remember Billy Tucker. He sat behind me in third grade. Since I was an R (Rowland) and he was a T (Tucker), we were at the back of the classroom. One day Billy brought his army men to school and during class had them all out on his desk. I was turned around sideways in my desk, and we were playing army. Just about the time he mowed all the men down with a sweep of his hand and an appropriate machine gun sound, we noticed our teacher's legs. She was standing there staring down at us with her hands on her hips. I think her name was Miss Land. She had to have been the nicest teacher who ever lived. She suddenly cracked up. I can't remember being punished. I don't think we were. I think she just told Billy to put the men away and don't get them out again. Today we would have been diagnosed with ADHD and put on Ritalin. That was also the year everyone but me had a half heart necklace from a boyfriend. My best friends Gigi and E. each had three, which seemed rather gluttonous. I think one of Gigi's was from Billy Tucker.

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