Week 10 - Family Birthdays

My parents did a pretty good job with our birthdays...No parties like the parents of today. ...Our parties were always a family affairs....our family....  If they happen to coincide with a holiday then the Grandparents were likely involved but mostly it was just our family. I remember one year we had  a breakfast birthday for Mom in the morning in her bed!  That was fun.  The only reason I can think of why we would have done that is it must have been a Friday and Dad knew he would be working late so we had a breakfast Birthday party...

Mom's 40th Birthday

All these years later I have become the keeper of the family photos.  I have scanned them in and we all have copies of them but I have the originals. I learned something from these photos that I did not remember from my childhood...The Birthday boy or girl did not get to blow out their own candles... Most of us helped!  In almost every photo of a birthday gathering,  WE were blowing out the candles...Isn't that funny and I never realized it.

Looks like Pam's 13th Birthday

 On your birthday, the birthday person did not have to do dishes...for the girls this was kinda a big thing.  No fighting with your sister over who gets to wash or has to rinse or dry.   No getting wet because your sister got mad and splashed you on purpose and them swore to Mom it was a mistake..."really Mom it was" !  No one to push you off the stool that you had to stand on to reach into the sink if you were the washer or to the counter if you were the dryer.  You just sit back at the table and watch as the other two or three hashed it out.  Gee, maybe I'll have another piece of cake to dirty just one more plate and fork so they will have ONE more dish to wash...a cup of milk maybe...By then they are yelling to Mom..."Jan's making more dishes for us to wash!"  The boys did not do dishes so no big deal for them...Wonder if they did not have to take out the trash or something else...I honestly don't remember.  This is where it would be really nice if Matt or Mark would chime in on these Memories.....

Jan's Birthday 1964 - Ballerina Candle holders

 
You got to pick what you  wanted Mom to make for dinner.  With six kids, you did not "go out" for dinner ever....Now that I am older, I wonder who really won here...Mom or the Birthday person...Now that I know how hard it is to come up with something for dinner each day and a variety at that, I am thinking that Mom was the winner almost every month we had a birthday so that was one meal that she did not have to plan!!!

Oh the cake, we got to pick the kind of cake that we wanted....I picked German Chocolate for quite a number of years and I got German Chocolate for the rest of my life.....even after it wasn't my favorite any more... This is where I would LOVE Sharon to pipe up and talk about her Birthday cakes!!

Sharon's 7th Birthday

 When we were little she did buy those little hard sugar decorations to put on our cakes.  They usually spelled Happy Birthday and if you were lucky maybe your first name.  I remember as a little kid trying to bite into those decorations and nearly broke a tooth. They did not even taste good...  Oh and then there were the candle holder candies ones too....You would put them on the cake and put the candle in it to help it stand up.  It was quite and operation to get all the candles standing and then get them lite with a whole table of people anguish to blow them out.  Sometimes one of us was a little too eager and she would have to lite them all again because someone caused a false start! ..Mom did make good Birthday cakes...they came out of the box and so did the frosting...Just like everyone else did in the 1960's and 1970's...

Matt's 3rd Birthday

 Eventually, Mom just stuck the candles in the frosting and lite them as quick as she could...Then it was her job to take the candles out after we blew them out.  She would carefully lick all the frosting off the candles  as we not so patiently waited for our cake and ice cream. Some times in an effort to expedite this process, we would help take out the candles and lick the frosting for her...I think I got reprimanded a time or two for it.  We have pictures of her licking the ice cream scoop too...

I just realized that we did an awful lot of Birthday celebrations at night when were were already for bed!  Birthdays!!!  They are the best.  Give a family an excuse to celebrate one persons uniqueness. Even today we all spend a great deal of thought and time searching for that perfect card or special small gift....and we all do it in our own unique way!

Happy Birthday Sharon!!!

Hope you enjoy,

Jan

Week 9 of 2016 - 10th Grade Forensic Team

I wasn't much into sporting teams.  Basketball, softball...none of that really interest me. Not really the physical type I guess. I was involved with Band until I quit in 9th grade.  (That is for a different blog.) We had lived in Imlay City for two years and I had developed my new group of friends. Friends whom I had shared classes with since the move to Imlay City. The school district grouped kids together based on academic level. We were in the college prep group.

For tenth grade English, we had Mrs. Wilson.  She was a typical English teacher.  Middle aged, a little portly, she sometimes wore glasses except when she got her picture taken and at the time I thought she was pretty old and about ready to retire.  But in all actuality she was probably in her mid to late 40's. In the mind of a 10th grader, that is old. She did not always have control of the class.   She was sometimes taken advantage of by some of the students.

She was  the Speech / Forensics coach. I did not even know what the Forensic team was but was convinced to participate soon after the beginning of my Sophomore year. In case you do not know what the forensic team is, it is Debate, Speeches and Dramatic readings...You know English type things and of course there are district, regional and state competitions  that we would be participating in.

I have my whole life been a talker...but then YOU all know that .  Many times during school I would get in trouble because I could not keep my mouth shut.  Almost all my report cards said "She talks too much!"  So what better way to harness this issue than to join the speech club!   There were five sophomore girls who joined......  We would get extra credit, we could do much of the prep work for the competition during English class as long as we kept up with our regular school work.  And through our remaining years of high school, there would be continuing benefits to us that we would find out later.  The brownie points for being involved  were great and what else did we have to do. I was too young to date as far as my parents were concerned but old enough to work in my Dad's Dime store if I did not have a school activity I needed to attend, like Forensic practice. 

Forensic / Debate Team 1970-1971

Mrs Wilson recruited us for the category that she called, " Multiple Reading".  SO what is a "Multiple Reading" you ask??  It is like voice overs used in animated movies without the movie! A group of people tell a story, each person becomes the character or characters that they are assigned  to play.  You might even call it storytelling but it must be a team effort. As I recall, we were given the option to pick a piece of known children's literature. I can not remember if the category was provided for us by the region or district or if  Mrs Wilson picked it for us.   There were three groups in our team, one from the Senior class, Junior Class and then us, the Sophomores. The Senior group did a Charlie Brown reading.  I can not remember what the Juniors did. We did "Pooh Meets the Heffalump".  Our team consisted of Jean Brinker, Diane Rankin, Carol Schmucker, Laraine Crake and me.  I was assign the role of Piglet, Loraine was Eeyore,  Jean was the Narrator, Diane was Pooh and Carol was the Christoper Robin.....

Jean Brinker

Diane Rankin

Carol Schmucker

Laraine Crake

Jan Smith

We memorized all our lines and practiced for weeks and weeks.  I can remember practicing at our house in the living room and at Diane's house in the basement as the competition drew near.   I had a particularly difficult set of lines toward the end of the reading that was a real tongue twister...When Piglet thought he had discovered the Heffalump.  I messed it up so many times...I did not know whether I could ever get it right. We worked so hard at it.

When it came time for the nine school Blue Water League Competition, our Imlay City Team  was ready.  I had never participated in a live event. We took the bus to a big school auditorium in Flint.  You sat watching as all the other school / groups performed. The longer you sat there the more nervous you got.  While I was a talker in school,  I did not like speaking by myself or with a group in front of an audience.  We were all very scared.  Our turn was near the end of the event.  Our reading, by nature, had a bit of a rhythm to it,  it started off slow just like Pooh who just ambles along and builds up to this frenzied pace as Piglet believes he has discovered the elusive, never seen before, Heffalump! After  a few seconds of jitters, we all settled into our roles and gave our best performance ever.  Over all, Imlay City took the 3rd place trophy in the competition,  The team trophy is for the school and all its forensic teams combined scores...Debate, Speeches, Dramatic reading, Humorous reading, Multiple reading, Oratory.

Our Sophomore team took first place in the Multiple reading category and advanced to the fourth round of the March 1970 Blue Water Competition beating our Senior team who came in at third place.  We moved on to the District level where we won Second place in the 10 school Blue Water District level which took place in fall of 1971.   

I included the year book page for the Speech / Forensic  team.  I found it interesting that they talked about the Senior and Junior teams before they talked about the first place winning Sophomore team.  They have my name spelled wrong in part of the article but right in the second part.  They list Kathy Irish as a team member for the second half of the year which I do not remember and then added Jean Brinker back in as if there were six of us. Not sure who supplied the facts for this page.  I wish I had a recording of one of our practice sessions. It would be fun to listen to all these years later...

So there you have it...I guess that the years of "talking too much" did pay off in the end.. Hope you enjoyed this high school shared memory..

Jan





 

Week 8 of 2016 - Singing Sweetly and OffKey

Singing was always an important activity in our family. My Dad was often the instigator. We would sing in the car during long car rides and short jaunts. We would sing “Clementine, Coming round the Mountain, Row your Boat, 100 Bottle of Pop on the Wall, (it had to be pop, not beer because he would not let us sing about beer!), Three Blind Mice, Twinkle Twinkle, Jesus Loves me”...I know there were others but I can't remember right now. Anyway, it was Dad's way of helping to past the time when we got antsy in the car.

Lapeer Church Choir

 Mom and Dad were both in the choir at church. They had really nice voices and so do we... I can not really remember how old I was when our traditional birthday song got started. I was just a kid. My Dad would lead us in the most off key version of Happy Birthday. Through the years Mom would plead with Dad to sing it nicely and we sang it worse and worse. As each of us found our spouses, and married, there was always that first “birthday song event” when we would wonder what would they think?  Mind you, we really did not care, after all this is our family tradition but at that vulnerable time in a budding relationship, we did wonder if this new person would think we were crazy... They all seemed to jump on the band wagon if not right away...then eventually when they realized it was just the way we did it. The grandchildren came along and they never heard the “nice” version so.... .It is just the way we do it....

After Dad died, Mom stopped asking about singing nicely... Even though she sang it nicely, I think when she heard us singing out off key it brought Dad right into the celebration again. For Mom's 80^th Birthday celebration at the church...those attending sang her a nice Birthday song...and after the nice version was done. I announced that it was time for the Birthday song the “Smith way”...and all the Smith's including, Mom, belted out the Birthday song in the best off key version yet with many of those attending joining in!

About two weeks ago, Greg and I were sitting in the Stone Lodge in Port Sanilac eating dinner. There were two rather loud and large parties going on at other tables in the big dining room. It was obvious that they were Birthday Parties. Shortly after we ordered, a waitress went to one of the tables with a small cake with candles and all of a sudden the group began to sing the Smith Birthday song...I was so surprised to hear another family with at least 4 generations singing the Smith Birthday song! I felt this over whelming urge to join in...and I did! It was so much fun! I had never known another family who sang Happy Birthday offkey. (except our cousins who followed Dad's lead..) . And in public no less!!! They sang it just as exuberantly as we do!
 
After we had eaten, I could not resist the temptations to go visit them to tell them that we, “the Smith's”, do the same thing with the Birthday song. Like our family, the Father started the tradition with the mother begging him to stop!...We laughed...

Sweet singing memories...

Love, Jan

Week 7 of 2016 - (Been way too long) First remodeling project.

It has been way to long since I have posted here and I really did love it when I regularly recalled memories from my childhood and shared them. In the spring of 2014, we sold our house in Illinois, packed our belongings and moved to Harbor Beach....and through the business of it all I left this project behind. I am ready to start again..It is overdue...

It is week 7 of 2016, I am 60 years old and can hardly believe where the time has gone...in my mind...I certainly can not be 60, must be a mistake...I must be only 30. My mind says I am 30 but my body confirms otherwise.  I am in the middle of a remodel project that while I was 30, it would have been done in a week but...I will be lucky to have in completed in a month...It all started with an unusual Christmas present that I gave my husband...a new toilet...(that is for a different blog.

Romeo House that we moved from in summer 1968

Which brings me to a great idea for a post... Our first remodel project.  In 1968, we moved from a tiny three bedroom house in Romeo to Imlay City where my Dad purchased a house that used to be Dr. Brab's Office and residence with an handy in-law suite for his mother...We went from four girls all sleeping in one room which was always in utter chaos, to all having our own rooms!  Talk about heaven!

Imlay City House that we moved to in 1968

The window right underneath the eves...that was my room.  My room was on the south west corner of the house.  My windows were barely off the floor so I had a great view looking down at Almont Ave and into the parsonage window to the south. If I sat on the floor by the south window I could look down Almont Ave to the south and see the trains on the railroad tracks as they passed.
It was a pretty big room and soon after we moved in I asked Dad if we could paint it. "Sure," he said, "but I need you to help me too."  The room was a old drab yellow with an open clothing rod hanging on the east wall of the room...no closet...as most old homes lack but I did not care because this space was all mine!!! I picked pink, of course, which at the time was my favorite color.

Dad had bought this monster of a house for $18,000.00 which in 1968 was pretty cheap for a house this size but it needed a lot of work.  We did not see the "lot of work"...we saw the big house nor did we realize that "we" were apart of the "lot of work " plan until after we moved in. Dad decided to make an apartment and a master suite on the first floor out of the doctor's Office.  So he spent most evenings, Tuesdays (his day off) and Sunday afternoons with his wrecking crew (his kids), busting down walls, replacing windows and doors, running wiring and plumbing. At first, it was rather fun using a hammer to break up plaster and lathe. We did find some drugs and things in a closet size room that was Dr Brab had used as a small drug dispensary.   Dad promptly disposed of it ....down the toilet as I recall... those were the days long before we realized that we should not do that. 

We broke down most of the walls from the 6 or 7 small exam rooms and made a pretty large apartment out of it. The waiting room became the living room, 2 examining rooms became a bedroom, 2 became a kitchen and then a bathroom/laundry and finally the large back bedroom which had been the Master on the first floor.  Dad took the drug dispensing room and parts of hallways and the front desk area and that became their bedroom downstairs in the main house.

 My Dad would just love all the HGTV/ DYI shows on TV today.  He was an early example of buying some that needs work and fixing it up.  He did it with every house he every lived in!


After we complete it the following fall we rented it to a wonderful couple who came to Imlay City from Minnesota.  Gregg and Sharon Jewett.  Gregg got his first teaching job in Imlay City fresh out of college.They did not rent from us for long but we have remained friends with them ever since.  The apartment was always rented. I think it was a two bedroom but it might have been three...one being very small.

Enjoying memories....

Love, Jan

Happy Father's Day, Dad! Week 24 of 2014

It's a great day...and one that is appreciated far more now that I'm in "senior" status.  While I, too, think about Dad on a regular basis, my admiration grows with each day.  We Smith kids are so very blessed with the love and dedication of our parents and the ability to pass it on to our children and grandchildren.   Thanks, Dad, for your guidance, your love of life approach that included making almost anything fun, sincerely loving people for who they are, and for teaching us about the love of God through his son, Jesus. We didn't always appreciate the Sunday mornings of worship and Sunday School or the return trip to town on Sunday evening for MYF.  Oh, it was fine, once we got there.  But I know I didn't always want to be there.  Today I understand the part about rearing a child in the way they should go.  Thank you, thank you for your love of God and the importance of sharing it with your children.

I think I can answer a couple of questions from Jan's Father's Day post...

It was Pickerel Lake at Vanderbilt.  I sure don't remember it being a State Park at that time.  I'm sure it was a state forest campground, but our most favorite spot to camp, including the nightly trek to the "power line" road to watch for elk.  Pajamas, treats and some patience along with alot of "Shhhhhh's" occasionally resulted in a spotting of the large animals. How Mom and Dad hauled a bunch of kids to a clearing and got us to sit reasonably quiet is beyond me!

I remember the Orchard Beach State Park (Ludington), camping in an orchard, a beautiful pavilion that had a Saturday night dance, Janet getting lost and hearing all the adults talking about the death of Marilyn Monroe (August 5, 1962) on Sunday morning.  Suddenly, the Saturday hunt for Jan was old news...and everyone was buying the Detroit Free Press for the details of the glamorous movie star's demise.

I also remember the camping spot south of Saugatuck for very different reasons.  It was actually the Allegan State Game Area.  It turned out to be the only time Dad and Mom resolved never to return and actually called in a complaint and followed that with a written letter.  It had the stinkiest, most foul outhouses of anywhere...ever.  Mom and Dad often laughed about how bad it was and in all their years of camping, there was never a situation that was anything close to it.  We had the tent all set up and it was just too much to move....and we had made reservations there, so we stayed.  But we left early the next morning and went to breakfast at Kellogg's in Battle Creek, MI.  It was only a short drive, it smelled much better and we were thrilled to get ice cream sundaes with cocoa krispies on top for a treat.

SO...thanks again, Dad, for all the good times and for the not so good ones, too.  All of it makes us what we are today...very blessed to have you for our Father!  Love you!

Week 24 of 2014 - Dad and my fondest memories....

Memories like racing home on Tuesday to help him with what ever was his project of the day. One day it was getting on the roof and fixing a leak. My job was to hold the bucket of tar as he slapped tar on all the cracks and holes he could find.  I did not think they looked like holes but he did.  I was just glad I could climb on the roof with him.  While I was up there I could not help but marvel at the view from so high up in the air. You could see the whole neighborhood from the roof.

Then there's the Sunday that we got snowed in and could not go to church.  So he took us sledding instead. He lugged the toboggan a couple of miles out into the woods to our favorite sledding hill. We rode the toboggan down the hill for several hours before we trouped  back home wet, tired and totally happy after spending the day with Dad! I'm sure that Mom got hot chocolate ready for us while Dad got to have his Sunday nap.

Camping...my Dad introduced it to us and we all have fondly kept going almost every year since our first trip in 1962. I think that it became our  annual vacation because it was affordable back then. When you have a growing family, vacations can be expensive.  Dad needed a break from work and where do you take 4, 5 or 6 kids where everyone can have fun.  I think he would be happy to know that it still remains important to all of us.  We all like a nice vacation to an exotic place but our annual camping trip keeps us really tuned in to what is important in life....Family! Precious moments in time that we experience together!

Our first trip we drove around the lower penisula of Michigan camping all along the way.  Our first stop was Oscoda where we visited family friends, the Dievers.

Next up...Roger City, Michigan, PH Hoeft State park. 

There is a beautiful beach and we loved playing in the water even though it was cold. 

Our next stop was near Mackinaw Bridge. I am wondering if it was Mill Creek Campground but I am not sure.  I recently read that Mackinaw Bridge opened in 1957.  Our camping trip would have been 5 years after it opened!  I was amazed when I read that.

Our next stop was a few days at Vanderbilt, Michigan.  I went to the internet to look up the name of the park expecting it to be Vanderbilt State Park or something...but it is not.  I find a park called Pickerel Lake.  It must be it. It is the only park listed in Vanderbilt, Michigan...It is a state park and still has no flush toilets!

The lake at Vanderbilt was awesome and shallow.  A great place for small kids to play in the water. 

Then on to Orchard Beach State Park.  I have a story about this park.  I got playing with a new friend at the playground at this park.  I wandered off with her and went to her campsite to play with out telling anyone.  Low and behold, I got lost.   I did not think I was but everyone else did!  I guess I gave them quite a scare but I knew where I was all the time!  Mom would later reminisce about Orchard Beach and she always said  " Oh yeah...Orchard Beach, that is where Jan got lost!"

Our next stop was a park south of Saugatuck, Michigan. Wish I could ask Dad where it was...No picture to remind me.   On our way home we stopped in Battle Creek and toured the Kellogg factory.  I will never forget a factory where they made my breakfast cereal! At that age I did not really think about where my breakfast cereal came from but I surely did not think it was a factory!
  
I have so many fond memories of my Dad.  He taught me so many things but probably the most important thing he taught me was how important your family is.  He focused on us.  It was all about us!

Love you Dad...miss you every day!


Jan  

Week 12 of 2014 - Moving to a new town

During the summer of 1968, we moved from Romeo, Michigan to Imlay City, Michigan.  My father had worked at Mitzelfeld's Department Store for most of the years that we lived in Romeo.  He had decided that it was time for a career change.  He was looking to purchase Brownites Department store in Imlay City.  The current owner was looking to retire and was interested in selling his business.  He plan to move in the summer since we were all out of school and everything seemed to work as it was planned. We found a house that we could fit in and we moved.  All the while he is negotiating with the owner of Brownites.  So there we are in Imlay City and the deal fell through..No sale  and now Dad is still driving to Rochester everyday of work from Imlay City instead of Romeo.  We had rented the house in Romeo and our new life in Imlay City began. 

Matt and Mark on the porch at 240 South Almont Ave. - 1968

Dad would have several years of driving to Rochester to work at Mitzelfelds. I wish I could ask Dad what his thoughts were when the deal fell through. Around late 1970 or early 1971, he bought the  Ben Franklin Store in Imlay City from Bill and Ruth Knight.  Bill and Ruth were family friends of my grandparents and my parents so in the end, it really worked out better.

The Grand Re-Opening of the Imlay City Ben Franklin Store - 1971

Ben Franklin Staff in 1971 with Ben Franklin Corporate Reps - 1971

So I got a little ahead of myself here, this blog was suppose to be about 8th grade.  The year that we moved to Imlay City.  The school year that I started a new school in a new town and had to make all new friends. I do remember how scared I was.  I had a big knot in my stomach that morning.  It was on that morning when I first learned that wearing something that you really liked...your favorite  outfit, helped to make you feel more at ease when the whole world felt totally foreign and uncomfortable to you. (I still do that today..)I had learned the year before about going to a new school but now I had no friends and a new school!  I will never forget what happened on the first day, in the first few minutes!  The friendliest girl in the whole school came up and introduced herself!  It was Cathy Charbeneau.

Cathey Charbeneau-1968

SO all my dread was short lived because within a few minutes, I had a new friend! She told me she wanted to make sure that I knew someone.  I will never forget it.  Because of that exchange,  I have always made it a point to be one of the first people to introduce myself to someone new...at work, school, church, a club or an organization. She taught me the importance of making a person feel welcome!  It was a lesson I'll never forget.  She was so sweet and we are still friends today!  Thanks so much, Cathy,  for helping me to get past the fear of not knowing anyone. 


When I was young, I had trouble introducing myself to other kids. Simply telling other kids what my name was seems difficult...and uncomfortable.  To this day I don't know why.  I could play for half a day with someone and never introduce myself....I remember going home and telling my Mom about playing with different kids at school ...and how fun it was.  When she would ask who they were, I would say "I don't know?" I never knew their name.. "Did you tell them who you are?  Did you introduce yourself?"  she would ask...I would answer "No"  Cathy cured me of that.  All at once, I understood the importance of an introduction and the friendship which would follow!

Janet Smith - -1968

With in a few days, my circle of friends began to grow and I felt as though I belonged in my new town. There were obvious groups of kids who had known one another for a very long time. There were many friendly kids which helped to make me feel as though I belonged! Jean Brinker, Diane Rankin, Laraine Crake, Sharon Pringle, Carol Halstead, Peggy Rider, Marilyn Kempf, and Carol Schmucker...to name a few. It was interesting to look at Mr Theordore's home room...and see how and when my friendships developed.  Most of these friends I still have contact with all these years later! Eighth grade turned out to not be as difficult as I had thought it would be.