ARNOLDS PARK 2010

PHOTOS TAKEN IN THE PARK-2010 -FIND THE PHOTO TAKEN MUCH EARLIER

CACTUS AT OUR MANOR

FLOWERS ON CACTUS 10/29/2010

THE BLOOMS ONLY LAST 2 OR 3 DAYS.

Penny

PENNY

BY R. AUBREY LA FOY

Several days ago I purchased some replacement bags for our vacuum cleaner. I knew the brand and looking over the choices used the 50-50-90 rule. (Any time you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, a 90% probability you’ll get it wrong). So after bringing them home and trying them out for size had the wrong ones. Returning the wrong bags for exchange was no problem and the clerk asked me if I had a penny? I had, so received $3.00 back instead of $2.99. I don’t know about you but I invariability find lot of loose change in my pocket including plenty of pennies.

 The above exercise brought to mind to write an article about the penny. I suppose you don’t care a fig but there are over 180 billion pennies in circulation. A billion is hard to comprehend but one billion seconds ago it was 1959 or Jesus was alive one billion minutes ago. We are writing about 180 billion so how many pennies is 180 billion? A lot!

Remember when you were a kid and all of the things you could buy for a penny? Many times we would go to the Variety Store or Dime Store and minutely and thoroughly examine all the selections. We could buy sticks of gum, jawbreakers, licorice sticks, suckers, candy canes, valentines, pencils, erasers and even some chocolate.  Wow! What a deal!

In those day7s we could earn pennies by running errands, but best of all was to find one on the ground or sidewalk. Today people won’t even bend over or stoop low enough to retrieve a penny. Many years ago some joker placed a penny in the cement walk near our activity center and I would hate to count how many of the residents or visitors have tried to pick it up. Old Abe must chuckle every time somebody rubs his face but it also reads, IN GOD WE TRUST.

A little history about the penny I think is in order, so here goes. When we were kids and although the Indian Penny had gone out of production in 1909 there were still many circulating.  The Indian penny was first introduced in 1859 and depicted an Indian princess on the obverse side. A popular story about the design claims a visiting Indian chief lent the designer’s daughter his headdress so she could pose as the Indian princess. Indian pennies were minted during the Civil War (1861-1865) to pay the Union soldiers.

The Lincoln penny appeared in 1909, as it was the 100^th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. In addition the Lincoln penny used LIBERTY and the national motto IN GOD WE TRUST appeared for the first time on a coin. On the reverse side are two wheat heads, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and the national motto E PLURIBUS UNUM, which means, “One out of many.” In 1960 the penny design was changed and the Lincoln Memorial was placed on the reverse side.

The penny seems to offend some people, as there is a bill in Congress to do away with it. I personally don’t subscribed to that as the penny has so many memories for me. I think of the penny in relation to the 16,000,000 persons who served in World War II. By ourselves we don’t count for much but if you put a huge number together you have a force that was unbeatable. If we do away with the penny what can kids put in their piggy banks? Credit cards?

Let us see if you can recall some of the following words or sayings: A penny saved is a penny earned (Ben Franklin), have you purchased nails lately? Nails are sold and marked in pennyweight: 10 penny, 6 penny, etc. Have you every been penniless? Are you penny wise? Meaning to be careful or thorough. How many of you have played penny ante poker meaning to ante is limited to one cent? Today if you really want to insult a panhandler, give him a penny or tip a waiter or waitress with a penny?

Several years ago the Iowa Great Lakes we had the campaign to “Save the Park.” People contributed a goodly sum from pennies to big bucks. The contributor that impressed me the most was the little lad who came forward at the Roof Garden and dumped his piggy bank into the kitty and most of the coins were pennies. Pennies add up!

Did you ever or do you recall playing a quiz game with a penny? Let’s see if you can identify the following from a Lincoln penny:

1.     The name of a song.

2.     A privilege.

3.     A foreign fruit.

4.     An ancient honor.

5.     A building.

6.     A Chinese beverage.

7.     What a ship sails on.

8.     A gaudy flower.

(Answers at the end of the article.)

Have you examined your telephone bill or sales receipts lately? There are one-cent taxes like state, county, local, school, excise taxes, meaning our governments and certain business couldn’t exist without the little one cent-penny.

The penny figures in the USA in many ways such as the one-cent stamp. In 1860 a federal act was created to charge a fee of one cent for mail carrier services in all cities providing such service. Many of you have in your possession letters that were mailed in the mid 1800s with a one-cent stamp affixed on the envelope. You don’t have to be too old to recall using and buying a one-cent post card.

Remember the Penny Arcades? For a penny one could have your fortune told, test your grip, peek through a hole at some pictures, play mechanical games, use a punching bag, win some candy or doll with rotating forks and even buy a postcard. During the Depression years the penny arcades keep the name but the price went up to a nickel.

Do you have a penny postcard collection? One of my prize possessions is a collection of penny postcards with pictures of the Iowa Great Lakes. My aunt and uncle corresponded with each other with these penny postcards. Several days ago I booted up on the web post cards from Iowa. The two places I viewed were Dickinson and Clay counties. The Dickinson County collection included “Moonlight Scene on Lake Okoboji, Railroad and Wagon Bridge Between East and West Okoboji” and a picture of “Harry’s Kurio Kastle.” Clay County postcards were “Milwaukee Depot, Spencer” and “Entrance to the Clay County Fair Grounds.

Many years ago the American Red Cross had fund raising campaigns to raise money. I recall that while in the elementary school that if you brought a penny or two you received a red cross to pin on your shirt or dress. One girl in our class was really proud to contribute several pennies. I knew she didn’t have much in the way of material possessions but she brought her pennies tied up in a little handkerchief and shyly took out the knot, pulled out the pennies and handing them to the teacher.  The teacher made a great deal out of that contribution. I don’t think it was uncommon for little girls to tie their coins in handkerchiefs in those days. How about it ladies?

Don’t take the penny away from us! It is part of our history and how would the stores ever sell anything in round numbers like $3.00 because it sound so much better to have a sale for $2.99. Many of the cities and schools keep going by only a one-cent tax. We need the penny!

SAVE THE PENNY!

Answers for Penny Quiz: 1. America-2. Liberty-3. Date-4. Wreath-5. Lincoln Memorial-6. Tea (T)-7. Sea (C)-8. Tulips (Two lips.)

CACTUS IN ARIZONA

Hi, The cactus in our yard bloomed. They are glorious. Aubrey

VIEWS OF ARNOLDS PARK

POINT OF NO RETURN-ARNOLDS PARK ROLLER COASTER

 THE QUEEN ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON

 STATE PIER AT ARNOLDS PARK

VIEW OF ARNOLDS PARK FROM PILLSBURY POINT

HALLOWEEN

When I was a kid, way back in the 1930s, we did Halloween a great deal different. I don’t remember any “trick or treat” routine because nobody had anything to spare and it would have been cruel to ask some little old widow for a treat when she was having enough problems just keeping enough feeding her. I do recall in the small town I grew up (Milford) the kids would roam the streets in huge groups doing not much except roam the streets and make a lot of noise. Once in awhile we might “soap” a window, like downtown or the schoolhouse.

The school house got lots of attention in those days. Big kids and maybe even smaller kids always found some barrel, gallon can or a loose cart and pile it at the school’s front door. The older kids managed to push manure wagons, hayracks, plows and even old cars to the entrance. For many years the football dummy was always pulled up the flagpole and resided there Halloween night. Most of the lower school windows were soaped with words and drawings. One year some very industrious high school boys managed to disassemble a buggy, pull it up to the roof of the school and reassemble it just above the main entrance to the high school. Needless to say it resided there several days until the high school principal located the culprits and had them bring it down. It was the talk of the school for many days and they became our heroes.

In the 1930s there were still many outhouses within the city limits and they were fair game at Halloween. I recall one such outhouse only one block off Main Street in my home town. It was next to my aunt and uncles property and year after year the boys managed to tip it over. There was another outhouse about two blocks from the center of town. The owner of that outhouse was very protective and guarded it trying to discourage any attempt at tipping it over. We had formed a gang one Halloween evening of about ten or twelve junior high boys. We roamed around town looking for mischief and finally decided that that outhouse must go. We knew the owner would be watching and from previous years knew he simply resided in the outhouse most of the evening to discourage all attempts. Our plan was to send about five boys on a frontal attack to divert his attention while the majority of us crept silently to the back of the outhouse and hopefully tip it over. The five boys came up making lots of noise and sure enough his attention was directed at them with his yelling and gesturing to not try and tip his outhouse over. While he was so engaged the rest of us managed to surprise him and tipped it over with him still inside with the door on the bottom. After our tipping we ran like crazy away from that location and only learned afterwards from his son that he had to crawl out of the outhouse through one of the “holes.” Later that year he had sewer piped into his house and he burned the outhouse. We felt we had triumphed but could never duplicate that act as outhouses soon disappeared from the confines of the town.

It is truly amazing the lengths at which young boys will work to make some contraptions. I don’t know where we got the idea or the plans for a “window screamer” but many were constructed but seldom accomplished what was intended scare the girls. The materials for the “window screamer” were a spool that held thread (large one) a long spike (nail), string and a pocketknife. The spool’s raised edges were notched about every half inch. The spike was inserted in the spools opening and string wound around and around so that by holding the spike and pulling the string holding the apparatus pressed up against a window it made an awful noise. It was supposed to scare the girls but most of us were so chicken we didn’t go up to any girl’s house to try it but we had fun making it and dreaming.

When our boys were young they always went out “trick or treating.” They would spend hours planning what to wear and in those days all of the kids in the elementary schools came to school wearing their costumes. Connie taught in elementary and she dress up each Halloween. The kids had a great time and the highlight of the day was when the children lined up and paraded around the school, inside and out. The streets were full with parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and friends to see the “parade.’” A good time was had by all but then some “jerks” had to spoil it by suggesting some ungodly reason to cease. Maybe they did stop some of the dressing up but if Wal-Mart and other places do such a land office business selling Halloween items it must be coming back. Let the kids be kids on Halloween and not have to be governed by some grownups weird ideas.

I don’t know if it is my imagination or not but it seems the marketplace is making more and more about Halloween. The rubber masks that are all too real, costumes and candy, candy, candy for the trick or treat crowd. Many of the stores in Ireland were selling many of the same items we find in our marketplaces. We didn’t buy any as we knew the outlay at home. We don’t attend any horror movies but there are some on TV which we seldom watch. The fires in California last week and even today were scary enough for us.

FISHING ON LAKE WEST OKOBOJI

The fishing that I remember as a youth is really different from today. Many times my Dad or a group of friends from Milford would go to the cottage of Roy Snorf on Miller Bay. They would secure several rowboats, ave some live bait (Chubs seined the day before from a creek), worms and some fishing gear. Sometimes somebody would have a bamboo pole but many times is all we used was a drop line, sinker and a hook. About five would get in a rowboat and row up in the bay. After reading the "good" spot, drop the anchor and then we started to fish. I recall fishing with Roy and Bernice DePue (Roy was a WWI vet, retired semi-professional baseball player and the local barber) Bernice would instruct me by placing a worm on my hook and dropping it down until the sinker hit the bottom and then pull the bait up until it was about a foot off the sand. She also told me to gig it up and down once in awhile to attract the perch. We would hold the string just over the rail of the rowboat and wait. When we felt a big grab pull up sharp and hopefully hook the fish. Wow! Was that exciting and we spent three or four hours fishing and caught many fish-mostly perch. Sometimes somebody would catch a pike or bass or maybe a bullhead but all in all had lots of fish. I'm speaking of the 1930s.
Towards supper time we would row back to shore, gather up all the fishing gear and fish and walk up to the Snorf Cottage. The fellows would go out back and clean the mess of fish. If you ever have the opportunity to clean fish you will understand why a catch of fish is called a mess. The ladies were not idle and they were cooking, setting the tables and preparing a feast for us. Some of the ladies did not fish and they stayed in the cottage and played bridge. After cleaning the fish they were brought in and the ladies would pan fry them.I can still recall the wonderful smell of those fish being cooked and hear the sizzle and pop. Soon all was ready and we dug in to the scrumptious meal. eating perch required a tactful approach as the fish bones had to be separated but if one was skillful you would grab a hold of the tail, take the fork and slowly peel the part of the fish you wanted to eat  off. W not only had all the fish we wanted but somebody had brought fried chicken, beans, potato salad and later cake. Lemonade was available and many drank coffee. There was never enough tables for all of us to sit down so the kids went outside and sat around a picnic table.

Those were the in the height of the Depression and our parents and friends took their pleasures where they could find them in simple fellowship fish fries and hamburger fries in nearby Gull Point State Park. Gull Point was developed by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in 1933.That was another experience that we enjoyed in those troubling years but we as kids never felt poor or left out. It was an exciting time to run the trails, swim and eat What more could a 10  year old boy want??

IMAGES OF LAKE WEST OKOBOJI, IOWA

HAROLD'S FISHERMEN WHARF AT BRIODGE

SKATING IN THE MAJESTIC ROLLER RINK

ROOF GARDEN AFTER 1968 TORNADO

ARNOLDS PARK

BEACH AT TERRACE PARK

LA FOY COTTAGE-TERRACE PARK

KINDNESS

KINDNESS

During World War I (1914-1918) more people died from influenza than were killed in the battlefields of Europe.  One of the worst global epidemics occurred in 1918-1919.  About 20 million persons, including more than 500,000 Americans died in this epidemic.  Many of the people who lived in this area during that terrible year or two have stories that are not pleasant.  Many young men from the lakes region who were in the armed forces died as the result of the flu.

Art Bascom, a long time resident of the area, told me that one of his family had the flu and they were quarantined.  They were not allowed to come into contact with people other than the doctor and nurse that checked up on them from time to time. The telephone was their only communication with the outside world.  They would order food by phone and have it delivered. 

The delivery boy would put the ordered groceries in a box and leave it out on the yard.  After he left Art’s father would go out and bring it back into the house.  The family survived but it was a very isolated life the family had for a period of time and if it hadn’t been for the “acts of kindness” of the visiting nurse and the grocery boy it would have been terrible. There are many other stories of that time of the “flu” epidemic and I am sure some of you readers could relate them.

My Father, Ray LaFoy, was in World War I with the US Army stationed in France in 1918.  His engineer battalion had trained to operate searchlights.  His training was at Washington D.C. but when they arrived in France they had no searchlights so were assigned to the infantry.  The battalion was in several major battles at the front and spent a great deal of time marching hither and yon to various assignments. 

On one of those marches my father came down with the flu and became so weak that he simply dropped out of the line of march.  He was able to get himself to a nearby French farmhouse.  In that farmhouse was an elderly lady who had refused to leave her home even though it was near the front.  She took my father into her home and nursed him back to health.  He remarked many times that if it hadn’t been for that “act of kindness” by that elderly French woman, he doubted if he would have survived the “flu.” 

He returned to his unit after recovery and had to explain that he hadn’t gone AWOL.  He survived the rest of the war although his unit suffered great casualties.  His only injury, not counting the bout with the flu, was tripping and falling down on a pavement in Washington D.C. while marching with a full field pack.  That knee gave him troubles most of his life but he felt himself lucky.

It doesn’t take a great deal of time to extend some kindness to your fellow human beings.  When I grew up in a small town near the Iowa Great Lakes in the 1920s and 1930s that community was one big playground.  As one got older your world expanded and you were able to go from your own house and yard to the roam the neighborhood.  On the street east our house (now N Ave.) and a bit north on that street lived my Mother’s parents, Sam and Georgia Holcomb.  To get there one had to squeeze between two fenceposts on the property back of our garage and then walk across the neighbor’s yard. 

There was an elderly couple (probably the age I am today) who lived there.  Whenever the lady saw me going to my grandparents’ house she would rap on her kitchen window and motion me to come inside.  The first time I thought she was going to give me the dickens for cutting across her garden and lawn but no, she just wanted to talk with me.  Not only did she want to talk but also she gave me several nice cookies and milk.  Even to this day I will never forget her “act of kindness.” 

During World War II in September 1944 I was stationed at an air force base near the city of Kharagapur, India. We serviced B-24Js that carried gasoline over the Himalayas Mountains (Hump) to China. It was the C-109 Provisional Unit.  Don Ogle who was from Spirit Lake and I would get together every so often as he was stationed near the air force base that I was at.  We met in Kharagapur and walked the bazaars, ate at the railroad depot and looked the town over. 

Near the railroad station they were renting bicycles so we rented one each and toured the city.  On the outskirts of the city were many large estates that were set back from the street and obviously homes of the English.  As Don and I were biking we stopped to look at some wirehaired terrier pups in a yard.  A lady observed us looking at the pups and invited us into her home.  Her husband, Colonel Bailey was a civilian and worked for the railroad.  The Baileys were evidently very wealthy as there were servants doing all the work. Mrs. Bailey was a grand lady and she invited us to stay for dinner. 

We went to their home many times for dinner or tea.  One time she had three British soldiers on leave from fighting under General Wingate in the Burma jungles.  Their names were Arthur Bragginton, George Wheeler and Fred Feagon, all from London. We had a grand time and one day they came to visit us at our camp.  It was interesting because Col. and Mrs. Bailey entertained General LeMay, Commander of the 20^th Air Force one evening and the next night Don Ogle and I who were only Private First Class soldiers.  We will never forget that “act of kindness” shown by Mrs. Bailey towards us.  When I was coming home from China after the war was over I went over to see her and again she was so gracious and nice I will never forget her.

Another incident that happened to me while in the army in World War II was when we first stepped off the USS General Brooke troopship at New York harbor.  Several of us were assigned to carry some officer’s baggage off the ship.  We picked up the bags, went down the gangplank and walked over to the side of the shed.  We put the bags down and were going back to the gangplank when we were stopped by one of New York’s finest policeman.

 He yelled, “Hey boys, what is your hurry? Haven’t you had enough time on that ship?’

We stopped, not knowing what he wanted and looked at him with dumb expressions.

“Come on over here and get some coffee and donuts” he said, pointing to a canteen cart which sat along the pier, smiling all the time.

We came back and got some coffee and donuts and chatted with him for some time.  He asked us where we had been, our hometowns and how long had it been since we had been home.  He made us feel real welcome back in the good old USA.  It was a real “act of kindness” that most of us on that detail will never forget.

The following is a story that we picked up from a friend of mine on the Internet entitled, “The Golden Gift.”

“Some time ago, a friend of mine punished his three-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper.  Money was tight, and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, “This is for you Daddy.”  He was embarrassed by his earlier over-reaction but his anger flared up again when he found that the box was empty.

He yelled at her, “Don’t you know that when you give somebody a present there’s supposed to be something inside of it?”

The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, “Oh Daddy, it’s not empty.  I blew kisses into the box.  All for you, Daddy.”

The father was crushed.   He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged her forgiveness.  My friend told me that he kept that gold box by his bed for years.  Whenever he was discouraged he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.”  Author Unknown