We'll take a cup of kindness yet. . .

Christmas Party 1954
Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.
Robert Burns
Photo submitted by Nancy L., who is taking the photo, and I'm not sure whose mom was hosting this, Lynne's I think. Back row, Fran K., Sara Y., Tina K., Norma C., Salley O.; front foreground Deb P., then behind her Lynne F., Nancy G., Kay A., Priscilla D., and Marion D.

Lynne writes about this photo: "Always lots of great food at our parties after football and basketball games. No matter where we met--brownies, popcorn, French fries, and cokes--supplied by the mothers. One birthday party for Marion D. was celebrated at Lake Ripley at the Plum summer home. We swam, pretended to fish and looked for boys! Notice the saddle shoes, white shirts, rolled up jeans, the shiny, many colored aluminum glasses. Some Mamie Eisenhower bangs--it was 1954 and everyone liked Ike. Christmases have come and gone and I look forward to the Christmas greetings from these friends and remember that long ago Christmas when life was fresh and unfolding."

Memories of the Mt. Morris Dress Shop

By Lynne Fleming Wilburn, December 2006

Some things never change. . .teenage girls are still interested in clothes. Mt. Morris in the 1950s was lucky enough to have Fran Mischler and the Mt. Morris Dress Shop, aka The Corner Dress Shop, or just Fran's Dress Shop. Whatever you called it, girls spent a lot of time there, looking through boxes of scarves, stacks of Ship 'n Shore blouses, racks of Bobbie Brooks coordinates, Catalina sweaters and White Stag sportswear, testing frangrances such as Summer Shower and Wind Song. And when the allowance and babysitting money would allow, Pendleton.

Alas, Fran retired in the early 70s and moved back to Columbus, OH, her hometown. Ownership passed to Lenora Walker, mother of classmate Tom Walker. By the late 70s, she went out of business, going the way of most small town retailers. It was a sad day for "the girls."

But in the 50s, Fran's Dress Shop prevailed. At Christmas, she jotted down wish lists, and shoppers could get an idea of what you'd like, plus size and color. She wrapped with enormous bows--you could spot her packages under your tree at a glance. Classmate Sara Yoder Davidson worked there our junior and senior years, and on Saturday I'd finish my chores around the house and dash up to spend an hour or so just looking and gabbing with Sara.
The Women's Club put on wonderful Spring and Fall Style Shows and I modeled in several over my four years in MMHS. A delightful learning experience. Fran gave me lessons on posture; she taught me how to descend a flight of stairs; would remind me to put my shoulders back. (It makes you taller, and at 5' 5 1/2" I wanted to be tall like my friend, Nancy Lamm.)

And she would say, "Smile, you're young."

A note about the photo and clothing brands: The dress in the photo was blue and gray plaid, the shoes were gray suede, and the collar and cuffs were white angora.

Ship 'n Shore blouses are currently available in the Vermont Country Store catalog; Bobbie Brooks and White Stag are at Wal-Mart and far inferior to the 50s quality. I haven't seen Catalina anywhere, but then I don't get out much! I doubt these items are even made in the U.S. anymore. Pendleton, however, endures and is still a quality product. One of my Pendletons is 45 years old and I must remember to find that jacket next fall. Like the 1957 class members, it is still around.

Thanks, Fran, for the memories.

A town with nick names

In Donald L. Smith's book about Mt. Morris, My Town: Remembering Mt. Morris (privately published by the author, 1997) he includes an appendix about the nicknames we all knew. Smith says that Hoof Martin was the only guy he ever knew who had a misspelled tattoo--Hoff. Many of them I remember--some of the people (older than me) I never knew by any other name--in fact Smith says about his list, that for some they could find no given name. So I tried to think if our class had nick names. Most were just shortened versions of our given or surname, like Mike, or Pris, or Zink. Some shared them with a parent or older sibling. I was Corby, of course, and my sibs all had some version of that, but my dad with the same surname was Cub and his brothers were Duga, Geno and Buck. And I always called my aunt's husband, "Uncle Gramps," which sounds a little strange, don't you think?

But Kay A. was Shike, not what she's listed as in the yearbook, and Dave B. was "Red," and I always called Greely M. "GG" because I knew him from Forreston and that's what we called him. Francine K. was Kitzie and Dick Z. was Zick, Melvin K. was Moe, Sharon G. was Squeeky, and Nelson P. Jr. was Tom (although to me, he was Tommy since we rode our tricycles together). Steven B. was called Pee Wee as long as I can remember which got a little silly when he became the biggest guy at the class reunions. Glen R. was Rowdy and Glen O. was Ordy. Sometimes we would just say "Orr-did-it" when Mr. Burstrom would ask, and eventually didn't we just call him that?

I don't think our class lived up to the town's standards for nicknames that came before us--Ducks, Sweet Pea, Pappy, Gramps, Speedy Gopher, Spirits, Bootsie, and Dew Drop to name a few.