My family moved from Rock Falls in the summer of 1963 to a house out in the country, near Dixon, in a little area called Palmyra, or sometimes Gap Grove. My mom had always dreamed of having a big garden, and maybe even a few chickens. There was a chicken coop in the backyard, but I took that over and turned it into my clubhouse. I had always dreamed of having a chicken coop and turning it into a clubhouse. So, it was a pretty exciting summer, and we were all pretty happy.
We got to know our new neighbors, the Heckmans, and Mark, who was a couple years older, showed us all the neat places to go and things to do. We rode our bikes down to the creek, and down to the Lenox farm. We got to take rides on the tractor and went up in the hayloft of their barn. There were all kinds of fun things to do, and Mark was into playing “Army”, just like we were. We’d strap on our canteens and all of our ammo belts and toy guns and go off to save the world from the Germans and Russia and Japan and whoever else we could think of.
Because we lived out in the country, we would be riding the school bus into town every morning starting that fall, and we would be attending Jefferson School. There were lots of farm kids and other kids like us, who just happened to live next to farms, out in the middle of nowhere. We bought our new lunch boxes and thought about different things we could take in them. This was all new to us, because our last school in Rock Falls, Dillon School, was almost across the street.
When the school year finally started that fall I was going into fourth grade, and my little brother Joe was starting first grade - it was all pretty new to him. For me, though, there were lots of little adjustments to be made - all new students, teachers, rules, and a woman principal, Mrs. Marshall, although lots of kids called her Mrs. Shoal.
I managed to become good friends with one kid in my class. Jim Miller was kind of a short, stocky kid with blonde hair and lots of freckles. He was pretty bright, and I would say that he definitely had lots of confidence. His dad was a chef and part owner of a restaurant called the Lincoln Manor. Jim was always trying to sell me on the “Businessman’s Lunch”. He’d tell me all the things included, and I remember him saying “and you get an apple”! I don’t know why he kept telling me about it. We always stayed at school and ate in the lunch room. I ate a lot of egg salad sandwiches and fritos out of my little red plaid lunch box that year.
There were three major things that happened when I was a fourth grader. President Kennedy was assassinated, the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan, and I got invited to Jim Miller’s birthday party. Most people would probably already know at least something about the first two things, but for me, that birthday party was a really significant thing.
Mrs. Miller came to pick us up right after school. It seems like there might have been a dozen of us, all boys, squeezed into the backseat of their huge white Cadillac. I don’t think I had ever ridden in one of those before. Obviously, we weren’t worrying about seat belts back then. She slowly drove out of the parking lot and out towards the northwest end of town to the Plum Hollow Golf Course/Bowling Alley.
I had never been bowling before, and I remember thinking when we first walked in “This is the fanciest place I’ve ever been!”. It was all carpeted, and color coordinated. The ceilings over the alleys sloped down and were painted a sky blue color - it gave the allusion that it just went on forever into infinity. We bowled. We all got special shoes to wear, and we got to drink Cokes out of bar glasses. It just seemed so-o-o-o classy!
Then, after all that, Mrs. Miller drove us over to the Lincoln Manor for dinner. This was also very classy. I had discussed with my mom what I should order, and I’m pretty sure we decided chicken would be a good choice. I remember Eddy Hubbs ordered Lobster Tails. I don’t think I even knew what that was, but I was sure that it was a little overboard. Jim assured us that it was perfectly OK. I was really impressed by this basket of bread sticks with several different flavors - onion, garlic, sesame - and this other kid showed me how you could press the end of them into your pat of butter. I mean, how classy is that! The next time I came across bread sticks, I knew exactly what to do.
The next year, I got invited again, but instead of bowling, we went swimming at the Lincoln Lodge pool. It was indoors, just off the lobby. There was a big window in the lobby where you could see people swimming, but the window was usually all steamed up. I also remember there was a rack by the desk with Playboy magazines for sale. It just kept getting better and better!
Inside the pool area was carpeted, and it was very warm. There were potted palm trees and the smell of chlorinated water permeated the air. I still love that smell!
