Recollections

Thanksgiving, Thinking Back With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, I usually write about my memories of times that were pleasant and fun. On that special day, and the days leading up to...

Cleaning the Bird What with ‘Turkey Day’ on the way, my thoughts turns to that wonderful annual family meal with all the trimmings. Inasmuch as I had little to do...

Veterans Day Research tells me that my early encounters dealing with veterans, was before it was called ‘Veterans Day.’ It was then called Armistice Day until just about the time...

A Word about Fall: There’s something about a drum cadence and a cool chill in the air that wakes up and conditions the soul to the birth of yet another...

Common Memories While sitting here staring blankly at a white screen, I am struggling frankly to find a suitable subject for this week’s article. It isn’t because of age and/or...

Halloween or Harvest I suppose we owe more recent October behaviors of having a licensed time to misbehave to the ancient druids over the pond in Europe. My reading tells...

Scouting in the woods As fall creeps into our lives, my mind turns to a favorite memory of a cool, crisp evening spent with our scout troop out in the...

Coal: Blessing or a Curse? To introduce this story let me point out that Kentucky and West Virginia, as well as other sections of America, have an important history involving...

Fall is Here! I should have known! Summer isn’t forever, and maybe that’s good. Fall reminds me of the winter that is to follow and the hope of spring when...

Telephones, the Good and the Bad.  Back in the day, thanks to Alexander Graham Bell, a ton of workers were kept busy installing telephone poles and switchboards all around the...

Carnival Rides, Theme Parks and Fairs One of the things I remember are the carnivals that perpetually showed up in our little town most every year. They helped provide distractions...

GRAVE MARKED AFTER 170 YEARS A US millitary marker replaced a weather worn, unreadable field stone of Revolutionary War Soldier, Adam Crum, at the mouth of Silver Creek, near Crum,...

Labor Day When I was growing up I had trouble really understanding what was going on when people took a holiday in the name of ‘hard work.’ I still wonder...

Sales Incentives   Sales gimmicks were a marketing ploy during the mid-forties, fifties and beyond to influence their customers to choose one product over another. That was the infamous ‘free’...

School Buses  Those long yellow vehicles were a big part of a lot of people’s lives during their school years. As a ‘town kid,’ I really didn’t have a lot...

Car Love Affair  I remember a few early trips my family made back in the day. You see, we rarely owned an automobile and it was a big deal when...

"Rat Catcher, 1953"   Lawrence County Public Library Genealogy This photo was taken by John G. Zimmerman, a photographer featured in Life, Time, Sports Illustrated, and the Saturday Evening Post....