OUR MOVE TO MT. VERNON

OUR MOVE TO MT. VERNON

515 South 20th Street

We moved from West Frankfort/Thompsonville to Mt. Vernon the summer of 1960. The four "big kids" started Casey Jr. High and the twins and eventually Jamie and Casey went to Dr. Andy Hall elementary school. Our first house was at 515 S. 20th St. It was actually a one-level duplex but we used both sides. Linda and I slept in the unused kitchen on bunk beds. I didn't mind sleeping in a kitchen because I had storage space in the drawers where I kept my Top Value and Eagle stamps and my charms and school papers.

Our phone number was CH4-3185 which was a party line. We kids would sneak and listen in on other people's conversations and try not to snicker. 

Dad's twin sister's daughter, Sheila Hammonds, came to live with us for a year while we lived in this house and she went to high school with us. We welcomed her. She was no problem. She was trying to get away from problems at home. The rumor was that her mom's new husband, who I believe was a police officer in Benton, was behaving inappropriately toward Sheila. She was a pretty girl. She is standing next to Butch/Bill.

We older ones walked to and from high school. For a while a neighbor boy's aunt, who was the librarian at the high school, would take us to school. Otherwise we walked from 20th Street to the east side of town where the old high school was located and we walked it in all kinds of weather.

16th Street

Our next house was behind a service station located at 16th and Broadway. It was a two-story house. A creepy guy lived across the street. He was staring at us girls one day and backed into a car. I laughed under my breath. 

The picture is of Linda but I don't know which house she is at. That is the car we got after the wreck.

We had a swing on the front porch. There were railroad tracks nearby. On occasion a "hobo" would come to the door and ask for something to eat. They usually came from a train that ran nearby. I remember being home alone when one came to the door. I told him to sit on the swing and I would make him a sandwich. He ate the sandwich in the swing and I talked to him until he finished. I wouldn't do that for nuthin' nowadays.

Linda got her driver's license while we lived in that house. Dad got a Kaiser for her to drive. It was an old German car. We had a ball in it. She would drive fast down 17th Street where there was a big dip in the road and it would make our stomachs sink when she went over it. The Kaiser wouldn't start at times but Dad taught us what to do in case it didn't start. We were in front of Jackson and Martin's store one day where we had done some grocery shopping for Mom and the car wouldn't start. So Linda lifted the hood and moved the little car part that helped the car start. I can imagine what onlookers were thinking. "Here's a young lady that knows how to work on cars." Our other car was a red and white '57 Ford, I think.

18th & College Streets

We moved from 16th Street to the corner of 18th and something, possibly College. A former resident of that house committed suicide in the bathroom. That never bothered me but I did think about it when fixing my hair in the bathroom. I would think how he took his life in the very spot where I was standing. 

John and I started dating while we lived there. He lived in Summersville where his mom had a sno-cone stand. We were talking one day about his go-kart racing. He mentioned a girl who caused him to crash and break his arm while racing. He said she was from West Frankfort. I asked if she had red hair and was her name Jamie Daly. He said it was. As it turns out, she is the girl for whom my youngest sister, Jamie, is named. Linda had been in class with Jamie Daly when we lived in West Frankfort. She liked Jamie's name so she asked Mom to name her new baby girl Jamie. Small world.

About 1965 we moved to 601 S. 19th Street on the corner with Logan Street. It is where Mom and Dad lived for many years. Those who were still living at home eventually moved out one by one. That house was dear to all of us. I will tell more about it in a page dedicated to that house and events that occurred while living there.