I remember Miss Chris Keil giving me one of her dresses that she wore to dances when she was a teenager.

I remember Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Bertie sometimes walked to their Seventh Day Adventist church, and other times friends picked them up, since Grandma and Grandpa never had a car.

I remember we had retired Baptist missionaries Gladys Bowman and Alma Ayling visit our Mulberry Hollow School once a month for all the years we went there, and they had action singing with Mrs. Bowman playing the portable organ and animated Bible stories on flannel board. 

I remember groggily flipping down the mirror on the sun visor, letting out an amused chuckle, then goofily pointing to my swollen cotton-packed cheeks as I turned to Jackson, who was driving me home after a quadruple wisdom tooth extraction.

I remember we kids went to Vacation Bible School several summers at Stoney Point which was a real treat and we got out of some hot summer work.

I remember we never visited Grandma and Grandpa Miner on Friday evening or Saturday until after 6 or sundown when their sabbath ended, because they were Seventh Day Adventists.

I remember my brother Norman left for the navy in San Diego the summer of 1951, then Willie left for the navy in the fall of 1955, and Russell 1956.

I remember the first few years on the Stilwell farm we used only muscle power to clear the land (axes and crosscut saws), and then Daddy bought a motorized saw on wheels about 1954.

I remember spending a week on the farm in Bessie with Mrs. Keil and Miss Chris.

I remember that clearing land for new strawberry patches on the Stilwell farm involved cutting timber (which we used for heating and cooking), removing stumps and roots and rocks (I helped carry rocks and burn brush and roots), and Daddy driving a horse drawn machine called a jigger over the hard ground to loosen it.

I remember Grandpa sometimes having to leave late at night to do patrol as part of their neighborhood watch program.

I remember most of our land near Stilwell was original forest, mostly oak, and very beautiful covering the hills and valleys.

I remember about six of our original 78 acres at Stilwell was cleared - two acres for our house and out buildings, two for the garden, and two for the original strawberry patches.

I remember the milkman delivering milk to our house on NE 25th Street and picking up the empty bottles.

I remember I started taking phenobarbital about age 9 after having 3 nighttime seizures a couple years before (since Aunt Bertie had severe epilepsy and frequent seizures and I had milder seizures they started me on a small dose and Praise God I never had another seizure even when I stopped the meds).

I remember in 1980 Brad Stockton wanted to sit in the front row of the theater showing Flash Gordon and everything was so huge I couldn't really follow what was going on.

I remember Charlie, Arnold, and I shared a bed and most mornings we woke up with a wet one (could have been three weak bladders but usually not mine), and Daddy would have a tub of bath water ready for us. 

I remember Mom planted a sweet honeysuckle right next to the last outhouse on the farm (my mama was no dummy!).

I remember (horror of horrors!) about once a year Daddy had us boys help him clean out the outhouse pit and dispose of it somewhere (it was worse than cleaning out the chicken house).

I remember we kept ashes from the stoves in a bucket in the outhouse to sprinkle after usage but don’t think many of us kids remembered to do it.

I remember a sleepover at Patty Tipton's house, and all the girls told scary stories.

I remember one spring volunteer tomatoes grew from our bodily refuse near the outhouse, and Mom and Daddy planted them and we enjoyed the delicious cycle of life.

I remember my brother Russell walking me to the outhouse after dark carrying a kerosene lantern and patiently waiting for me.

I remember in the late 1970's almost getting in a fight once with Jimmy Smith in our backyard on Veil Of Tears, and he told me if I hit him then his dad would sue me, and I had no idea what that meant.

I remember I started walking 2.5 miles roundtrip to Mulberry Hollow School in 1952 in first grade, so with walking and carrying wood and water daily as I got older, I got a pretty good workout.

I remember when we upgraded our cooking stove in the kitchen and heating stove in the living room at Mulberry Hollow (but I was still the wood boy).

I remember when I was a kid we would heat water in a large tub outside over an open fire to wash clothes and take baths.

I remember when we had a more modern well dug up by the house in Mulberry Hollow and could now just step out the door and pump a bucket of water (but I was still the water boy). 

I remember when we still had no plumbing, bathroom, phone, TV, washer, dryer, or refrigerator on the farm, but did advance from coal oil lamps and lanterns to electric lights, which meant we soon went from the icebox to a refrigerator, radio, electric clothes iron, and electric fan (modern times were on their way!).

I remember I was checking out at Hy-Vee when Shirley called to tell me that Dad had died.

I remember after we had torn down the old log cabin and disposed of the boys' tent, we used the former girls' cabin for a tool shed and eventually moved it farther north of the house.

I remember the main floor of our big house had a living room, a kitchen, Mom and Dad's bedroom, and Evelyn and Vera's bedroom, and upstairs were two bedrooms for the boys (Wanda, Norman, Hazel, and Willie were gone by this time).