By Linda Clark
This past Monday, my very dear, close friend, who is like a dear sister to me, called me and said that her husband had passed away from a stroke. This was a shock as I had a recent phone call of her dying of cancer. Anyway, we got to talking about the old days over the phone. She needed someone to talk to.
Shirley and I met in 1954 while we were in high school. I was the one who walked with a limp and she talked with a southern drawl because she was from Kentucky. Anyway, the kids made fun of us, so we became close friends. After a while, we called each other sister. After school we got jobs and didn’t see each other as much.
Shirley bought a car and she came up to get me and we would spend weekends together at her parents home which was way up a long lane. You had to walk across a creek on a telephone pole and up a hill to the house where you met the most wonderful people, Shirley’s Dad and Mom. I loved them from the start. I never got along well with my Dad, so I spent more time with Mom and Dad Stewart.
Shirley’s brothers and sisters were all like family. Usually about every Saturday we’d pile in Shirley’s car, five in back and Shirley, her Mom and I in the front. We’d spend the day in Kocomo, Indiana, at Shirley’s married sisters house.
On Sunday you would wake up to the smell of bacon frying. Not the store bought stuff, but this was Jowl Bacon, from a pig they butchered themselves. When you came down for breakfast, there were two big skillets going. One was full of bacon and another full of eggs. The oven was full of homemade biscuits. Mom Stewart would take the bacon grease and make a big skillet of brown flour gravy. She made enough to feed the world, it seemed to me. Well, there were eight kids at home yet, excluding me, and six that were married. If you left her table hungry, it was your own fault.
One weekend while I was there, the older kids were allowed to stay up and watch what we called a scary movie back then. There was no indoor plumbing. Back then you went out back to a one or two seat outdoor potty, as Dad Stewart called it. Anyway, after the movie was over, Shirley and I headed out for the potty before going to bed. We got to the back of the house and there were these two bright eyes looking right straight at us. That was all we could see because it was so dark out. We let out a scream. Dad turned on the back spotlight to see what was wrong. There stood Judy, their cow. Dad had moved her closer to the house because of a rumor of a bobcat in the area. Anyway, Dad stands over six feet tall. He stood there on the porch almost doubled up laughing at us because the cow had scared us, and Mom gave him heck for it. Now, we all laugh about it. I had a lot of fun times there.
When I got married in 1964, Shirley’s youngest brother, Roger, was 13 years old. He said, Why can’t you wait for me to grow up so I can marry you? He was really serious, but we had a talk and he understood. We still keep in touch. He got married and has two children of his own.
The sad part is that all the kids got married and moved away, and Dad and Mom Stewart sold the farm and moved into Delphi, Indiana, where they lived the rest of their lives. They always had a spare bedroom for Bill and I whenever we came out to see them. Mom always said, You’re not going to stay at a dirty motel, as she would call them, when we have a room waiting for you.
About six years ago Mom had two strokes. The last one took her life. Dad gave up after Mom died. He passed away a year later. These people were wonderful people to me, as were all their children. The big family. I’m proud that I am a member even though I am not blood related.
Now I am married to Bill Clark and have another large family by the name of Wike. But, I’ll never forget my growing up years with a great friend, Shirley Heathcote nee Stewart. Her parents were always there when you needed them. You might say what about my real parents? Well my real dad had this thing of beating me when I was growing up, and my real mom was afraid to stop him. You did as Dad said or else. Shirley knew, so every weekend I was with her family. I felt secure with them. It was hard growing up back then, but still life has to go on. My parents have both passed away, and so have Shirley’s. And everyone has grown up and gone their own way.
Gone but never forgotten.
Published U.S. Legacies Jan 2006
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