 | Faye Graves, a native Wichitan, attended school at Friends and Wichita State, concluding at Midwestern Theological Seminary. He has been active in media for many years with Channel 12, KIRL, KFDI, KOOO AM & FM (Omaha), KFRM & KICT 95, as an owner, manager, producer, director and announcer. He has served as President of the Haysville Board of Education. He has also served on several national boards of the Southern Baptist Convention. Faye currently serves as Executive Pastor and Director of Administration and Education at Immanuel Baptist Church, 1415 S. Topeka, Wichita. You may contact Faye by e-mail fmgraves@amenibc.org, or by phone at (316) 262-1452. |
Nostalgia
2006-09-01 11:54:00
Summer heat
QUESTION: Do you remember the summer heat back when you were younger?
ANSWER: This has undoubtedly been the hottest summer that we in Kansas have experienced in many years. I can remember a summer (I think it was 1980) that we broke temperature records like we have this year. That year my family and I went to Colorado, in our 1972 Volkswagen van. If you remember, that year’s model was equipped with a Porsche engine. There was no radiator. The heat was intense. Plus the variance of altitude we experienced caused the oil to have bubbles. The air conditioning in that model was pretty poor. My wife and I and our three children suffered with the heat all the way home. As we came closer to Wichita, the heat became more intense. When we arrived home we found that a folding screen that had thick styrofoam for a sun and privacy blocker, was totally scorched. This was inside the house! It was that hot as it came through the window. I also recall when I was a teenager my father was a painter, and a year that I was working with him painting houses outside there were numerous days that the temperature soared above 100. We had one of the old thermos jugs that held about two gallons of water. I remember watching the crew of eight men fill it several times a day with ice and water. I couldn’t believe they could drink so much. I spent time in Omaha, Nebraska when I was in the radio business. I saw the temperature there vary from forty below windchill during a blizzard... to a high of 115. Before air conditioning as we know it today, we fought the heat by opening all the windows in the house. That is why you see so many windows in older homes. We had fans all over the house, sometimes blowing over a pan of ice. Then the miraculous evaporative coolers, water blowing through moistened straw. First in houses and cars, then in churches and public gatherings. But perhaps nothing gave as much relief from the heat to so many as the familiar hand fan. They were usually provided by a mortuary. We called them cardboard on a stick. Remember the first signs on businesses that said air conditioned? Each one had painted icicles around the border. That part of the good ol’ days definitely wasn’t. I’ll take the air conditioning of today. Try to enjoy what's left of summer, keep cool, because soon we will be complaining about the cold and snow. A real old fashioned Fourth I will always remember…
