 | 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
2008-12-01 14:57:00
Remember...
Question: No matter the cold winter weather we get today, it seems to pale in comparison to the cold winters in the ‘30s and ‘40s. Does it seem that way with you?
Answer: I have to agree. Maybe they weren’t all that much colder, but perhaps the things we had available to us to cope were more limited. Let me tell you a story. I was attending North High School in the late ‘40s. I had constantly annoyed my dad to help me get a Cushman motor scooter. He finally gave in and said, “Alright, but you have to ride it to school in good weather and bad.” So, I went to the Army- Navy store and bought some really thick aviator gloves (many of the planes did not have heat at that time, thus the origin of them) and one of the old aviator caps. You know, the one with the ear flaps and goggles. I have to admit, I would be a sight today. These got me by in most weather, but when the snow came, it was altogether different. First of all, I was unable to balance the bike in heavy snow for a couple of reasons. Number one, it, of course, was slick for a two wheeler. Two, we seemed to have a lot more accumulation in those days. So, during one such heavy snow, my father gave in and took me and my friend, who rode with me on the scooter from west Wichita on Athenian to North High, in his car. You see, dad always traded cars at the first of the year. He always got a new Pontiac. We never failed to go to the third block on South Main to Byron Stout Pontiac on the first day that the new models came out. So, that year, he had just purchased a new 1948 model that was powder blue with a cream top. He was very proud of it. Wichita didn’t have any snow plows then and many of the streets were not scraped. We had just turned onto 9th Street from the bridge going out of Riverside Park. That was one of the streets that had not been plowed. The snow was so deep that the cars tried to stay in the deep icy tracks that had been made by other cars. Well, my dad and another driver chose the same drivers’ side track with one car going east and the other going west. We crashed together. I will never forget my dad holding up the fender skirt from our new Pontiac to show the other driver some of the damage. We did not have any physical injuries, except for my dad’s pride and the new car. That wasn’t a good morning.
Back to the motor scooter. I remember the day I finally got a windshield. If you have never ridden a two wheeler in the winter without a windshield, you will find a new definition to the word “cold.” With this windshield, my aviator gloves and cap…I was in hog heaven. Somehow we always got through those cold Januaries. We would load up the coal stove, huddle around it, and listen to Lux Radio Theatre, Inner Sanctum,
The Lone Ranger and Tonto, and many others. There wasn’t any TV, but we got to know our families and friends really well…and our homes were warm. Have a safe and happy January!
