A Note From Claudine

Thanks for volunteering once more--this time to help us make this blog thing work. I completed my currents yesterday, but I know I will enjoy sending more,later.

Sorry I could not stop to chat for a minute yesterday. I got the car back four minutes ahead of a $90 charge for an extra day. And I really had to do some driving to make it

I hope next time we have lunch--maybe if I ever sell and settle on this house--we do not end up at opposite ends of the table having to shout an occasional comment across. It was a great lunch nonetheless. I enjoyed seeing everyone and having a chance to visit. You guys should keep this up.

Later,

Claudine

A Note From Ed Rowe

I agree with Bob, it was a nice luncheon and fun to introduce Mike Stone, a neighbor & friend from my past who graduated with us. Some of you seemed to recognize him and you may want to look him up in your yearbook. Mike does not own or use a personal computer, one of a rare breed. It was good to see Claudine again and I hope we get to see her again in the future. I also agree that the girls have kept their beauty better than the men. It sounded like some of you finally came up with a name for a theatre at 55th & Prospect but I did not catch that name. We lived around the corner on Linwood, but I do not recall such a theatre, although it may well have been there. When I was about seven years old my mother sent me to the Milgram’s store there at 55th & Prospect to get something to complete the menu for her birthday party that evening, January 31st. The weather was fine, I don’t recall even wearing a coat, but as I walked down Linwood toward the store, a boy came toward me down the sidewalk carrying a bee-bee gun (the guts taken out) and I decided to play like I was a cowboy by jumping up on a porch, jumping over a small railing out onto the ground. Unbeknown to me, there was a small flowerbed with bricks on an angle surrounding that bed which I landed on as I attempted to do a somersault. I retreated back home, holding my right arm with my left hand as it had a large bend in it (green stick fracture). Needless to say we spent most of the evening at two hospitals. Initially going to St. Joseph Hospital at Linwood & Prospect where they were in no hurry to do anything so my parents took me down to Research which was then at about 19th & Holmes I believe. Enough for now, but what was the name of that theatre? Thanks, Ed

Last Reunion Committee Meeting

We had the last meeting of the 50th reunion committee for Paseo Class of 1959 today. We met at PierPonts at Union Station and had a nice luncheon. It will be the last time for quite some time that Claudine will be returning to Kansas City. We sat around the table and talked about how well the reunion turned out. I think everyone enjoyed the activities. The next one, hopefully, will be in about 5 years.

While we were sitting there, Frank Stathopoulos mentioned that he was sandwiched between two ladies he referred to as "hottie #1"(Judy Webster Mueller) and "hottie #2" (Mary Lynn Allen Sherwood). Mary Lynn mentioned that she thought the girls had weathered the years much better than the men, but that makeup helped a lot. Looking around the table at all the beautiful women, I had to agree that the girls I knew in high school had indeed grown up to be beautiful women, while the boys had left much of their youth well behind. But then, we are all still 18 years old inside - our outside shells have just deteriorated a bit over the years.

What a great group of people we were then and still are now. I guess we were just lucky to have lived and grown up when we did.

Let's try to keep this commentary alive and the friendships that we rekindled glowing.

Black Pirate Tee Shirts

Some of you have inquired about the tee shirts I had made for the committee members. Here is a picture of the tee shirt. I had it made by Mr Olive T-Shirts & More (a company run by a former Paseo graduate-class of 64 or 65). If you want one, you can contact Carole Jennings at 816-943-1715. They have the screens and possibly a few on hand. They have been contacted by other classes to make T-shirts for them, so they will continue to have the screens for a while.

A Note From Harriet Benson

I’m amazed when I observe California high school students today. Their lives seem more stressful and exam-filled than my memories of attending Paseo. I remember studying, and being over-committed to extra-curricular activities, but happily so. My favorite/most memorable teachers were Misses Johnston, Kramer, and Minckemeyer (I can still hear the Mickey Mouse jingle to spell her name!). Yet, in college I majored in chemistry rather than poli sci, English, or math. Apparently their effect on me was more than academic subject matter.

My non-academic experience at Paseo was a bit different from some of the previous blogs since I lived with my non-driving mother on the Plaza—a “car-less” family. I rode the 47th street bus to Paseo; a few other classmates rode the bus as well. By senior year an occasional ride would materialize while I waited for the bus—usually from Laura Johnston or John Bruce. I was indebted to Betty Steiner’s parents and others who drove me to various evening Paseo events. Visits to the drive-ins were rare, except for the one at the foot of the Paseo hill, of course.

I have many fond memories of my five years at Paseo. The opportunity to reflect on these and to re-connect with my classmates has enriched my year.

One memory, and a question for this readership, did we go to an away basketball or football game one season? Where did we go? What event? (And why do I remember getting in trouble in the hotel for hanging out the open window and wandering from room to room?) If my vague memory of this sports event is correct, it may have influenced the rest of my life as I travel frequently now to support my Stanford women’s basketball team on the road.

I have recently purchased a book “1959, The Year Everything Changed” by Fred Kaplan. Kaplan describes 1959 as an overlooked year when civilization was in flux and set the world as we know it in motion. I'll let you know whether it stirs any memories.

Hello all you pirate bloggers

It appears that many of you have thoughts that you would like to add to the commentary here on this site, but cannot get through the security. Just send your comments to rhpflanz@gmail.com and I will put them on the site with your name. I'm sorry that it's so hard for some of you to leave bits and pieces of wit and wisdom for the rest of us to meditate over, but sending it to me will alleviate the problem. I'm looking forward to being overwhelmed with hundreds of emails from each and every one of you. I know that you have some experience over the past 50 years you would like to share with the rest of your friends, so come on and do it. You are among friends here, so don't worry about spelling or grammar - we understand.

Tiger

Does anyone know what happened to the Country Club Dairy on Troost Avenue. I worked there when I was at Paseo but it seems to be gone.

It's still working!

Hi Claudine, I was starting to think everyone had abandoned this site!

PROBLEM leaving a comment

On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 9:16 AM, Claudine Weiher wrote:
Hi Bob:

I have tried several times off and on for the last few days to send a comment? post a comment? to your blog message re driving and Doug's re dances. I cannot seem to get this accomplished.

I click on "comment" under the message. Sometimes then it takes me to a site for sending an individual e-mail ? Other times it takes me to a site to type in a word it displays and then my user name etc., and I do so and it tells me there is an error?

So, if I want to comment back say just to you on the drivers thing what do I do? And, if I want to comment back as a message to all on the blog, what do I do?

This is all very frustrating. All the more so because once I did this successfully.


Claudine

REPLY:

I see the problem now. I never had any problem commenting or adding a blog as long as I was logged into gmail. Apparently it leaves a cookie on your machine to identify you and allows you to blog and comment. When you are not logged into gmail, it comes up with that stupid email thing. That must be the one failing grace with this google system - they want you to be part of the system. I know you have a gmail account and if you log into that your machine will know that it is you and then google will allow you to comment or add to the blog. If you are trying from another machine and not logged in, it apparently won't until you do log in. I'm sorry, I don't know of any way around their system. Luckily, it is easy and free to obtain a gmail account and log into it by going to gmail.com. I'll publish this commentary and hope that it will allow others to be able to access the site.

Bob

Stadium Name

Does anyone remember "Keys Stadium" and where it was located?

Can't Sleep

Since someone mentioned the unidentified movie theater at 50th and Prospect, I have been unable to sleep, trying to recall its name.

If you want to add a note: please read.

Roger pointed out to me that there is a problem adding a note to the blog.

I have listed as authors the following people who have permission to add to the blog:
mcworter@illinois.com,leelanie@aol.com,ejsalmon@yahoo.com,cdean1@kc.rr.com,
downs-b@sbcglobal.net,anne2004@sbcglobal.net,kay.argie@yahoo.com,jqbruce@yahoo.com,
dusenealee@comcast.net,mjdonna@att.net,richlana63@yahoo.com,choffland@conroeisd.net, kcblonde10@yahoo.com,nana-harla@sbcglobal.net,billkoste@hotmail.com,
marylynnsherwood@yahoo.com,tomconk@proright.com,mrlretired@aol.com,
jamueller1221@yahoo.com,don_guinn@yahoo.com,jeanneboyer@yahoo.com,
kcfreight@aol.com,penndandr@everestkc.net,panwan@aol.com,
saljimdew@aol.com,hmoody@cox.net,edrowe@sbcglobal.net

These are in addition to the ones who have already signed on.
When Roger tried to sign in with his everest account name, he found he couldn't.
Apparently you need a google account name (free) then I have to list your google name as an author. Then you have free access to add posts or edit. Right now you can add comments to any post without any account problems.

So, if you want to add posts you will need to go to google.com and open a gmail account - here is the address:

https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount?service=mail&hl=en-us&continue=http://mail.google.com/mail/e-11-109a5a55d7610df0e7957ac039c47579-ed2a46d7696ce5

Once you open a gmail account, let me know what your gmail address is and I can add you as an author. rhpflanz@gmail.com

Sorry it isn't easier, but that seems to be the rules of the game. Otherwise, you can just add comments or send me a note to add to the blog as I have for several people.

click on the slide shows

Notice the new slide shows?
If you click on one of them they will open a new window and you can see a bigger version. Enjoy.

A NOTE FROM DOUG CARLANDER

Thank you for the great DVD video and all the hard work you have put into making our class reunion memories. I have enjoyed it so much.

Probably one of the funniest memory I have of Paseo is going to the mixers and sox hops that we had in the boys' gym. From eighth grade through most of my junior year I can remember going to all the dances and the boys without dates would stand on one side of the gym floor and the girls would stand on the other side. I would say to myself that I was going to ask a girl to dance when the next slow song played and when they would play a slow song I would decide it was too slow and I would wait until they played a fast song and then that song would be too fast. Then the mixer would be over and I would decide that the next time there was a mixer I would ask a girl to dance. I was just too scared of rejection but after looking at some pictures of myself from that time I would not blame any girl for saying no to me. Doug Carlander

a note from Joyce Howes

Hi to my Paseo friends who know me and hi to so many of you I remember so clearly but doubt you remember me. I was only there (unfortunately) for only my 8th & 9th grade year.

I remember all things that you all have posted and, yes, I totally agree we grew up during a great time. Sadly, my family moved to Raytown so I became a Bluejay. I made the transition fine and met many great people but I've never forgotten Paseo friends and classmates. Yes, I remember after school sports (skating at the Pla-Mor, I believe on Linwood), Mr. Coulter's class (he despised sororities); Mr. Coleman's class, Miss Wray's Common Learnings class & our 8th grade trip to Chicago on the train. Wow! On the train! I particularly remember Madelyn and I became friends that year and she was on that trip and when we returned, Miss Wray let Madelyn & I (and maybe others, but don't remember) draw murals on white paper around the room depicting our trip. My freshman homeroom class was with Ms. Gherring (?) and that was a fun class because of the crazy boys, i.e. Bill Koste. I'll never forget his "moo cow" that he would pull out and turn over making it moo loud enough to make those of us around him laugh. How silly I probably was but we were only 14! We had a young good looking (at least I thought that at the time) student teacher for Mr. Coulter's history class my Freshman year and I remember begging him not to call on me in class. For that plea, he wanted one of my sorority photos so I obliged. He never called on me the whole time so it was worth it!

I'll also never forget Miss Cannon's Spanish class. I seemed to be more interested in the upperclassmen/women and making excuses to go to the nurse's office (but really went to lunch with my friends because Spanish was a split period (or whatever they called it). Miss Cannon told me more than once to come sit on the front row! What fun years!

I had lots of thoughts to add to everyone else’s comments as I was reading this blog. Walking home with Madelyn and others from Southeast after a football game down Meyer Blvd. in the fall with the piles of leaves beneath our feet and the cool crisp air. Mmmm! The summer of '56 I met the neatest guy from Southeast, Norm Howes ('57) and we were hanging out at all the spots you mentioned, Allen's and sometimes Nu-Way. Loved those cherry limeades and to this day I still have the scrapbook I kept all thru high school, with all the typical scrapbook junk...ticket stubs, straws, coins, etc. I now show it to my granddaughters (l6, 12 & 10).

I could write forever since it has been 50 years but I will stop. I want to say how disappointed I was that I had to cancel my trip to K.C. for the reunion, which I was so looking forward to, but my husband's surgery seemed to dictate our change in plans. I hope you have a 55th reunion! We live in Houston, TX and are enjoying retirement. We have a patio home now in Prairie Village, KS because my mom is still living (91) and I have other relatives there, plus have renewed friendships with a few Paseo friends. Your reunion looked fabulous and fun and all pictures as well as the updated "red book" was thoroughly enjoyed. I read it all in one day. It would be fun to hear from anyone who remembers me!! Thanks for a job done very very well by many.

Sincerely, Joyce Murphy Howes

The early days of driving

I had forgotten the first days of driving.
Two of my friends from scouting days and Delphians, Bill Hockensmith and Dick Knight, both in the class of 1958 had convertibles and we would drive around with the top down. They gave me lessons out in the Zoo parking lot. The day I turned 16, we cut class and I went downtown to take the test. I got 100 on the written but flunked the driving because of the parallel parking and the downtown hills. We immediately went out to Independence and I got 100 on the written test and passed the driving test. The next semester, I took drivers education. It helped a lot. Since high school, I've gotten 3 tickets and had just one fender bender in 50 years. Of course the fender bender made the front page when I took my eyes off the road to kiss my date (future bride) and smashed into a parked car. The headline was “Twist to kiss, remiss”. I've been a lot more careful since then. I always wanted a convertible since those days, but the closest I got was when I owned several Jeeps. A convertible in the mountains or in the redwoods is well worth it, but a Jeep will get you back up in the wilderness, and you need the clearance in the ROCKY mountains.

Mary Lynn, Twila, Janey, Judy,Rex

The slumber parties were indeed super fun and special. They were so special because my Mom trusted us enough to leave us there alone all night while she went to work the 11:00 to 7:00 shift and then would come home to fix breakfast.

We were sort of wild and crazy at these parties, but what was wild and crazy in 1956 is pretty tame stuff when viewed today, huh?

And , yes Mary Lynn, I remember well the long and very generous taxi ride. No, one could never do that today. It is sad that that is the way things are. What a safe time on top of everything else.

I did not take drivers education. Judy Webster's Mom took me to get my drivers license 3 days after I was sixteen. My driving experience consisted of going around the zoo a few times with Rodney. I somehow passed with a 76. Could no more drive than fly, but never mind. I had the piece of paper. I took it home and my Dad asked how in Christ's name someone would be silly enough to give me a drivers license, but handed me the keys to his 53 Chevy and said he never wanted to see me drive or be with me in a car. He bought a new car just a few days later.

My first driving around on the streets was indeed my driving learning experience. And KC has some very very steep hills. It took a while to get the knack of being able to make the car go forward instead of backward when you applied the gas. Whew!

Have you ever heard Bill Cosby's monologue on driving on the streets of San Francisco in a stick shift with no experience. I used to work up a sweat just listening to it.

Finally, a note was posted from Twila about being a "good girl". It is just sort of floating there by itself as the other back and forths were sent to a limited audience. I thought I would fill in the gaps with apologies to those of you who have already read these exchanges.

Twila said she used to go to the El Torrin skating rink about the velvet freeze in 31ST street.
I allowed that my Father said "nice girls" did not go to El Torrin and therefore I could not and so I skated at the Pla mor. But so as to not hurt Twila's feelings I told her I was also taught by my Grandmothers, and or Mom, but most probably Dad or a combination that "nice girls" did not wear black underwear--it was only worn by gals who did not wash their underwear--nor did they wear perfume--perfume was worn only by those who did not bathe regularly. And, there was something in all of this about plucking eyebrows.

Mary Lynn then reminded me about pierced ears. They were so far beyond the pale I had forgotten them. Then in the blog someone mentioned ankle bracelets. Good luck getting out of the house with one of those on.

Anyway I just throw all this out to see if anyone else had these or similar or other dictates of what it meant to be a "nice girl" in the mid 1950's

I still have no holes in my ears--that is the way my Dad referred to pierced ears.

And Rex, did you tell me Rains still owed you $7.50 from a pool game in the early 60's?

The Hole

The Hole:

My dad ran this pool hall, on Troost, half block north of 47th, at night (after working his day job) so I spent a lot of time there. It was a big place that catered to older men. I learned enough there that when I had a traveling job a few years later, I was able to go in any small town pool hall and hold my own.

Rains and I used to play some intense games of 8 Ball, since both of us were equally competitive. Lots of others, too, played there as well as another place just south of 47th on the east side of Troost. Not as big a pool hall, but it catered to teens and the guy who ran it, Paul, would let you play on credit.

a note from janey

Hi, Bob,

The blog is great. How do we add to it>

Here’s mine….

Claudine,I have very fond memories of your slumber parties in your attic-turned-amazing bedroom. Mary Lynn, I also loved your airplane room. It seemed so private, like adults would never bother us. Judy, I remember when we double dated to a formal dance and wore the same formal. Roger, you provided me with both my first cigarette and my first alcohol (which led to my throwing up on your convertible). Jeanne, do you remember that I borrowed our Annie costumes from Mrs. Greenlease, the mother of the kidnapped boy? Of course, I too remember the walking and I loved it. I remember walking home from movies at 31st and Troost. Bob, I love the music here. Dancing at sock hops and anywhere we could are great memories.

Janey

JC Bond

Didn't he live in the neighborhood, like somewhere on 49th between Woodland and Euclid?

Memories - an open commentary

jeanne boyer
As I said ....  we were the luckiest generation.  I loved the bit about the street lights.  THAT said it all.  They should have added we strung bed sheets or blankets over clothes lines to make tents and sat in them (probably 120 degrees) to eat peanut butter sandwiches or things made with mayonnaise that had lived beyond it's live expectancy...and survived.

robert pflanz
You DO remember, don't you?  Those were sweet innocent days when we could roam the neighborhood with impunity and feel safe.  All we had to remember was to be home for dinner at the proper time.  In this day of instant world news, I miss the simpler innocence of those days. I remember the tents and the sticky peanut butter on the roof of my mouth.

jeanne boyerI
also remember sitting on our garage roof.  Riding the street car on Prospect to downtown for a dime.  The Velvet Freeze on a summer night on Prospect...47th I think.  Neighborhood grocery store let you run a chit until the weekend and they had a butcher that used to give me the heels of the long balogne tubes to eat...I thought they were wonderful.  So full of fat that my face was well lubricated.  Did you have roller skates that hooked to your shoes?  I remember having to jump the places where the sidewalk didn't match up and feeding sugar cubes to the Manor man's horse before they went to trucks.  Lots of good memories from those early years.

Claudine Weiher
Hi Bob:
Thank you so much for "we survived "and the Jay Leno quote.  So very, very true!
I would add to the list of deprivations a TV which our household did not obtain until I was in the fourth grade.
I would add to the list of activities hours and hours of roller skating, and sledding in the winter.
And, I would add to the harmful things done to us by ommission or commission  toilet training before we were old enough to read.
Thanks again
Claudine

robert pflanz
You're stirring up long lost memories.  I lived at 49th & Wabash - just 1 block up a hill from Prospect and 2 blocks away from Velvet Freeze.  I used to love double dip cones for a dime at Velvet Freeze (especially lime sherbet).  Did you live somewhere around there?  We used to catch the prospect trolly bus downtown or the 47th st streetcar over to the plaza or Swope Park.  I had forgotten about the Manor bread man.  I do remember the milk man and getting ice chips from him to suck on.  We lived on a hilly area, but would roller skate on some of the side streets with our clamp on roller skates.  I remember my older sister got some with rubber wheels instead of the metal ones like the rest of us had, but then she was spoiled.  Of course I wasn't!  Fond memories.  Thanks for stirring them up.
Bob

jeanne boyer
Yes to the iceman, too.  Also the milkman with glass bottles often full of dead fireflies by the time he got them back.  I lived 0n 35th Terrace at South Benton during elementary..two blocks east of Prospect.  Later at 5504 Euclid.  Do you remember picking dead locust husks off the elm trees where they had split their outer covering to emerge.  Everyone had a clothes line, too.  We could go trick or treating by ourselves once we hit 4th grade.  I also had a big red wagon I pulled Girl Scout cookies around with delivering them and went far afield to sell them.  My parents didn't ask anyone at work to buy them...that was my job.  We knew our neighbors, too.  Walked around the block some summer evenings and stopped to visit with the neighbors on their porches or they stopped at ours.  Mom always made ice cold lemonade to serve.  Gracious!  Look what you started.

robert pflanz
I really remember the porches.  I had forgotten.  Summer evenings, to get out of the heat from the house, we would sit on the front porch.  We had a porch swing that hung from the ceiling above and the chain would squeak just a little bit as we gently rocked back and forth.  The swing was big enough for 2-3 people and it faced the street.  We could look out and see the neighbors on their porches or the kids running around in the yards.  Our neighbor, who was really quite close (just a car width between the houses and a shared driveway) would sit out on his porch and listen to baseball games.  It was peaceful and comfortably homey.  
I remember the locust shells, all tan and crispy.  I remember the sound of the locusts at night and the fireflies blinking in the dark.  Apparently there wasn't too much city light glow, because we would lie in the yard and look up at the stars at night.  I had forgotten about the milk bottles, we always had to shake up the milk because it would separate and the cream would float to the top.  Do you remember going to the country club dairy at 57th and Troost?  It was a real treat to have one of their milkshakes (I always got a root beer milk shake).  Or we would go the the crown drug store and get a cherry phosphate.  Do you remember cherry cokes at the drug store?
I remember going shopping downtown (on the bus) especially at Christmas to see all the street decorations and the store displays.  I always liked going to the huge dime stores downtown because they had so much stuff that I could afford.  I still remember the smell of the wood floors  in the dime stores with the slowly revolving fans way overhead.
But that's enough for now.  What a trip.
Later,
Bob

Rex Weddle
Activities:

At the corner candy shop (49th and Woodland), we'd play a game where we'd pull an empty Coke bottle from the wooden rack. The bottles had the town of bottling embossed on the bottom.  Whoever got the one furthest from KC won .05 from the others. Learned more about US geography that way than in school.

There was so little car traffic on the back streets, the city would close the ones with hills and open them up for sledding after a heavy snow. From 50th and Brooklyn or 49th and Euclid, all the way to Brush Creek, you could really pick up a head of steam.

Deprivations:

How did any of us grow up normal without day care and preschool? 

And last - and a question I meant to ask everyone at the reunion but failed to - 'How did you get to school?'  No one ever took me, but I had a relatively short walk.  Regardless, getting yourself to school was a real deprivation.

Harmful Things:

Did any of you ever visit the stockyards? My grandfather delivered meat from there and gave me a tour when I was 14. I switched from lunch meat to tuna salad right after that.

Riding bikes miles into the huge storm sewers that fed Brush Creek - eh gads!

Claudine Weiher
I walked 14 blocks.
 It was as far as  one could be and still be in the Paseo District.  One more block north and it would have been Central and the border for Westport was right there too.
 Mary Lynn and I met each morning at 42nd and Euclid and walked the rest of the way.  It was quite a hike.
 I was the first of us to have a car of my own, given to me by my Dad about two days after my 16th birthday our Junior year,and the only one  of the girls to own a car for the last two years of high school.  I picked up Mary Lynn, Twila, and Sally each morning and ,when it was required, we bought one  gallon of gas for the '53 Chevy at 25 cents per gallon and the attendant pumped it and washed the windshield.
 We had only one snow day in my five years at Paseo.  I was out driving around and ended up in the front yard of some lady near Rodney's. 
We were fearless.  I still don't mind driving in the snow.  You should watch the folks around here.
 Claudine

JRTerry
I use to meet with David Smiley and sometimes Steve Blackburn to make the trip from 41st and Olive ( just around the corner from Mary Lynn).  No buses in those days.  I use to tell my kids that I had to walk uphill both ways to school and back.  Hell!  I did!
 
Roy

jeanne boyer
Easement drives are popular in the older part of KC.  We had one on Euclid.
 
I don't remember the country club dairy, but remember the cold frosty mugs (felt like they weighed 10 pounds) we sometimes got at Mugs Up.  They had good root beer floats, too.
Walking home from Paseo I often stopped with whoever I walked with that day at a small grocery for cherry cokes.  We combined them with fat dill pickles from a barrel.  Yuck! What a combination.
 
Do you remember the displays at Hartzfeld's at Christmas?  Beautiful mechanical dolls in snow/winter scenes.  Emery Bird Thayer had the bit Santa (also mechanical) in the window on the east side of the building..  They had a machine in the shoe department you put your feet in so your parent could check the fit.  Those are outlawed today, but I remember how much fun it was to see your feet and the bones and would wiggle my toes just for the fun of it. 
 
Yes, we did lie on blankets or just the grass and look at the stars.  Must have made a million wishes ...  wonder if any of them came true?  We could write a book!

Twila moody
Hi Claudine,
I walked to school also, I lived at 4105 Tracey, I walked down 1 1/2 blocks and picked up Bonnie Harvey, then we walked about 4 or 5 blocks down and picked up Sally.  Then on over to Paseo.  It was probably a total of I'd say 12 to 14 blocks each way.  We didn't think anything of it at the time.  However, after your Dad gave you the Chevy we were riding in style and yes I remember us all putting together 25 cents for a gallon of gas.  I was so embrassed I'd put your megaphone on my head...HA!  Do you remember that?   My Dad got a new '57 Chevy when I was 16 and I drove to school at times myself after that.  He had a pickup truck he drove to work, so the '57 Chevy was at my disposal.  I used to drag alot in that car down Paseo Blvd.  What fun we had then and it was all innocent fun.  We truly lived in a magical time, no drugs, no crime (or at least we didn't know about it), just buzzing Allen's Drive In and Max's Drive In.  I wish in many ways I could go back in time..I'd love for my grandchildren to have seen our teenage years.  Time changes everything and not always for the good.  Thanks for letting me remember...Love, Twila

JRober5974@aol.com
Hi Bob and all,
    What a "trip down memory lane"!  I grew up at 44th and Tracy (not far from you, Twila, and also Bonnie Harvey).  In the 8th grade we moved to 66th and Paseo area.  I took the public bus to and from Paseo.  When I turned 16 in November of my junior year, I got a job at Macy's downtown and rode the bus from school to town and then home at 9 pm - got off the bus and walked 2 blocks home in the dark - talk about a more innocent time!  Do you think we would allow our daughters (or granddaughters) to do that now??  Sharon (Reeves) Robertson

JOHN STEPHENS
reading comments from Rex about sledding reminded me of a ride Mary Lynn may well remember from Olive all the way to Brooklyn...1st part being real steep...fire in a barrel to keep warm...what a ride!!

saljimdew@aol.com
I remember Twila, Bonnie Harvey and me walking to Paseo every morning when we were in the 8th and 9th grade.  We always passed Newcomers Funeral Home and said they sprayed there grass with blood and that's why it was so green.. We were only kidding....I think.

William Koste
Reminisers:
Just a few thoughts kindled by your collective memories. How old were you when you saw the first ballpoint pen (Papermate)? My trip to grade school 5 Blocks (three long two short) sounds like Morse Code. Morning trip as long as it took not to be tardy!! Trip a lunch time full out sprint home and back to tag up for "Scrub" before George Parke, After school trip 12 to 15 blocks regardless of length, eventually spending some time at Tiffany's house.  High school a mere 12 block with a stop off here and there to wait for others to walk with; I have to admit I was glad when Warren Lyle got his new Ford convertible my live became a little easier. Claudine's reference to 25cent fuel brings tears to my eyes, but brings back a found memory of a mutual friend, that would put his oldish Ford in neutral and turn off the ignition to preserve that precious fuel, I guess everything is relative!! Rex do not check this text for grammar or grandpar.                                                        
       Koste

Rex Weddle
Jeanne, I loved your contributions.  I'd forgotten laying in my second floor bedroom that overlooked the city skyline listening to the cicadas singing away. When we were boys we used to catch them, tie thread around them, and had our own little flying machines.

Your memories of the downtown department stores at Christmas are really nostalgic for me. I'm sure you have seen the movie, A Christmas Story, set in a neighborhood like ours about 1950.  (Wow, I tell my kids that's exactly like my childhood, even down to a similar father.) A great scene involves a trip to their downtown store.

Macy's used to have a Knothole club on Saturday mornings. Any kid could come downtown, come to the 5th floor cafeteria and they would have ball players from the KC Blues there for autographs and to give the finer points of baseball discussion. Since the Blues were the Yankee farm club, they had some pretty good players pass through. We were pretty young, but took the street car or bus by ourselves.

Recall how seldom you'd ever see a commercial airplane overhead?

Or how we took our lives in our hands just being out. I mean, there were no leash laws, and I always lived in terror of dog packs.

Claudine and I previously reminisced about how we LOVED the Forum cafeteria on Main. 

I remember that Velvet Freeze. I thought you used to get 2 scoops for a nickle.  The Crown Drug store on the corner where we would get zombies at the soda fountain (a squirt of every flavor they had) and kids would get empty cigar boxes from them to keep all our treasures in. 

I used to hang out at the Nu Way Drive-in at 47th between Prospect and Wabash and play pinball.  One day Judy Webster walked by on her way home from school (I think she may have caught the Prospect bus) and she was shocked to see me playing pinball with the low-life that hung there.  Come to think of it, they were.

OK, one last one. The Oak Park Theater on Prospect. Saturdays. With a quarter, you got in for .14, had .11 for popcorn, drink and penny candy. Two feature films, one serial, one newsreel and two cartoons.  And they would have a free drawing with everyone in a certain row receiving free popcorn.  But it was the honor system and always easy just to go on up and claim one.  

Tom Conkright
While in KC, Jan and I took a couple of hours and went to the Nelson Art Gallery.  “Free” (except for a special exhibit on India miniatures).  One of my memories was riding there on my bike on Saturday mornings for free movies.  And yes, I road my bike all over the place until I was almost 17 when I finally got a car.
 
Tom Conkright

tmcnally
Speaking of gas prices, did anyone else drive all the way to North Kansas City during the “gas wars” to buy 11 cent gas ?  Wasn’t “mystery meat” invented by the KC public school system?

Mary Lynn Sherwood
Sooo many memories!  Do you remember the oleo that came in the plastic bag that had a dot of orange in the middle?  My sis and I used to get into big arguments as to whose turn it was to squeeze and smoosh the bag around to get the orange dot (food coloring) totally mixed into the oleo (maybe lard for all I know).  Also, do you remember the mills?  There were green ones and red ones.  I think the red ones were 10 for 1 penny and the green were 2 for 1 penny. Imagine things costing (or being taxed) to the 1/10th of a cent - and carrying all that around!   I still have one of each.  Do you remember being on the buses that had the trolleys?  Just like the streetcars, they would jump their connection and the driver would have to stop the bus, get off, go to the back of the bus and try to align it back up again.   I loved watching the skywriting and trying to figure out what they were going to write before they were finished.  Do you remember the music store in Village Green?  Some of us, on our walk home, would go there after school.  Remember the rooms they had where you could go in and listen to the record you might be interested in?  I also loved going downtown.  I took dancing classes above the RKO theater twice a week.  My orthodontist was also downtown.  Macys train through Santa's Village was wonderful, but do you also remember Harzfelds (on the corner across the street from Macys) magical Christmas windows?  I could stand for hours in front of them.  Do you remember how you paid for items in the big stores downtown?  The hydraulic tube system used to carry money back and forth from the various counters and customers to the credit department.  Yes, I do remember the sledding, John.  It started at the top of my hill (Wabash) and proceeded down from there.  What a marvelous ride!!  What a very long walk back!!!!  We're all so lucky to have been born in such an era.
Mary Lynn

Claudine Weiher
Rodney did.
In fact every time we drive through or near North Kansas City to this day  he relives the gas wars.  It would be 11 cents one one side of the street then the guy on the other side would go to 10 cents.etc.  It was Rodney's happiest shopping experience.
Speaking of whom, when Rodney retired his e-mail changed. I notice on this message that it was the old one.  The new one is ,
Thanks
Claudine

John Bruce
Yeah, you ol' glass licker you!  I'm glad to hear from you!  Actually, I have been known to wipe out a shot glass with my finger to get the very last drop of alchohol.  By the way, I remember 2 hamburgers and a soda for a 35 cents when I used to sneak out for lunch, not to mention the steaks at Gene Burns Linwood Restaurant. And what was the name of that bar on Rainbow that would serve anyone who could stagger through the door? 
 
And the Lone Ranger on the radio at 6:30 PM.  We covered Sky King at the reunion,  but do you remember the FBI in Peace and War?  Or Fred Allen's Gasoline Alley?  Duck and Cover, as someone mentioned, played a big part of my grade school memories.  And the first time I saw skywriting, I breathlessly ran in and informed my mom God was writing in the sky!  He was evidently asking everyone in they had a Lucky Strike.

Twila Moody
Do you guys remember the El Torrin Roller Rink which was above the Velvet Freeze on 31st and Gilliam?   We'd go roller skating there then stop at the Velvet Freeze for a ice cream on the way home.   Also, do you remember Sike's Bar?   That of course was when we were older...Great memories...Hugs, Twila
William Koste
Twila: Of course I remember Sike's Bar, I had my 21st birthday party there three times and of course I don't remember the roller rink. You Hurra Back!!                       
        Bill Koste


Mary Lynn Sherwood
Claudine, do you remember that your car was a standard transmission and you didn't know how to shift (or barely, anyway).  I remember us trying to find the best was to get home without having to stop, on hills especially, because you'd roll backward for quite a distance before you were able to pop your clutch to go forward.  I remember one afternoon after school you picked my mom up at my dads shop (don't know why) to take her home (of course, it was after we'd been to Max's).  Anyway, you scared the living daylights out of her because you hated to stop and would gererally just roll right on through intersections.  It took a while for her to get over that ride and for me to talk her into letting me continue to ride with you!  Who all was in the cab ride from downtown?  Remember the cab driver turning off the meter, almost before we had left downtown, because we were out of money.  He ended up buzzing Allen's with us and then parking (backing in of course), taking each of us home to get PJ's and then on to (I think) Judys for a slumber party.  What a bunch of goofballs we must have looked like at Allens and can you imagine doing something like that today?  You couldn't do something like that today!

Ed Rowe
We lived at 3946 Bellefontaine sometime during my high school years and I walked to Paseo, down Prospect and would stop at the donut shop halfway down the long hill toward Brush Creek.  A black man, probably in his 30’s was making donuts and I would buy a glazed one hot off the rack after he had just glazed it.  He was very nice and interestingly, in the last few years, I had the opportunity to inquire about him (memory becomes a problem as to how this came about) and was told he was still living but quite ill and I sent him my regards through this contact.  Rex knows that later we lived around the corner from him on 48th Terrace, about a block and a half east of Paseo and a block north of Francis Willard grade school. 
Originally, in my early grade school years, as some of you know I attended Benton grade school at 31st& Benton Blvd.  I remember a mural about 15’ X 3’ of all of the Disney characters at this school that was mounted over the urinal trough in the boy’s bathroom at this school and was told there were actually two of these, one evidently in the girl’s bathroom.  About 20 years ago I was calling on a business and got to talking to a man about ten years my elder and we discovered he attended Benton when the murals were presented and said they were hung in the halls at that time.  I have since wondered whatever became of those, but probably don’t want to know.  In about 1960 this became D. A. Holmes grade school and I believe is now vacant. 
My dad & mom owned & lived in an apartment building just a few doors east of Benton on Linwood, 2917 Linwood.  The first of three floors, our apartment had burglar bars on the windows and I remember lying on my bed in the rear bedroom, facing south and to an alley behind the four apartment buildings, looking out the bars of the open window, trying to catch a cool wiff of air on a stifiling hot summer night, listening to the radio, KJLA (?) Delrio, Texas.  Pure country western music.  We used to joke that they would peddle “free, autographed Bibles”.  I remember going to the end of that alley during a given day and petting the Manor man’s horse, tethered to a weight the shape of an iron  and harnessed to the Manor wagon while the Manor man went door to door delivering bread, rolls, etc.
I remember the Christmas displays in the windows downtown and have talked about them with others in recent years, wondering where they now are.  I remember riding the streetcars from Kansas City, through a tunnel near Quality Hill over to Kansas City, Kansas to the end of the line on Parallel, just for something to do, not realizing my someday, wife-to-be was doing so from the other end.
I remember riding my Schwinn, All-American, red, white & Blue, three speed bicycle all over the hills in and around Paseo, up Woodland, etc.  I also remember running those same areas around Brush Creek as a part of cross-country track and enjoying it immensely.  One more before I go watch Ellen and calm down from this memory trip.  I remember walking, with a friend from our house at 67th & Montgall (now under the freeway) all the way downtown, K. C., Mo. and doing so in less than two hours.  Thanks Bob, Claudine and all, keep this going


John Stephens
How did I know that Koste would remember "Sikes" place on Prospect. Sikes was an Okie & lived the role...what a character...claimed he only took a bath on Saturday nite & was proud of it! He had a passion for horses....& a million $ smile....passed on in recent years. Behind that "Okie" bit was a very successful business man!
"Hurra Bak"
John


Judie Hamilton 
Reading all you memories certainly brings me back to how life was back then. SO much calmer  and easier then now.
Linda Ladd and I walked to Paseo every morning rain or shine. The last of the journey was up that oh so steep hill at the back of school. Then on the way home we would stop by the Velvet  Freeze ice cream store for something that would get us the rest of the way home. The two of us spent many hours roller skating at the Play-Mor rink. I too remember downtown KC at Christmas. What a treat! Linda and I would take the bus down town all the time. It was nothing to spend hours just wondering around like kids do at “the mall” now. I always likes to eat lunch at the Kresges counter. If you didn’t live on Prospect Ave as I did you probably don’t remember Santa riding the street car at Christmas time. My Mom always made sure we got to see him each year. Did you ever go out to the Swope Park Lagoon to ice skate in a good winter? I remember my Dad taking us out one year. I decided to skate all the way around the Lagoon and did but it was night time. Now I think how silly I was cause no one else was back there.
 Wow  what a neat idea to share what we remember from all those years ago. I really wanted to see everyone at the reunion and am sorry I couldn’t be there. I did get all the pictures and really enjoyed them. Some of you have not changed thru the years.
I forgot to mention Wolferman's in downtown KC. It was a small lunch room that my grandmother treated me to few times. It was very special and had the best sandwiches on wonderful butter buns. Linda Ladd and her Mom and I would go to the Forum too.


aladocorp@comcast.net

I lived at 3704 tracy and went to faxon grade school with Twila, Ann Ellis and Dusene and my brother John. The one thing that always bothered me was Dusene and Ann could always out run me. Always went to maxs drive in and allens. What a wonderful weekend i had at the reunion,I will take those memories with me.


Kathryn (Wilbanks) Owens
I lived at 51st and Wabash.  Joyce Mason was a couple of years older and lived across the street.  Her Dad worked the night shift and if we were ready to leave for school before he went to bed he would drive us.  We walked home and it was a ways.  There was a corner drugstore on the way home where we would stop for cherry cokes and a bag of chips on the way home.  I think that I am still wearing both.  Does anyone remember the girl that came in after school started.  She had (God forbid) bleached blond hair, ears pierced, and wore an ankle bracelet.  She only stayed for a couple of days but was the center of attention while she was there.


Glenn McCoy
Wow.  .  .  you all took all the “cool” places – I’ll go down the sports line – back to Kumpf elementary aka “grade school” which like Paseo no longer exists! Noticed that Mary Lynn (a Kumpf colleague) was on this string – we were the fastest when playing whatever the game was where someone was “it” and tagged folks as they ran across the playground.  Playing hockey on the asphalt playgrounds using clip on roller skates, real sticks for hockey sticks, and a taped up “chewing tobacco can” as a puck.  For the baseball players – wool uniforms in KC’s summer heat and humidity. Football helmets with a single hard plastic face mask – I think as Juniors we were the first to have them.  Unlike today, we played basketball in short shorts and ran track in baggy uniforms. Speaking of sledding – much like many of you I lived on a “long” block hill (45th and Olive) – we started about half way up Olive in the 44 hundred block, down the 4500 long block, across 46th and down that block ending up in Brush Creek Park  which ran from Prospect to Woodland (before Brush Creek Parkway was built).   Ah, the good life ~


Larry Cameron
Hey Twila, sorry I didn't go to the reunion to see you.  Unlike most of you I grew up at 31st & Benton; attended Benton grade school and went to Central Junior until the middle of my Freshman year when we finally moved to 49th & Woodland where I transferred to Paseo.
As a kid I remember the streetcars and the old time soda fountains.  I worked at Wood's Drugs at 31st & Benton as a Soda Jerk until I graduated in '59, then enlisted in the U.S.A.F. for 4 years, then going to work at the Bendix Corp., 95th & Troost as an Experimental Technician.  I took early retirement in 1992 as Manager of Technical Security.  While in the U.S.A.F. I was stationed at a gap filler radar sight on the coast od Labrador, Canada where I met and married the love of my life, Pearl.  We moved to Goose Bay, Labrador in 1999, and returned shortly after 9/11.
I remember most of the things mentioned above but will add a few.
The streetcar downtown, transferring to the Saint James streetcar which ran under Quality Hill through a tunnel emerging on the west side on a high trestle which ran down to the west bottoms.  Can still remember the streetcar rocking back and forth on that trestle.
While at Central JR. can remember being on channel 4 TV on their version of American Bandstand.
Who can forget drag racing on Paseo between Max's and  Allens Drive In on 63rd and the cop Fitzgerald who would run you out of Allens if you racked your pipes?
The Country Club Dairy for Hot Fudge Sundaes?
What about the "Hole", 4600 block of Troost?
"Antonio's Pizzeria", 4700 block of Troost?
"Village Green Record Shop"?
"Gene's Barber Shop" at the Village Green?  Best Flat Tops and butch wax in town.
I would be remiss if I did not report on a few of our friends.  Late last fall Al Beach, class of '60 passed away.  Al retired from the K.C.P.D. but later suffered from an incurable lung disease.  I spent every day with Al when he was in hospice and was there the evening he passed away.  Al had a heart of gold, always helping friends in need and at his wake there were in excess of 250 people who loved and remembered this remarkable individual.
My good griend Don Matney quit High School in 1957.  Don later obtained his G.E.D. and went to work for the K.C.F.D. obtaining the rank of Captain.  Don is now retired and suffering with health problems but is still the friendly guy he always was.
There are many more memories, some good, some bad, but those are for another time.


Memories from Wanda Melching
Hello everyone,
  Does anyone remember Young Life meetings at my home on Brookwood? Snow camp and summer camp in Colorado with the Young Life Group?  Meeting on the 2nd floor before school started?  Year book signing ?
  The Teague Drug store at 55th.  The drug store at 49 and Woodland?  Blue Hills Country Club parking lot?  When all the jocks and cheerleaders would buss Allen's drive-in after a game? 
  The night the pirate boat that  Larry Demarea worked on all summer was launched at a football game The boat  hit wires and knocked off the sails.  Who was the tiger and the pirate on the boat that night?
  The launching of the boat took place at Southeast high.
The pep club was instrumental in getting the boat finished in 1959. 

Claudine Weiher
Rodney and I went with young life to Colorado to ski our senior year. It was a chance to get away during Christmas vacation, but ,regretfully, neither of us learned much about skiing.
The Teague drugstore was owned by the parents of Walter Teague, contemporary student at Southeast and part of a crowd or Paseo/Southeast kids that hung around together for a couple of years.  Bob Hill, Pat Yaryan, Jay Smith, Craig Urett, and ?  who drove a Thunderbird., and other whose names have left me.
Terry Tiffany belonged to Blue Hills and I always thought it was a really big deal when we could go there in the summer to swim.
Rodney and I used to buzz Allen's regularly our Senior year.  Before that I was accompanied by other, more generous, guys.  Rodney worked at Howard Johnson's as a Soda Jerk part time and used to help himself to the packets of hot chocolate mix.  When we would pull into Allen's he would try and order me a hot cup of water to mix with the hot chocolate mix in lieu of a coke.
This is just one of the signals I ignored. (put a smiley face here)/ I could go into refusing to buy the 10 cents french fries at the MacDonald's in Columbia Missouri,in College, but that is a story for another day.
I remember the boat incident but do not have a clue who was on it.

tmcnally
Speaking of work, Marvin & I worked at the APCO gas station at 55th & Prospect the summer after graduation.  When a girl from Paseo or SE would pull in to get gas. . . . itwould be foot race to see which one of us could clean the windshield. . . . what a view! (We made $1.00 an hour.) 

tmcnally
I’ll say this & then leave it alone. . . . none of you are clogging up my in box with your emails.  They’re the first items I look for when I go to the office everyday.  Being an investment banker in these times doesn’t make for interesting reading, your emails make my days a lot more fun!

JRTerry
Would someone out there please tell me why the hell we wanted to grow up?



Rodney Weiher
Roy, Speak for yourself--I still haven't and probably won't ever.

JOHN STEPHENS
way to go Rodney.....in Texas they have an expression......."ain't he precious"!

William Koste
Rodney et all:
       Its great a free ranging discussion going from Cuddles & Tuckie (KC law firm?) to blackunderware ( heavy metal group) to growing up, all thru four time zones in a few moments, I guess times have changed a smig (New Mexico expression).
       Koste

JRTerry
I'm thinking the reason Rodney and I still look so good is because we "didn't" grow up!  hahahahahaha!

tmcnally
I haven’t really enjoyed music since folk music died and that awful morning we got to school and found out Buddy Holly died in that Iowa corn field.

jeanne boyer
Because we wanted to make our own money and be independent of parental rules.  That's my story.

Claudine Weiher
Yes, Twila
I know you were a "nice girl", I think.
On the other hand, I have not checked out your underwear lately, and do you keep your knees closed at all times when sitting?
There is more to this than being properly virginal.

tmcnally
I still ponder Paseo Mysteries:

Did Ms. Kramer and Coach Fessler have an affair?
Was Mr. Crocker. . . . well you know.
Did the Traffic Squad ever arrest anyone?
What went on in “the Tower”?
Why didn’t girl’s sport teams have uniforms? If anyone could go watch boy’s basketball, whycouldn’t we watch girl’s basketball?
Was Mr. Coulter really in the CIA?
What did Mr. Bond do all day?

Just a few things that keep me up at night. . . . .

JRTerry
I don't know Tim, maybe you need to go see your analyst again! hahahahaha!

tmcnally
Speaking of work, Marvin & I worked at the APCO gas station at 55th & Prospect the summer after graduation.  When a girl from Paseo or SE would pull in to get gas. . . . it would be foot race to see which one of us could clean the windshield. . . . what a view! (We made $1.00 an hour.) 

I’ll say this & then leave it alone. . . . none of you are clogging up my in box with your emails.  They’re the first items I look for when I go to the office everyday.  Being an investment banker in these times doesn’t make for interesting reading, your emails make my days a lot more fun!

Larry Margrave
Hello
Larry Margrave from 49th in Euclid.  Did not get to reunion was out of town.  Remember a lot of you from Paseo high school.  I came from Frances Willard gradeschool.  Rex you and I go back.  Tom Cobkiright and I were an ROTC together.  Do not have time right now but will try to get on later with more memories

By The Way

By the way, if you know of anybody else who should be given permission to be an author to this website, please add or drop me a note so I can add. Okay? Bob Pflanz

Friday July 3, 2009...Independence!!

Hopefully, all you Paseo Pirates are now able to view this site and add comments. We've been contacting each other by email, but it gets a bit clumsy. Here we can have one common site to contact each other and pass along information. Let's give it a try. I believe you can add pictures and personal notes. So here goes!