My mother sat down with my father, recently, and typed as he recalled scenes from his childhood. This is great stuff that would someday be lost if she hadn’t written it down! Please take an hour to sit down and record your memories or help a relative do so. Sometimes it’s easier to speak than write, and I would be happy to help you with the recording process, either with audio or video. I can also provide a way to share your recordings. Email me if you’re interested!
Here are Ken Jr.’s memories, in his own words:
“Grandparents (Jenny and Richard Hine) lived on Wabash between 106th and 107th. They lived in house with a front porch. The dining room was between the kitchen and living room. The big upholstered armchair faced into the living room had its back to dining room archway. Great grandfather (Smith) used to sit in it. I can visualize my great grandfather, with his white hair, talking Dutch. My grandparents talked to them in Dutch too. It was the language of the house. That armchair was his throne. The great grandparents lived in the house. Great Grandpa Smith didn’t work and I remember him being ancient.
I would sleep upstairs. Ev and Don were in the bedroom at the front of the house upstairs. My grandparent’s bedroom was on the first floor. It was not a room I have any vision of. I think it was between the living room and the bathroom. There was a big dining room table. The back porch lead to backyard. Upstairs there was a central hallway with Glenn’s room, Ev and Don’s room opening into it. A form of punishment was to stay in the bathroom. I remember climbing through the window in the back and sneaking outside. I also remember the radio on top of the fridge and I remember my grandmother cooking.
I remember living on 106th Street, in a rental house, that was very close to my grandparents’ house. I remember Janet being born and being carried into the house. We moved into a house on South Parnell between 106th and 107th when I was 4 or 5 years old (after Janet was born.) Ken and Hazel’s house was brand new. I don’t remember any houses across the street from us. I can remember the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. We played war games, digging fox holes in the garden. That is when Glenn warned me he would throw the brick at me if I came out of the foxhole. I did, and he did. I got my two front teeth chipped.
The main street connecting the two houses was 107th Street. The church was on South Michigan and 107th. To get to my school you had to go west on 106th to Mount Vernon Elementary School. There were no houses on the way. My parents had a victory garden along 106th Street during World War II. There were a lot of vacant lots leading to Halsted. I remember a red house two blocks west of my house. I played baseball at Fernwood Park. There was a park team and we played against other park teams.
The Kindergarten was on 102nd Street, or one block the other side of it. There was a slide inside the school classroom. I remember playing Billy Goat Gruff, and I played Billy Goat Gruff daring people to go down the slide! I remember walking by a place that made ice cream. A pint of ice cream cost either 5c or 15 c. Michigan Avenue is where the trolley line was. My grandmother would take Glenn and I to the Cubs games on Ladies Day. My grandmother was a fanatical Chicago Cubs fan. During those years Glenn and I were like brothers. We played together all the time.
The First Reformed Church was the center of our social life and activities. Bible school in the summer, Sunday school classes. All my aunts and uncles lived close by and attended the church too. I don’t remember a single one of their houses and no recollection of being in their houses. My grandmother’s house was the center.
Richard (Junior) was living at home at one point. I remember doing a lot with him. Orville was away at seminary, and then became ordained.“
