Telling My Story: Living in a new house and starting a new school

My father married my step-mother Phyllis Jones March 18, 1951 when my brother and I were 3-1/2 years old. They were both working in Great Bend, 10 miles away. We continued to live as a family at my Grandparents' home in Hoisington, KS while Dad and "Mom" had a home built onto the "Basement House" I've written about previously. The house was finished and we moved "back home"  in the Spring of 1952.

The Basement House Dad built in 1947,
2201 Jefferson St, Great Bend, KS

The two bedroom house Dad had built on top
of the basement in 1952.

The house was on a corner lot and had a
two car garage and Shop near the alley.

This is the south entrance that was the same
entrance to the basement in the first picture above. 

Dennis and I lived 4 blocks north of the E. E. Morrison School, so we walked to school. I don't remember ever walking WITH Dennis. But we were only allowed to walk straight south on the sidewalk down Jefferson Street to the school building. Since our dad and step-mother had custody of us following our parents' divorce, our step-mother was always fearful that our mother would attempt to "kidnap" us. She was very strict about our comings and goings. Therefore I grew up living in a "small, rigid world" that Phyllis thought was safe for us. We couldn't walk to school down a neighboring street, or stay and play somewhere before going home. We had a key to the house, since our parents both "worked" outside the home and were expected to return straight home from school. Our neighbor Dona Doughty babysat us through 4th grade and upon her marriage our neighbor Millie Donner watched us after school until Dad got home from work at 6:00 pm. Mom didn't arrive home from her job at Jones Laundry until 9:00 pm Monday through Saturday! 

We weren't home all the time. I don't mean to imply that. Mom gave us many opportunities to get involved in activities. I'll write more about those later. 

Here we are playing in fresh snow in our new yard, age 4.

Dad had plenty of help clearing the porch
and walks of snow!

I remember that Dennis's coat was tan and my coat was green.
It's funny how we remember those details.

This is our Kindergarten picture, Fall 1952, age 4. 

Our Kindergarten Class 1952-3, E. E. Morrison School
Miss Aileen Williams was our teacher for the Morning Class.
I'm at the right end of the front row.
Dennis is 3rd from right in the third row.

I'm grateful to Sarah Hoener Shirer for putting together this web site for our grade school.

 I'll share some of my memories from the Primary grades in my next post.