Telling My Story: A Music-Filled Childhood

As you can see from these photos taken when Dennis and I were 4 years old, we were exposed to musical instruments in our home. Our dad, Ernest Margheim, played the guitar and "fiddle", composed and sang songs in high school and entertained in a program on KVGB Radio in Great Bend, KS as early as 1938.

LaVerna Margheim on violin,
Ernie Margheim with his guitar
and brother Leonard on cello.
About 1941, Hoisington, KS

My Aunt LaVerna was especially gifted in music and was afforded the opportunity to study piano with Professor Oscar Lofgren at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas while a student at Hoisington High School. 

Becky and Dennis Margheim at
Aunt LaVerna's grand piano in the
home of our grandparents, 1955, age 8

When Dennis and I were 3 and 4 years old, we lived with our Margheim grandparents prior to our dad's remarriage to Phyllis Jones in 1951. Aunt LaVerna graduated from high school in 1947, the year of our birth, and remained at home until her marriage in 1953. She worked in a music store and also played the pipe organ at the local Lutheran Church. She occasionally took us with her to the rehearsals of the church choir, which had a big impact on our love for singing church music!

She started giving us lessons on the piano when we were 4 years old. After her Dec 1953 marriage, she moved with her husband Al Irelan to Great Bend, KS, living at the corner of 21st and Adams, only 2 blocks from our "new" home at 22nd & Jefferson. So she continued to teach us until she and Uncle Al moved to Colorado about 1954.

Becky and Dennis playing for our guests at
 our 8th birthday party, Nov 1955

Upon Aunt Laverna's move, we became piano students of Maude (Mrs. George) Maddy in Great Bend. She was a teacher who would not allow her students to play anything but classical music, so we were trained on Mozart, Debussy, Beethoven, Bach, etc. From 1954 until we graduated from high school in 1965, we sat down on the piano benches of Mrs Maddy every Thursday 4-5 pm and 5-6 pm. I look back now and realize that was only for a period of 11 years, but it seemed like 30 years at the time. We were required to practice one hour each day. Since I played flute and Dennis played French Horn in the Symphonic Band in high school and it met at 7:30 am, we took turns arising at 5:30 am to practice the piano. 

At the age of 8, while in 3rd grade, Mrs Maddy arranged for Dennis and me to perform in a recital featuring just the two of us. We played 10 songs solo, and two two-piano duets. 

Mrs Maddy with Becky and Dennis
in the Park School auditorium

It's to the credit of our step-mother Phyllis that we were exposed to a variety of music. I studied the flute from grade 6-12 and Dennis played French Horn, both in the marching band and symphonic band at Great Bend High School. I also played in the City Band during the summers (because it paid $2 per week!). 

Dennis studied the pipe organ under the direction of our Deaconess, Mertice Spaude, at Trinity Lutheran Church at the age of 11, while in 7th grade. His proficiency allowed him to be employed as the organist through Junior High and High School. That was the beginning of a wonderful career for Dennis, as he currently serves as the organist at Western Hills Methodist Church in El Paso, TX today.  

Our musical involvement wasn't limited to the keyboard or instruments. We learned to Tap Dance under the direction of Carol Kutina in Great Bend while in grade school, performing for many local organizations and events.

From grades 7-12 we took Arthur Murray Ballroom Dance lessons from Hazel (Mrs. Herb) Smith in Great Bend.

I did my best while learning the piano and flute in school, and enjoyed the dancing, but I discontinued my studies upon high school graduation. It's amazing that those years of being involved in music only covered a span of 14 years. It seemed like twice that! I'm grateful to have had the experience and happy that I can read and appreciate music, but I'm much more comfortable today at my computer keyboard than my piano keyboard. 

Telling my Story: Skipping through the Primary Grades

My twin brother told his wife that in most pictures of us during our early childhood, we were holding hands. This is just one example when we were about 5 years old. Since we're dressed up and standing in front of our grandparents' house in Hoisington, KS, we must have been on our way to Sunday School. I'm so grateful to have been raised in a Christian home and to have attended Sunday School and Church every Sunday. After Dad remarried, our Mom read our lesson to us every Saturday night and helped us learn a Bible verse for the lesson on Sunday morning. Phyllis had grown up in a home where her family went fishing each Sunday and she was extremely happy, after her marriage, to be in a family who attended church regularly. 

It's great that my Dad kept this Sunday School lesson from
Feb. 1957. Each week Mom helped us memorize
the "Bible Words to Remember" on the back page.

Some of my memories from attending school at Morrison School follow.

Mrs. Pearl Dodd was Principal at Morrison School 
until I was in the 6th grade. She also taught 5th 
grade in the mornings when I was in 5th grade.

Kindergarten teacher: Miss Aileen Williams 

• I knew how to tie shoes and sat on the floor as the class paired up to learn how to tie a bow. My partner was Dennis and I showed him how to tie his shoes.
• I remember how much I enjoyed painting with Tempura paint on the big easels in our classroom.
• I played the tambourine when we had music time with instruments.
• I was stung by a wasp one morning as I was leaving the classroom. One of the mothers who was there to pick up her child put tobacco from her cigarette on the sting. It helped stop the stinging sensation. 

First Grade teacher: Miss Reba Hay

Miss Reba Hay is at far left front row. She was much older when
I was in her class. Her hair was bright white in 1953-4!

• I cried the first day of school when my mom left me there. I always experienced "separation anxiety" in my younger years.
• I loved learning to write the alphabet and learning to read. 
• We had easel chalk boards at home so one day my brother picked up some chalk in our classroom and brought it home so we had chalk for our own chalkboards. Yes, that brought a hard spanking for Dennis. Our parents didn't swat with their hands, or a ruler or wooden spoon. Their "tool" was a board that was 3 feet long, 2 inches wide and 1/4" thick. It was kept in a "broom closet" (the space above the stairway), so when that closet door opened, we shuddered!

Second Grade teacher: Miss Delores Temple

Becky Margheim at Will Rogers Shrine in Colorado Springs,
CO. Oct 1954 while in Second Grade.

• The only two things I remember about second grade are that I was ill quite often, weighed 47 pounds as a result, and thought the young, slender Miss Temple was beautiful. And she had a sister named Shirley. 

Third Grade teacher: Mrs. Jean Nossaman 

• Mrs. Nossman read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books to us.
• She got pneumonia during the school year and for several months our substitute was Mrs. Magill. 



SRA Reading Lab

• Part of our curriculum in 3rd grade was the SRA Reading system. I loved it and learned a LOT about birds that year!
• Dennis and I played parts in our 3rd grade Thanksgiving play about the Pilgrims. That was our first experience on stage in a school play. 

I'll share more about grades 4, 5, and 6 in future posts. Here are a few more photos from our lives during 1952-1956. 

Easter, April 1956, 3rd grade

Ernest, Phyllis, Dennis and Becky
Margheim at Easter 1954

I'll close with this keepsake from December 1953 as Dennis and I served as Ring Bearer and Flower Girl at our Aunt LaVerna Margheim's wedding. I loved wearing that dress and thought I was a real princess that day. Aunt LaVerna had helped Grandma care for us at their home 1949-1952 so I knew her well and loved her very much. It was such a privilege to have been her little Flower Girl.

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.

Telling My Story: Getting to know my Stepmother

Since I'm writing about my early childhood and my mother was absent during most of that period of my life, it seems more appropriate to write in more detail about the woman who became my stepmother and who, after marrying Ernest Margheim, spent the remainder of her life supporting and caring for her family. 

When Phyllis met Ernest Margheim, it didn't seem that she had much in common with him. He was born of German parents, grew up on a farm, was crazy about Western Swing music, and was taught Luther's Catechism inside and out in the Lutheran Church. Phyllis's father, Henry James Jones, (1889-1976) was born and raised in Mississippi, the son of a blacksmith. Her mother, Helen Wilma Marker (1904-1949) was born and raised in a Kansas farming community. 

Henry James "Jim" Jones and "Helen" Wilma Marker Jones

Phyllis was not privileged to attend church as she grew up. Her family spent their Sundays on the river banks fishing and Phyllis told me she "hated that". Her parents were Christians and good people with very kind hearts and charitable spirits, but just didn't attend church services on Sundays. This served us well, for Phyllis was hungry to attend church by the time she met Ernie. 

I was a shy, timid and fearful little girl as a result of my

mother being absent. I suffered what I later learned was "Separation Anxiety". We attended Sunday School faithfully but Phyllis told me that I'd cry each Sunday when she took us to Sunday School and then left the classroom. So she'd sit with me to keep me comforted. She decided that if she was going to be attending each week's class, she might as well teach the class. And that's just what she did ....  for 34 years! She taught the 4 year olds at Trinity Lutheran Church in Great Bend every Sunday for those 34 years!

Phyllis, Maxine and Frank Jones

Right to left: Phyllis, Maxine, Frank Jones

Phyllis had a younger sister Maxine (1925-1988) and a younger brother Frank (1926-1987). Her mother Helen took in laundry to help support the family in the 1930s, while her father traveled in sales for Snap On Tools. Eventually Jim Jones built a commercial laundry onto their home at 1501 E. 8th St, in Great Bend, KS. 

Phyllis Jones at left, Helen Jones at right

Helen Marker Jones with daughter Phyllis, 1924

Back row left to right: Helen and Jim Jones, Mary (Hawkins)
Smith (1866-1951) mother of Jim Jones, Ham and Iva Jones,
Unknown. Front row left to right: Frank, Maxine, Phyllis,
Marjorie and Dorothy Jones, and Unknown.  

Helen (Marker) and Jim Jones

Henry James "Jim" Jones (1889-1976) and wife
Helen (Marker) Jones (1904-1949)

You can see that Phyllis lost her mother (to cancer) in 1949. It was just a year later that she met Ernest Margheim and then married him in March, 1951. Her father met and married Laura Casper (Maupin) Evans (1897-1986) in August, 1951. So 5 months after Phyllis became a step-mother, she also acquired a step-mother!

Jim and Laura Jones with her granddaughter Cheryl Evans. 

Phyllis graduated from Great Bend High School with the Class of 1942. She never missed a day of school, and never made a grade below A (of which she reminded us if we missed making the Honor Roll). 

Phyllis Jean Jones, GBHS Class of '42

I will acquaint you more thoroughly with my step-mother as I write more about my own life, since she was a major part of it until her death in 1997. 

Ernest and Phyllis Margheim 1950

Phyllis and Ernest Margheim about 1996