Childhood Memories

I can’t find any pictures of me during my pre-teen years, so I will use an excerpt from my autobiography to describe what it was like growing up in a small Indiana town.

In the summer of 1928, Dad was hired as Service Dept. Manager at the new Ford dealership in town. The increase in his income made it possible for our family to move to a larger and nicer home that was about ½ block from school.

Sandborn, Indiana, at that time, was a booming little community (population about 640) We had a high school, grade school, three protestant churches, three grocery stores, two cafes, a drug store, meat market, post office, two hardware stores, two doctors, a dentist, switch board, lumber yard, barber shop, railroad depot, two service stations, two grain elevators, stock yard, two auto dealerships and the Black Cat movie theater.

Our new home sat almost in the middle of it all. A half mile in any direction would reach the city limits. But we and about everybody else in town had a garden and chickens. Looking back, our home was like a magnet. The minute Chuck, Lavon and I would step out side with a baseball and bat a gang would show up for a baseball game at the school’s playground. If we headed for the old swimming hole at a nearby creek, a dozen more kids would follow. When evening came our front porch was usually full of neighborhood boys and girls. Mom was Mom Laughlin to all of them.

Mom was a strict disciplinarian. She could give orders and follow up on them faster than anyone I’ve ever known... but fair and with love. From the earliest days that I can remember, we had chores to do until noon; then we were free to do about anything we wanted for the rest of the day. But the chores came first and they had to be done right. Floors mopped and waxed, rugs swept, porches scrubbed, wash water heated, lawns mowed and gardens tended. Mom was the household boss, secretary and financial manager, We kids never knew when the depression hit or how long it lasted. She saw to it that we never wanted for anything

Mom had one small quirk, though. She seldom did any grocery shopping. A running bill was kept at Gregory’s grocery and when Mom needed something; baking powder, salt, pepper, sugar, flour, or whatever; she would send one of us kids to the grocery for it — one item at a time --- often, several times a day. She went on Saturday night to pay the bill and stay for the cash drawing.