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Remember When

  • Uncle Harry points me in the right direction

    Being a third-grader was hard enough, but with this new war, things were getting out of hand.

    Our Blue Hurricane high school team members seemed to be headed for the armed forces instead of becoming college freshmen.

    The president said on the radio that things would be tough before getting better.

    Gosh, I just couldn’t figure out why we were studying about George Washington cutting down that cherry tree when parents way off in London were busing their children to the countryside to be cared for by unknown folks.

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  • Naming a turkey is not a good idea

    – Editor’s note: Due to reader requests, we are reprinting this Remember When column, which was originally published in the Nov. 19, 2006, edition of The Lancaster News. The story of Jim the turkey has indeed become a Thanksgiving tradition at The Lancaster News.

    I don’t know if it was tradition or custom, but a couple weeks before “Big Thursday” or Thanksgiving Day, me and Daddy journeyed down to Tradesville to pick up our big ole gobbler.

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  • Summer is finally here

    I made it through May, in real good shape.
    Of course, I had to go over to Central School and walk around that May Pole, wrapping a strip of colored crepe paper while bunches of children from all over town stood in little huddles and sang songs nobody knew.
    It might make our teachers and principals happy but it sure seemed like a waste of time to me.
    Betcha if they just passed out Dixie cups of chocolate ice cream we would’ve had more fun.
    It’s always amazed me how grown-ups can mess up a good thing.

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  • Preacher's wives get to do all the neat stuff

    Editor’s note – Remember When columnist W.B. “Bill” Evans is enjoying the Easter holiday with his family. We are reprinting this column, which was published on Easter Sunday 2011 at a reader’s request, with a few updates.

    On Monday, the president and first lady will send out the Secret Service to round up children in Virginia and Maryland, give them a colored basket and a free pass to wallow in the grass on the South Lawn of America’s back yard for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.

     

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  • It’s time to change school start time

    I’m telling you, when I get all grown up, things are gonna change for the better around here.
    The very first thing on my short list is making sure the powers that be don’t start school until summer is over. The school board folks just start and stop school when they get good and ready.
    Shucks, things are just getting all organized. The grass isn’t growing so fast any longer that I have to mow every week.

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  • ‘Remember When’ has run its course

    It's been fun sharing some of my oldtime adventures with you.  We have walked hand-in-hand along the sidewalks of Lancaster, browsed the store windows along Main Street, scampered for tadpoles in the rain filled pools along the railroad tracks and relived those hot summer nights as we sweltered beneath the covers fearful of the sounds of boogers and other monsters of the night creeping on the stair steps.

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  • Run-in with revenuer left Daddy smelling bad

    From Dec. 1, 1944, to Dec. 31, 1952, my father was sheriff of Lancaster County. Times have certainly changed.
    Daddy was a rather closed-mouthed individual, which worked sometimes, but caused him considerable anguish at other times.
    The area media and The Lancaster News were critical because he rarely gave interviews or issued press releases on criminal cases.  
    Only in his later years did he confide that it was up to magistrates and judges to determine guilt and folks shouldn’t be tried in the court of public opinion.

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  • A ghost reappears from Gay Street past

    Sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, we were indeed waiting our turn.

    I glanced up to see a ghost from my past, whom I hadn’t seen since making the final arrangements for my mother and father so many years ago.

    My son was oblivious to the man’s presence and was engrossed in a story about the recreational upgrades for Indian Land in Wednesday’s copy of The Lancaster News.

    I nudged my boy and asked, “Hey, you know who that fella is?”

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  • New not always better

    I have often heard it said that “change is good.”

    In the last 70-plus years, I have found out that some promises of change backfire.

    New ain’t always better.

    As soon as my daughter’s broken leg heals, I’m gonna ask her if the “new” leg is an improvement over the old one.

    I’ve been keeping track of the CNN storm that fell on Lancaster.

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  • Winter beach trip is worth it

    I know beach sand doesn’t mix with frosty window panes and cold mornings, but bless Pete, I was ready for a change.

    So when Uncle Harry mentioned riding to the coast, I was all for it. Uncle Harry’s friend, Dr. Brown and his smoking buddy, Mr. Plyler, hatched the plan.

    “Harry, you ought to take a few days off from lawyering and so something different,” Dr. Brown said.

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