Describe your boyhood home

We moved a lot as a family. When I was born, we lived in a house at 1148 S. Benton and lived there until I was 4 and then moved to 2805 Headland. We lived there only a couple of years. We moved into an apartment at 4 Dale Court for a year until we could find a house that we loved. When I was in 5th Grade, we bought the house at 1040 Madison and I still consider it my childhood home. We lived there from the time that I was in 5th grade through my sophomore year in high school. In between my sophomore and junior years, we moved to 905 Hartford Place. I still consider the house on Madison Street is where I grew up. The house was awesome and the yard was great. The basement of that house had huge stone foundation blocks and the ceilings were low. There was an old coal bin in the back and that is where my Dad had his office. Mom & Dad put a big fabric curtain down the middle of the room so that we could have a playroom and they could store stuff on the other side. Our playroom became a meeting place for kids in the neighborhood. Trina and Robbie Howe, Brent and Kirk Olendorf, Paula and Todd Meers and Debbie and Denise Garrison. We had an old record player and would play 45s and listen to the radio. We used to sleep in the basement during the summer months because our bedrooms upstairs did not have AC and the basement was so much cooler. Come to think of it, our bedrooms upstairs didn't have Heat either. It was freezing cold up there in the winter time and so hot in the summer. Mernie and I would sleep on the floor in front of the big window in the front of the house - her room - and put a big fan there to try and draw in some cool air. During the winter months, we would put sleeping bags on our bed and sleep inside those sleeping bags to try and stay warm. There were great attic spaces there too...hiding places and fun places to play. The backyard connected with others behind us and it was such a great place to grow up. We would put up small pup tents in the back yard during the summer and sleep outside. Or lay on the back porch during rain storms. We played "9 strikes" in the back yard with a red rubber ball and would play flashlight tag across the yards at night. There was a big tree in the middle of the Garrison's yard that was "base" for all games of tag.

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