Christmas Caroling: Each Christmas season, I always think back to the times when the youth of the First United Methodist Church would go Christmas Caroling. Other church groups would join us. I couldn't sing a lick then and I still can't. Guess I would "mouth" it, so others would think I was singing. Someone in the group would usually have hot-chocolate for us after our caroling. A lot of fun! In the photo to the left you have members of the Methodist Church that would have others join them. Front row: Sally Moore, Jean Hall and Doris McKinley. Middle row: Carol Moore, Dick Nielsen, Lanny Larsh and Ken Philo. In the back row are Gary Williams and Bob Shoemaker. Not sure where I was at, but was usually in this youth fellowship group?

Sledding: The "Roberts" hill was located on the Drug Store and would go West from there. We would start running from the Fisher home, and sled for about 3 blocks. We would have many races, some for distance and some for speed. Sometimes we would get on another's back. Lots of fun. A good time was had by all. Someone would usually invite us over for "hot chocolate" after the sledding.

Goats: I can't confirm this story (or can I)? Back in the 1950's, some ornery boys put 3 goats in the High School on Halloween. Someone painted numbers 1,2, and 4 on them. I understand the school closed down for a couple of hours as officials were looking for #3. Of course, there never was a number 3. Again, I'm not sure of this story, but it sounds like a good story to me.

Roberts Drug Store: Ramon Farley (class of '53) reminds me of the popularity of Roberts Drug store. Yes, it was really a teen-age hang-out. Farley mentions how he would take a bag of peanuts and mix them in a soda. Personally, I can still remember Kathryn taking our order for the popular, famous "cherry cokes," and the "lemon milk-shakes."

Roller skating: Jim Moore (class of 1954) reminds us of the times when we used to go roller skating in Carroll, at the Parkview Skating Rink, owned and operated by Charlie Ludwig, every Saturday night. Jim says he used to like to go early so he had plenty of time to get a bite to eat at Jim & Vincent's soda shop before going skating. Then after skating was over at 10:00 PM he would get together and go to Pauline's restaurant on Hwy. 71 south of Carroll and have hamburgers and fries before going home. After he turned 15 Charlie hired Jim as an asst. floor manager under the older floor manager, Bill Heller, who later on in life became the Carroll Police Chief, when his father retired from that position. No question about it, Joe Brumbaugh (class of 1953), was the best skater in the County. Of course, the rink and Pauline's has long been closed.

Shetland ponies: I don't remember the farmers name, but this farmer owned several shetland ponies and he would let anyone ride them. It was located one mile West of Glidden and on the South side of the road. We would have races with the ponies. In fact the main race might have been the race to the farm, as we knew some of the ponies were faster than others. As I recall, "Saulty" Shoemaker and Lanny Larsh (class of '53) two of the better riders. This was a very popular hang-out.

Outhouses: I hate to admit it, but back in the 1940's and 1950's you would see how many "outhouses" you could knock over on Halloween. Now as I think back, this was a dumb thing to do. I don't think I was ever involved in knocking one over, but I remember several young boys bragging about how many they were able to knock over. I'm glad folks don't do it anymore. Well, maybe they would if there were still "outhouses."

*Class Play: Our 1953 class presented the play, "One foot in Heaven." Ken Philo and Sheryl Conner (both from the '53 class) had the lead parts. I think I had the smallest part in the play and I probably only got that part because my dad was President of the Glidden School Board at that time? This event was one of the most "fun" times that I ever had at Glidden. It was really fun to laugh at those who goofed up and I'm sure they laughed at me when I goofed up on my one or two lines that I had to memorize?

Egg Plant: I will never forget working at the local egg plant, which was run by Paul Junker. Many times I would get the call at 4:30 in the morning to go load an entire semi-truck with full cases of eggs. I can't remember how many the truck would hold (maybe 250 cases) and they each weighed about 60 pounds. Yes, I was tired when I got to school. This is probably why I did so poor in my classroom work?? Ha! Friend, LeLand Bender (CLASS OF 1952), also worked there. It was his job to "oil" all of the eggs before they were put into the cases. I still call him "OIL-E." I also have fond memories of playing in the grassy area between the Methodist Church and the Egg Plant. Glenn Britt and John Parrott (both of the class of 1954) were playmates in these games.

Flying Turkeys: Can turkeys fly? You bet they can, but only so far. I'll never forget at Thanksgiving time the Glidden business folks would donate turkeys. They would release them from the tops of the downtown buildings. People would then chase after them and whoever caught one or ran one down would keep it. Don't think I ever caught up with one of them, but we all had a great time. I remember, Dick Onken (class of 1952), being a guy with much "speed" chasing these birds.

Boy Scouts: Glidden has always a strong Boy Scout program. They still do to this day. I read where Glidden recently named a few to be "Eagle" scouts, the highest designation that the Scouts have to offer. We met in the basement of the city hall. I never made it too far in their schooling, but I can still remember their 12 "laws," and I try to live by them. They are: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent. I remember Ken Philo and Bobby Shoemaker (class of 1953), working their way up pretty high in the Boy Scout organization. Boy Scout leaders, keep up the good work, as this is a very worthwhile thing to do.

Wellers barn: Back in the early 1950's, Glidden High School had many outstanding basketball teams. One of the big reasons for this was the Bill Weller (class of 1951) Barn in East Glidden. We used to play basketball games in the hay-mound of this barn. There were many times that someone would fall out the side of the barn to the ground and also fall in the hole in the middle of the floor where you would climb to the upper level. A lot of hurts, but also a lot of great times! I see by the recent photo to the left, that they now have a basket outside of the barn.

Games with bicycles: We had three games that we played with bicycles while in grade school and junior high. (1) Tag, (2) "Ditch-em" and (3) Hide and seek. Sometimes we had teams and sometimes we were on our own. Boys would be boys. The hide and seek was usually played in the evenings when it was real dark. Once me and my partner hid on top of a town building with our bike up there with us. Hiding inside of someone's garage was also a favorite place. A lot of fun!

Cheap gas: I'll never forget the days, back in the early 1950's when we could get gas at 25 Cents a gallon. I would usually pull into the gas station and order $1.00 of gas. It would last us for a week or so. The gas station attendant would not only pump the gas for you but he would also check your oil, clean your windshield and even check the tires if you wanted. Oh, how times have changed. My dad had an old Nash and a pickup that we would borrow. The gas station was run by the Shaner family. The photo to the left shows a gas station similar to the Shaner station. One of our favorite things would be to "drag main." My first car that I owned was a 1948 Chevrolet which I purchased when I went to college.

Old Gymnasium: Our class of 1953 was fortunate enough to have had the chance to play basketball in the old gym as well as the new gym. We were in Junior High in 1947 and 1948 . In 1949 the new gym was built and we were freshmen at the time. The old gym had very little sitting room. They had a stage at the South end and a balcony to the West end. The wall was pretty much the "out of bounds," on the North and East sides. I can still remember when we were in grade school, we would have "teams" and play during the noon hour. The winner would have bragging rights for the day. Of course, the old gymnasium has since been turned into classrooms. To the left is a photo of the team that played in both gyms.

Collectibles: As you get older, a person wishes that they had saved more items from their youth, especially photos. Fortunately, I did save marbles that the Glidden boys would compete over. I wasn't any better than the next person, but did win a few that I saved. Then I added to this list from attending auctions, etc. I eventually had about 10,000 saved. I guess I saved anything that I played with, such as toys, comics, ball cards, etc., To this day, I still have around 70,000 ball cards, approximately 100 autographed photos of famous ball players asnd movie stars, about 100 horse statues, well over 200 small cars (especially hot wheels). See photos below. I sold my marbles this past summer. The items that have "Glidden" stamped on them are the most meaningful to me. Luckily, I saved a couple of school year books and some items from the Hatchery that our family had as a business. I'm sure you folks all have some collectibles that you have saved through the years?

City Hall: Remember all the good times that we would have at the local city hall? Lots of parties! I'll never forget the good times that we had dancing. Unfortunately, I never took dancing very serious. I really never took time to learn how to dance. I guess I thought that if I wasn't very good at something, I would not do it. I always admired the way some of my friends could dance. Curt Hofstad, Ken Philo and Dick Nielsen were some of the better ones. We had many other activities at the city hall. I'll never forget the night that the trio of Roger Parrott, Bill Tryon (class of 1950) and Bill Weller (1951), performed their act of "them bones." (see photo to the left). It was just hysterical!

Tackle football: Without a doubt we had many good athletes in our class. We got an early start in 5th grade when we would form football teams. Games were played during the noon hour. Our artist of the class was Ken Philo. I remember that he cut out numbers to staple to our t-shirts. I was number 12. Amazing how I can remember that, but could never remember class work? Without any pads, we would actually tackle the ball carrier and had live blocking. Maybe, this is a reason why we finished our senior season undefeated? Philo, incidentally went on to become a successful graphic artist for a company in Pennsylvania. Some of the hard-nosed players from this team were: Don Blinn, Ken Philo, Ramon Farley, Curt Hofstad, Don and Glen Sabus, Romaine Prior, Dale Tryon, Doug and LeRoy Turner, and Gordon MacDonald ('53 class). At least they were the ones that were members of the undefeated 1952 team. The grades ahead and behind us never had a chance against us.

*Other games as kids: Norm Rudi, (class of 1944?) reminded me that as youngsters that "kick the can" was their favorite. Another favorite was "capture the flag." "Any-over," and "kickball" were two other favorites. Of course, he reminded me that their basketball team was maybe the best to ever play at Glidden. I think we will need to do some research on that?? Ha!

*Iowa State Fair: For years and years my folks would take the family to the largest State Fair in the United States, the "Iowa State Fair" My wife and I still go down for a day each year. I received the following memory message from Jim Moore (1956), a great story: Remember the Iowa State Fair in 1949 or 1950? Our family would go to the fair every year and always parked Dad's truck in the same yard, about 2 blocks outside of the main entrance to the Fair Grounds. One of those 2 years my Mom took my brother, Bill and my sister Marian off to see something while I stayed with my Dad. After awhile Roy Rogers and Dale vans appeared and they wee letting the kids line up to sit in the saddle on Trigger. When it became my turn, I didn't want to get off, and Roy told me that if would get down so some more kids could sit on Trigger, he would give me one of his lariats. I agreed and got one of his lariats, and to this day it is still packed away in my garage. I remember that a few years ago, when I was a police officer in New Orleans, I was bragging about having this and the guy I was talking to wanted to see it. I took him to my home and showed it to him. He looked it over very carefully and said, "I'll give you $5,000.00 for it. I refused and I still have it. What a great treasure this is to me.

Drive-In Theater: Remember the good old times that we had at the drive-in theatre just East of Carroll? A lot of people called them "passion pits," or "finger bowls," and many other things. I know more than once, we would hide someone or two in the trunk of the car so that they would get in free. Lot's of good memories

2nd in State: One of my favorite memories is when our Glidden High baseball team finished second in the State and this was in 1950 when all schools in Iowa were in the same class. Maybe Glidden's best athletic team ever? The tournament was held in Mason City and we won the first two games in the tournament and then lost to Davenport Central in the finals. High School enrollments (top 4 grades) in those days was Glidden 129 and Davenport 3200. Buss Parrott, a great Glidden fan, telephoned the game back to Glidden (play by play) and it was going out to folks on Main Street in Glidden. Loud speakers were put on corners of main street. After the game, there was a three-mile car-caravan meeting the team. Then the Glidden folks met the team on main-street with about 1,000 folks present. A celebration followed with many speeches, etc. Below, are some of the photos that were taken of this great event. Coach Jim Crimmings is shown and the last one is a photo of the players involved. I think 7 or 8 of these athletes went on to play college baseball and a few had offers to play pro-ball.

"I will add to my memories each week. You may add yours too. Thanks." Dale Tryon