Memories are to me, like gold was to Midas. As long as I have my memories and I have the chance to share them with you, as part of the older generation and of the younger generation, I have my gold. For many of you, these memories will bring back thoughts of what you went through in the olden days, and how you as a survivor came through it. For the younger generation, there will be thoughts of how much of it is true and how much is just an old man's version of his life. Well, let me tell you this, my young friends, what I say in this column is the truth, and I am a survivor from the days of old ,that has seen a big change between those days and today. If you, as a youngster, just take the time to ask those who are still here, how it really was in the days of old, before they and I leave this earth to be with "The Great Father", you will be enriched with history that has not been printed in any book.

Memories are a history of what each person went through in thier early lives, and many times the memory is only in that person's memory bank. Sometimes some of these memories are written in the family bible, or are on pieces of paper which are laid to the side only to be found years later , by those who are left behind. Upon reading these notes, you wonder why they didn't  tell you about this. And so this sort of gets you wondering just how much you don't know about that person ,or how hard it was for that loved one to get by.

The best way to know how it was, is to ask about it. And you need to know now, instead of waiting until we are gone before asking. The history of our government and of famous people has been written for all to read, but the history of those in our personal lives is transmitted to us either by mouth ,or by some notes scribbled on paper, not knowing if they will ever be read. That is where you, as the person of today, can make sure that the history of your family lives on. Do some research, ask questions of those folks who have been there , and write it down in places where you know that it will be preserved, so that the youngsters of tomorrow will have the facts of what it was in the days of old.

Thinking back to my days of old, I remember how there were different kinds of great tasting and smelling foods in Kokomo. Of couse in my mind, the best cook in the whole world was my mother. And just about everyone else my age will say the same same about thier mothers. And they should ,because each and everyone of us had mothers who loved us and took us under thier wings , nurtured us, sort of spoiled us with thier love, and who personally fixed food that they knew was good for us. How many times have you gone home to see your mother and dad, and have gone to the fridge to see if there was some of mom's good cooking there for you to savor? My mother and father  have gone to be with The Great Father, but the memories are still with me. Bless thier hearts for taking care of us all and doing without ,so that we could survive to be able to give you , the youngsters of today, a sample of what it was  to be part of the life in the days of old.

Now, to go to the taste and smells of yesterday, how many can forget the smell coming from the bread factory uptown. You could smell the bread's aroma, and if you could put on weight from just the smell, we would all be larger than life? How about the donut shop on Washington Street? Man, those donuts would sort of melt in your hands, and they would fill your bellies just as well. There was a place on Markland Ave that had baked hamburgers, that were really fit for a king. And how about the coneys that you could get on Union Street? He would line those buns all the way up his arm and fill them with those weiners, top them off with what ever you wanted on them, and send you off with some of the greatest food around. Dad always wanted his with lots of onions and relesh . Boy, he could  put them away, but only after he made sure that we got ours. Out on Markland Ave, you could get get probaly the largest tenderlions around and on south Union Street, you could get the best tenderlions as well as other short order foods that you needed during your stopover in south Kokomo. Of course, the place on Buckeye Street put out the greatest hamburgers and fries at a very low price, and the pickles there came out of a big barrell in the back. Go to the place on the corner of Walnut and Main, and you could get the biggest bag of popcorn around. Go north to the corner of Taylor and Main, and there was a wagon that sold bags of popcorn and bags of peanuts that were the best around. Up north of there about two blocks, there was a diner car that served some great food.

As time changed, so did the places that I mentioned before. There isn't too many of those places left as the people who ran them have taken their place with The Great Father, but there are a few. As time proceeds into the future, we wonder if the memories of these places will be preserved or will they only fade away? As you noticed as I wrote this article, I didn't say the names of those places that are part of my memory. I leave that up to you to dip down into your memory bank and bring out those memories. I leave it up to you to use those memories to let our young children know about the past. I also say to you to use your memory bank each day of your life here on earth, so that your brain does not lose it's power to store those memories. The brain is a wonderful thing given to us by The Great Father, and it isn't there to just dry up . You need to fill it up with all the facts that you can come across. They say that there are genius out there that can possibly be before their time, but my thought on that is that those people are using their brains to the best of their ability and that they are doing with it as The Great Father wanted them to.

So it is up to you out there , whether you want to leave some great memories for your grandchildren. You can forget the past and live on into the future, or you can relay the memories of the past so that the future knows what their next step is. As I have said many times , you have to look back once in awhile to see where you have been, before you know where you are going. Until the next time when we will visit, I leave you with one more thought."Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times, you grow." Think about it. See you later my friends.