Mother was involved also with Levering Hospital Auxiliary, King�s Daughters, church, and other organizations.
Father and Mother had a new home for 4 years in St. Louis when I was born. I was surrounded by Grandparents, various Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. And Mother and I walked on the cobble stones to the market each day, and a trip on the trolley to the bakery was a special treat. I watched the alley way each week day for Father�s truck to arrive. I would run several yards, climb into the truck to ride the rest of the way to our garage. Father and Grandfather had a business delivering ice and coal! Then electric refrigerators and oil burning furnaces gradually became the norm!
Father and his Brother, Lewis, bought a Western Auto franchise in Hannibal, which eventually became Haines Brothers Home and Auto Supply. Grandfather worked there, also. Grandfather and Grandmother became just plain Pop and Gram to the Hannibal community!
Wartime took my Uncle Lewis to the Pacific (on a destroyer). At that time, if the family owned its own business, the oldest son was not drafted; Father and Grandfather ran the store during the war. I have 2 sisters, Dorothy Jean and Sara Jane.
I am forever thankful for Hannibal Schools and Hannibal LaGrange College. Discovering art in the first grade, I continued with this interest throughout school and personal life. In that first grade class were also, Harry Dean, Ben, Mary V., J.T., and Jeannie. However, I knew that I had to also find a way to make a living. In middle school we were tested for aptitude; my test result indicated that I was mechanically inclined! �Maybe that means with typewriters,� the teacher tactfully said. Not inclined to teach, not really good enough in sciences, I turned to business. I attended HLG mornings and worked at the �Y� from noon to 10, keeping books, inventorying and ordering candy, signing up memberships, and even teaching a girls� gym class occasionally. After graduating from HLG, I moved back to St. Louis, again surrounded by Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins by the dozens. I shared at various times living quarters with Ruth Schrerer, and Shirley Wilson!
I was in the business world, worked 3 years at Johns-Manville writing the salesmen�s orders and shipping instructions for the factories. Then Den and I were married in 1959. I did not work while our 2 sons were small. I returned to work and college (Missouri Baptist U. and St. Louis Community College). By now I was training on the job and in the colleges in information systems (the administration of digital voice and data systems). This information systems career came very natural to me, and became my (mechanical!) career as a tech, working for a large bank for several years and then for Maritz Information Systems.
All of this time, and yet today, I have been active in church, the community (a Mother to Mother program where a team of 3 mothers helps a needy Mother with 3 things; budgeting, child care, and home care; active with the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society; Daughters of the American Revolution patriotism projects in the schools and community, and other activities. Lifetime friendships develop out of giving of oneself in the community and church; this being a tradition of generations of my family.
Den was in the Navy Reserves for 8 years, and retired (to golf, fishing, bowling) from the Defense Department as a supervisory cartographer, and is active at church. Our oldest son, David, is a Fellow in Aerospace Engineering. David and his wife are very active in Big Brothers/Big Sisters and in young girls� softball leagues. Craig is a U.S. Postal Service Employee and active at church.
I am confident that Hannibal is in good hands, the next generation of City Fathers and Mothers. And I extend greetings to all HHS lifetime friends; and am looking forward to the next reunion! God Bless!