A Special Gift Idea
Have you ever given a journey of memories? It may be only August, but I’m already thinking of Christmas gifts. How do you buy something for a generation of people like my 84-year-old dad, who never valued possessions? One can only give so many warm blanket rolls, socks, or flannel shirts.
My friend Sandy gave her mother Iva a unique gift—a journey of memories. But this gift required some advance effort and planning.
Iva’s Story
When people ask her name, the sweet 98-year-old lady says, “I have a book.” People usually respond, “I have a book too, but what’s your name?” She replies, “That is my name. Iva Book.”
Iva was born in 1925 to Jesse and Zola Junk of Juniata County, Pennsylvania. She lived in McCullough’s Mills, the upper corner of my county.
One day, my friend Sandy took her mother on a journey of memories to visit her childhood homes. Sandy gathered photos of Iva standing in front of places along the way.
Iva has many memories of living with her parents and two older brothers. Her father, Jesse Junk, worked in various jobs, on farms, as a carpenter, helping to build the Tuscarora tunnel. Iva remembers family meals of freshly butchered chickens or hogs, vegetables from the garden she helped tend, and homemade bread. She recalls her father eating with a piece of bread in one hand and a fork in the other.
The 1930s
In those days, each family had an icebox to store food. Ralph Zook, the local iceman, would deliver 100-pound blocks of ice, tightly packed onto the back of his truck and covered with a tarp. The iceman was incredibly strong and used huge ice tongs to lift his deliveries off the truck. Sometimes, the family would buy a 100-pound block of ice but get a bit less due to melting. At other times, the block of ice was too large to fit in the icebox, so they would shave off pieces from the side. The shavings were used to make ice cream.
One of Iva’s earliest memories comes from the day she had to go for help. When Iva was about six years old, a new road was going through the area of McCullochs Mills. The road worker built a bridge and stored supplies in the family’s shed. After the work was done, the man took his supplies from the shed and moved to the next project. But he left behind one small item.
Iva’s brother, who was about 9 years old, found an empty shell. Being a boy, he decided to drive a nail through the shell casing. (Blasting Cap in Artwork). It wasn’t an empty shell, though. It was a blasting cap. Iva’s brother lost several fingers in the explosion.
Because the family had no phone and Iva’s mother didn’t drive, Iva had to run a mile down the road to fetch her father who drove the boy to the hospital. Growing up a few fingers shy did not stop Iva’s brother from becoming a competent carpenter in his adult life.
At one point in her childhood, Iva’s family lived on an island in Harrisburg, possibly Brinzer Island or Shelly Island. Her father worked on his brother’s farm. There was no bridge to the island, so they traveled back and forth by boat. In the winter, Iva remembers riding a wheelbarrow across the ice to their home. She rode on top of the feed sacks. Entire communities lived on those islands. They didn’t have a school at first. Later, the community built a schoolhouse and hired a teacher, but only for the boys.
On their journey to revisit Iva’s past, Sandy and her mother stopped by the Presbyterian church where the men sat on one side and the women on the other. Iva remembers one older lady singing off-key at the top of her lungs.
The journey of memories included a stop at the local grange halls, the district conservation office, and several of Iva’s later homes.
After The One-Room Schoolhouse
Sandy and Iva visited the McCullough Mills one-room schoolhouse. Iva says her school days were fun. At lunchtime, the students played outside, the older kids playing alongside the younger ones. In the fall, they would bury each other in piles of leaves. In the winter, they played in the snow. School closed for one day over Christmas break.
When Iva was in eighth grade, she took a test to determine whether she could attend high school. Iva and her siblings walked a mile and a half to meet the high school bus. Eventually, the older brothers drove to school in the family car. They would pack the car full of boys, two or three in the back seat, two scrunched onto stools beside the back seat, and two up front. Iva usually walked.
In 1943, seventeen-year-old Iva graduated from high school. She said there was a lot of talk about war during her last three years of school, but world news was slow in coming to rural Pennsylvania. Iva’s brother Glen fought and returned from the war, but Iva’s father worked a farm and was not required to go.
The older houses had no indoor bathrooms during Iva’s childhood. She first remembers having an indoor bathroom when she got married. They had no telephone, so they wrote lots of letters. To do laundry, they heated water once a week. It had to be a nice day to hang out laundry. It froze in the winter – freeze dry.
After High School
Sandy and Iva’s journey of memories skipped a few years when Iva lived an hour and a half from home.
After high school, Iva wanted to attend college but knew her parents couldn’t afford to send her. Financial aid did not exist in those days. A lack of opportunities didn’t stop Iva from learning. Because her father helped the school board select textbooks, the Junk house had a steady supply of sample reading material.
For a while, Iva worked at a sewing factory. When Iva turned 18, her sister-in-law Florence had to give up her accounting job at the Army Depot in Carlisle. Iva took that position and moved to Harrisburg. She rode a train called The Goat to work, with windows open and cinders flying. She went to the candy store and took candy home on weekends.
Iva remembers the Armistice when there were grand parties in the streets of Harrisburg.
When the war ended, Iva lost her job at the Army Depot and went to work for Pomeroys. She moved home to Juniata County in 1946 where she married and raised a family.
the Second Gift
The journey of memories was only part of Sandy’s gift. She gathered the photos from that day and several old photos of the places they visited. Sandy put them together in a little book called This Is Your Life, Road Rally.” While memory books are not inexpensive, only a few copies were needed. Many online websites, such as Blurb and Shutterfly, offer this printing service, allowing the buyer to print only the number of books wanted.
A journey of memories could include stops at favorite restaurants, parks, churches, movie theaters, stores, and workplaces. If you visit a parent’s former home, you may want to check with the current homeowner first. They may even give a tour. Get creative and bring items from that era to accompany the selfies: a porcelain doll, an antique tool from the workplace, an old hymnal from the church, a piece of sporting equipment, a fishing pole or dress for the part with articles of clothing from another era.
Older people don’t need knickknacks to sit around the house. They love company and spending time with family. They love rehashing memories of the olden days and looking through photos. Sandy’s amazing gift gave her mother all those things and added one more memory to the collection.
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