The summer of 1954

Yesterday (Friday) we drove from Onawa, Iowa, which is on the western border of Iowa, on the Missouri RIver, to Elgin, IL, home of Suzie and Dennis McQuen, my brother Stewart's eldest daughter and her husband. Suzie was born in Independence, Iowa in 1954, and that was the summer I spent in Onawa between my graduation from Drury College and entering Chicago Theological Seminary in the fall. i drove over to Independence that summer to meet my newborn niece. I was reminiscing about that summer with Ellen as we drove along in the car. It was an interesting and sort of wild summer for me. My dad served two churches, in Onawa and Blencoe, IA, and I led a youth group in both churches. We had regular meetings and did projects. The Onawa group tackled the refurbishing of a large meeting room in the church, removing the old varnish from the wood paneling and refinishing it. That summer, a new pipe organ was installed in the church - a Moehler Unified Pipe Organ. They needed a "grunt" to help with non-technical tasks, so they hired me. One of my jobs was to hold down a key on the organ console while they tuned the pipe. I was thrilled with this job because it gave me the chance to really see the inner works of a pipe organ. I had studied organ for a year at Drury, and loved the instrument (still do). When it was all built, I got to play it, much to my delight. That was also the summer of a major flood in Onawa. The Missouri River overflowed its banks and flooded a lot of fields. That was my first experience with the stench that follows a flood when the waters recede and the rotten vegetation is exposed. That was also the summer that I had an impacted wisdom tooth removed, and it was a traumatic experience. The dentist had snapped off the crown of the tooth for some reason and then was not able to grab the roots to pull them out. They kept slipping further down into the gums. I remember him pulling out drawers looking for a new forceps and throwing things on the floor in frustration! Finally he unpacked a new suction machine he had just bought and used the suction to hold the roots steady with one hand while he grabbed them with the other! I was in the chair for a long time and afterward I could scarcely open my jaw for days! My mother made liquid meals I was barely able to suck through a straw. That summer was also unusually hot and humid as I recall. Temps in the 100's with high humidity for days on end. Great for growing corn, but hard on humans. Quite a summer!

The churches have not fared well in the intervening years. Ellen and I did visit both churches on a trip we made back when we were first married - 2006-  and made a long trip to the various places we had formerly lived. The Onawa church was struggling and has since closed and become a Bible Baptist Church. The Blencoe Church was doing a bit better and is still a going concern, I think. When we visited, there were still people in the congregation who remembered me and my parents. We did not have time on this trip to go to Blencoe.

The present-day Onawa Church. It still looks as I remember it, but the parsonage, which was next door, is no longer there.

The Blencoe Church sign (c. 2007). So far as I can tell, Linda Boggs is still the pastor

Me, Maggie and Stewart in the living-room in Onawa, c. 1952 or '53