Summer of '57

The summer of 1957 was our first summer living in the Staggert place.  We called it the Staggert place because we bought it from the Staggert family.  Us kids were so excited to have a big yard with green grass!  At first, we didn't have an inside toilet, but Daddy installed one soon after we moved in.  That was life changing for us.  No more running outside to the "out house" or using the "pee bucket" in Mommy and Daddy's bedroom. 

This picture of Wayne, Sharon, Bill and I is the only one we have of all of us as children.  I think Wayne's hat may have come from Uncle Harold - Tud as we called him - who was in the Navy.  Sharon's hair was as short as I have ever seen her wear it and Bill to this day still likes to put his hands in his pockets.  I squinted into the sun with the innocent smile of a seven year old.  

Behind us is the door that opened to the stairs into the cellar.  In those days, houses had cellars, not basements.  In the corner of the cellar sat the sump pump, ready to suck out water when spring rains flooded the dirt floor.  Also in the cellar was the gigantic coal furnace and the dusty bins for coal storage.  For many years the cellar was also home to Nana's ancient wringer washer.  I remember catching the smashed clothes that she fed into the wringer that looked like two constantly spinning roller pins.  Nana never had a dryer so after the clothes made several trips through the wringer, she hauled the heavy basket of wet clothes up the rickety wooden steps and out to the backyard clothes lines.

  

Although we were poor, we seemed quite happy in this picture.  I think we were oblivious to all the work Nana did for us.  She washed and ironed our clothes and cooked lots of delicious meals. Later she went to work in a factory to pay the bills.  She sacrificed to make our lives better.  Thank You Nana!

Sharon, Wayne, Diane and Bill in the Summer of 1957