Life on "Back Street"

 Longbourne Street used to be named Walnut Street, but those who lived there called it Back Street.  The annual Back Street Christmas Party at my Grandma Clayton's house was a reminder.  The gift exchange usually included a gag gift or two to celebrate with humor the relationships that we enjoyed.  Aunt Joy and Uncle Jerry Hoffman lived across the yard from us.

Small town life in Liberty included 50-60 people and maybe as many dogs and cats and Sylvia Lodge's sheep.  Henry Bussey had a handful of cows, others had a few chickens and we used to have a few pigs, til we didn't due to butchering them in my Grandma Jonas' kitchen.  I don't know if it started in the barn behind our house, but there seemed to be a lot of hog parts and blood in her kitchen.  Shortly after the butchering, our small barn was torn down.  I was 3 or 4 years old, so the memories are probably half made up.

Mike, my brother has two years more memories than I do.  We both had years of perfect attendance pins from the Liberty church (United Brethern when we were baptized as babies, then Evangelical United Brethern and later we were United Methodist after the merger in the sixties.)  Vacation Bible School each summer was a special treat.  

There used to be a Lutheran Church and a school before Mike and I were born.

We played on back street by riding bikes, playing hide and seek with the neighbor kids, Donna and Peggy, Freddie Noll (sp) and Sylvia Lodge and Bobby Whitaker.  We tore down our garage and our dad put up a basketball hoop where we could "shoot some hoops."  We listened to music and a couple radio shows like The Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy.  Quiet fun.

More later