We took turns pedaling. For my tenth birthday, I received roller skates. My sister had gotten a bicycle but I didn’t want one. Skating looked easy. I managed the stiff clamp-ons and navigated the slight paved hill to Mary street as our streets and sidewalks were brick. There was no traffic to worry about. I started my graceful descent to Patee St. when I realaized that I didn’t know how to put on the brakes or whatever was necessary to stop. But stop I did. This was long before the days of helmets, knee or shoulder pads, but they weren’t really necessary. I could have used a big pillow for the back of my lap!

We lived within a few blocks of Musser, Bliss, and Central High schools and church was just five blocks south. Bus and streetcar lines were within close walking distance. By the early ‘40s, gas was rationed and Dad needed the car for work. It never occurred to me to learn how to drive. In 1956, after marriage and a baby, I got my driver’s license at 24 on a 1949 Ford which we drove for years.

Jeannetta Danford

St. Joseph, Mo.