Memories of summer fun in Fort Scott

The following story was written by Melinda Sedelmeyer, daughter of Varrell and Shirley Forgey.

Hi Marilyn,

There were so many things to love about being a kid in Fort Scott. I was born smack dab in the middle of the baby boom years. My dad was finishing up college on the GI bill and working several jobs around town. He worked at the local florist and was the weekend DJ on the radio station. My mother would put me down for a nap listening to my dad's voice on the radio and I would fall asleep to the melodies he played.

On a beautiful summer's day, we would all head up to the pool. The moms would lay their towels down and sun themselves and visit and us kids would swim and play and work up the courage to go off the high dive while also working up an appetite. Dripping wet we would stand on the bench that put us eye level with the person at the snack bar and spend our quarters wisely on a selection of candy bars and soft drinks.

Sometimes in the evening, there would be big picnics in the park adjoining the pool where each family brought something different and shared. There were cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents and since everyone had grown up in Fort Scott and knew everyone, there were always a ton of friends waving from the street and stopping in to grab a piece of chicken and the latest news. Someone would bring the ice cream maker and all the kids would stand in line to take a turn at churning the ice cream, hoping to be the one to get to lick the paddle. We would play ball games at the field and make up skits to perform on the stage of the bandstand. We chased fireflies, ran races and played hide and seek. We took some tumbles but we were always having fun.

My cousins and I would march down to the movie theater for the Saturday matinee where they would let us kids in for five bottle caps. All week we saved those bottle caps waiting for the big day to arrive so we could scamper off and see that Western epic on the big screen. We were in our seat long before the feature began so as not to miss the cartoons. After the movie, we walked across the street to my uncle's gas station where he would give us all a cold bottle of pop.

Quite often, we had family picnics at Gunn Park also. My eyes would grow big as saucers as we entered the park and drove past the little white doll house with the picket fence where I was certain the park fairies lived. The adults would set up the feast under the stone canopy and some would fish and others would visit. But us kids found fascination in walking around the ponds and discovering the different varieties of fish and bugs that surrounded us. I know moms had a watchful eye out for us as we walked the narrow trail around but it made us feel so grown up to be on the other side of the great body of water. After supper, which most always included deviled eggs, my grandmothers ham and pickled cucumbers, we would spend hours playing on the playground jumping on the merry go round, running a deeper groove in the dirt as we made the whirl go faster and faster and made it harder and harder to stay on.

In a small town with generations of families even the simplest things seemed like a celebration. The Fourth of July was filled with watermelon and firecrackers, family birthdays were momentous occasions and the night they showed the "Wizard of Oz" on TV had all us kids in our pajamas fresh from our baths with our hair still damp and slicked back, bowl of popcorn in front of us as we splayed out on the floor to see Dorothy and Toto and the Yellow Brick Road.

Time in my home town of Fort Scott became simply yearly summer visits when my father was transferred to Arizona with his job. I lived for those few weeks every year. Most people retire to a warmer climate but seeing how my folks were already in a warmer climate they decided to retire back to the town they called home in their youth and moved back to Fort Scott a few years ago. Now when I visit them I walk in Gunn Park again and attend Fort Scott High School football games and admire the stately century homes and tour the old fort. Having been born in Fort Scott has always been a source of pride for me. Small town, family oriented, hard working mid-west values define a type of person that makes a body feel good to be associated with.

So, the last time I was visiting my folks I stopped at the deli to grab myself a salad. I read the list of dressings available and then asked the girl behind the counter what "hot French" was. She said, "You're not from around here, are you?"

Love ya, girlfriend!

-- Melinda (Forgey) Sedelmeyer