GLEANINGS... PART II

When John and Anne Kinton Borton set foot on American soil in the mid 1600's, along with their Quaker friend, William Penn, and settled the state of New Jersey, I wonder if Anne and the kids thought to themselves: "Well, John, are you happy now?"

Dollars to donuts, I am thinking my Grandmother Anne, 331 years ago, might have felt the same way I did in 1948 when I boarded the train in Omaha and "rode the rails" to Union Station in Los Angeles...a little bewildered, ready to face head-on a new life among, in her case...Native Americans, and in mine....Lonnie McAllister, Jane Powell, Shirley Temple, Doris Day, John Wayne (from Winterset, Iowa) and if I was lucky, employment at 20th Century Fox or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and a chance to schedule the daily comings-and-goings of these bedazzling movie stars instead of how I had earned my keep at Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in Atlantic...recording ownership of bales of hay, bushels of corn, nursing pigs and their mommies and daddies and other stuff that makes farming an important part of life in Cass County, sending such reports to the main office in New York City, learning to square dance one balmy evening at a farm/homestead, one of thousands owned by Met Life following the Great Depression. (Sorry....take a breath!) Under the expert tutelage of Jesse Iftner, the affable field representative for whom I personally worked, the entire office staff, in fine fettle, worked off the effects of a hearty barbecue dinner consumed a bit earlier. I was happy I had learned a little bit of country bootscooting from one Bob Pigsley, probably the best dancer in Cass County if not the state of Iowa! Just ask any girl who was lucky enough to be twirled around the dance floor in the America Legion Building throughout the four seasons during the late 1930's, in the arms of Bob Pigsley, 15 years of age or so, who is the "point" of this story.

(I promise...you are going to read more of John and Anne and their kin in another Blog episode. Along with the story of my search for Great Grandmother Phebe Marsh Cranston, which is how I found John and Anne.)

Now, about Bob...he and his sister, Loretta, had always been a part of my family's life since my brother, Kenny, was early on "taken" with Loretta, a beautiful blond, effervescent 24/7. Most notably, my bonding with Loretta was based on her showing me how to apply Tangee, the most popular lipstick sold at the make-up counter at the local 5 & 10 Woolworth's store. (I was awashed in my brothers' girl friends who wanted to make sure I knew how to apply Tangee!) I think Tangee came in just one color...Horrible Orange...but I will have to get back to you on the correctness of that statement. At the tender age of 10 or so, that was a really big deal, and I could hardly wait for the day when Mom would buy a size 30 bra from the Sears Catalogue for this baby of the family!

Dances, in those days, were held as often as the American Legion building was available for renting and how urgent the need for money to pay the mortgage and janitorial services. The father of one of my best friends (actually Jessie was a better friend of Tootie and Tiny's but when Jessie visited, I quickly crossed the street to the Maher house, not wanting to miss whatever shenanigans those three, plus Frances Desmond, would conspire to at any given time) was a very popular and talented Orchestra Leader, Lee Berry by name, and his musical group would play every style of music from a Polka to an impromptu Square Dance set, from a Waltz to the Charleston and the Fox Trot until midnight when "Good Night, Sweetheart" signaled it was time to pack up the instruments. 17-year-old Jessie played the Legion's battered upright piano, a pro at such an early age.

In those days, refreshments were served during these dances (seasonally-decorated cookies and lemonade) and spectators would sit, not at tables, but in straight chairs circling the dance floor to watch their "crazy kids," exchange tasty recipes and equally-tasty gossip, occasionally clapping for the dancers...in particular, Bob! I, for the most part, sat with Mom and Dad, Harry and Edna Pigsley, Harry and Grace Steck, Irene and John Anderson, and Mary and Shanty Maher and waited, barely breathing and/or heavily breathing, for my turn around the ballroom-size, polished floor with Bob. The seasonally-decorated cookies and lemonade kept me occupied while I awaited my turn, every 10th dance or so (no dance card, no number system), but, you just have to agree, wasn't it romantic? :) I have the distinct feeling that every single one of those toothsome girls more of Bob's age wondered what was he thinking dancing with that little squirt? Of course, I was thinking why don't you dance with someone your own age or from your own part of town or something evil like that! You are in Buck Town Territory tonight!

My friend with the amazing dancing feet went on to have a good life, spending his remaining days in Omaha, getting plenty of newspaper acclaim as the most natural honest-to-goodness-look-alike Santa Claus in all of Omaha's history. I want to believe, as he handed out seasonally-decorated cookies, he "tripped the light fantastic with a fancy Irish Jig" for all the good little girls and boys to shout about before he took final leave and, "shuffled off to Buffalo" in his own inimitable way.

Just like in the movies!