700 Sixteenth

Ken’s Story
In 1960 we moved into another rental house at 700 16th Street, out on the edge of town. Because the new house had a formal dining room, Mother bought us a used dining suite - table, chairs, and a buffet. She paid $45. Twenty years later our daughter, Kay, and her husband had the whole suite refinished at a cost of more than $1000. Another twenty-five years later and it’s still in use. A comparable suite today would probably run five grand.

Sam’s Version
What a house! Big rooms with steam heat and lots of closet space to hide in. A huge yard and porch. The empty lot across the street had a real baseball diamond laid out on it and even old benches to sit on. Across the street in the other direction was an old farm house with a grape arbor and lots of interesting places to hide.

Hiding seems to have been a theme of mine in those days. Might have something to do with the infamous swan experiment. Now let’s see, what would happen if you sat in a dark closet with an inflatable pink plastic pool toy and a sharp pin? I was somewhat startled by the results. The answer is this, you make your sister cry.

The best thing about the house on 16th Street was that it was owned by the local mortician. The funeral home was next door. Kay and I would take turns running the rent check over to the office. We had to practice being solemn and quiet in case there were dead people in the parlor.