Category Archives: PENDLETON HIGH SCHOOL

1959-60 SENIOR YEAR, PENDLETON HIGH SCHOOL

THE FINAL HIGH SCHOOL CHAPTER

August 31, 2016 Alpha

1959, MAY

I have set the timeline for these High School categories based on the school year calendar…September to September. However, this senior year actually started at the end of our Junior year in May 1959. So, I digress three months.

Because of upcoming senior activities that needed to be organized and dates set, we held our senior class officer`s election in May. Much to my surprise, I was nominated and elected to serve as our senior class president!

The other class officers and myself met with the school principal that same week. We were informed that we would not be able to have a senior class trip this year because the expense was just getting to be too much for some families to afford. The shocking news was mind numbing! We didn`t want to be the first class to not have the experience of a class trip.

We had a meeting with our new class sponsor and offered him several options for us to raise money and subsidize the expense. He supported our effort and desire and we had another meeting with our principal. After presenting our plans, he gave us an extension until the start of school in September. We got busy!

We had class meetings before school was out for the summer and set up committees and organized volunteer workers to start fund raising projects and seek business and community support. It seemed as though the whole town was behind us. We had businesses donating space and supplies for car washes, storage buildings for paper and scrap drives and spaces to hold rummage sales. We sponsored a street dance downtown in the middle of the main intersection in town. The response from the Pendleton community was awesome!

1959, SEPTEMBER

Meanwhile, back at home, the battle with King Beau and Tippy rages on. I think we all agreed that the daily job of trying to keep them separated was taking its toll on us all. Mother was the first to suggest that it would be easier to find a suitable home for King than it would be for Tippy.

With school and my schedule, many nights I wouldn`t get home till dark and it was putting more stress on Mother and Dad handling the dogs. Mother found a nice family with kids that lived on a farm south of Indianapolis. They agreed that King Beau would be with the family indoors or out and would probably sleep in bed with the boys. That did it and King was off on a new adventure getting all of the attention!

Dad was putting the finishing touches on the pond and He and Mother found a female Border Collie at Tippy`s breeder`s kennel and named her Tina. She and Tippy got along great even though they were opposites personality wise.

Tina was calm and liked to be petted and follow us around. Tippy had his own routine and was always on the go.

Tippy liked the water more than Tina and would go for a swim every so often.

This fall, the Pendleton Welcome Wagon Association was sponsoring an Historic Home Tour of Pendleton area homes and wanted Mother to include our Barn House in the tour because it was so unique. Since things were setteling down and we did just paint the house and finish the pond, Mother gave in to their request.

What a hectic day! I was in charge of traffic control and parking. I routed the cars around the drive and back up to the top of the hill so that they would have access to the drive out. At several points the cars were lined up all the way around the circle. I had them leave their keys in the car so that I could move them on around the drive to make room for others coming in.

Mother enjoyed being the tour guide and took pride in describing Her`s and Dad`s accomplishments! As you can see, Cookie, our toy fox terrier was still hanging around.

Grandma and Grandpa Barrett were still harvesting, canning and freezing produce from their garden. With the pond enlarged and dug out deeper, there was plenty of water for them to use to irrigate the garden during dry spells. That process greatly increased their yield this year and the highway vegetable stand did a booming business!

1959, OCTOBER

Publishing the Pendleton High School yearbook, The Papyrus, was one of the main responsibilities of the senior class. Even with all of the fundraising projects being scheduled for our class trip, we all found time to contribute to the success of the Papyrus.

Carole and I both served on the advertising committee staff and were included in some of the advertising copy.

Carole was always a great model!

I just had a great car!

Being seniors, we were provided with a list of our high school achievements and activities alongside of our photo in the Papyrus!

Carole Laws is the middle of the bottom row.

1960 MARVIN "GENE" "SKIP" EUGENE WOLFF, JR. — 1960 MARVIN “GENE” “SKIP” EUGENE WOLFF, JR.

Skip Wolff 3rd row on right.

Carole was still active in her fourth year of participation with the Sunshine Society which held fundraisers to donate and help the patients at Riley Hospital. They also joined with the boy`s Hi-Yi club to sponsor the winter dance which this year had the theme “Winter Fantasy”.

I continued my third year of activity with the Hi-Yi Club of Pendleton High School.

Carole was again serving as an office secretary this year as well as being a teacher`s secretary!

Her duties included running errands, answering telephone calls and helping keep the teaching staff happy by typing and serving as receptionist.

I continued to serve on the Student Council this year.

As senior class president, I had numerous meetings with our principal to coordinate school activities and fund raising projects for our class trip. I learned quickly how to jump through hoops to accomplish our goals. It was a great learning and leadership developing atmosphere.

Outside of class meetings, the school hallway bulletin boards were the best means of communication.

And of course the personalized hand painted senior cords were on display everywhere.

1959, NOVEMBER

Along with her busy school activities, Carole found time to accept the honor of representing our area on the Block`s High School Fashion Board in Indianapolis. The school representatives would meet at the Wm. H. Block Department Store once a month for a luncheon and to model, discuss and recommend current fashion trends of the teenage fashion scene. Their photos were displayed on the walls of Block`s Junior Fashion Department.

With basketball season underway, Carole and I were both kept busy with the team and the games. Carole was a 4th year varsity cheerleader and I was now the senior student manager.

1959-60 PHS CHEERBLOCK — 1959-60 PHS CHEER BLOCK

The student body cheer block supporting our Fighting Irish basketball team.

We won our Pendleton Basketball Invitational and Carole celebrated the victory by helping cut down the nets!

My responsibilities as senior manager included overseeing the other student managers to ensure we had clean uniforms, towels, racks of balls for practice and warm up prior to games, fresh water bottles, clipboards and charts to track scoring and various first aid items on hand. We managers were frequently required to fill in at practice to run drills and scrimages.

I personally had to deliver the score book to the official scorer along with our lineup for the game. A lineup had to be made for the public address announcer also. The game ball had to be checked for proper air pressure and delivered to the head referee. There may have been one or two other things thatI had to keep track of before or during games.

When we had away games, obviously, we had to make certain that we had everything we may possibly need packed and loaded on the bus. After away games, we, the team and the cheerleaders always had a meal, usually a steak dinner, provided at the Post Restaurant.

Thanksgiving rolled around and this year we held a mini Wolff family dinner at The Wolff`s Den. Grandma Wolff and Dad`s brother`s family were home to celebrate.

1959, DECEMBER

Another big tree and a quiet family Christmas at home.

Dad made a 45 RPM record changer on its own amplifier to add to his audiophile collection that would play throughout the house. It`s sitting there between the doughboy end tables. I think I got a new stamp album and an electric razor.

During the winter months, a popular activity was ice skating on the Pendleton Park pond. Metal barrels were used to burn firewood and provide a warming area for the skaters.

Meanwhile, over at the Barrett`s Roost, Mother`s sisters` families came down for Christmas dinner and gift exchange.

Left to right, Jin, Mother, Mae, (sister-in-law)Dot, Grandpa, Marg and Grandma, 22 in all!

1960, FEBRUARY

With my involvement in the variety shows and the fact that I was to be the Student Stage Manager again this year for our Senior Class Play, I joined The Masque and Gavel Club at school.

I had so much free time on my hands that I decided to join the High School Choir.

I still found time to go rabbit hunting with my 22 rifle. I would skin and freeze the rabbits meat to later boil and mix with Tippy`s & Tina`s food.

One winter day I borrowed Grandpa`s 410 shotgun to go hunting with. I kicked up several Doves and Quail with no success. Then, as I was walking through a winter wheat field, a Pheasant flew up right under my feet. The noise of the flapping wings and the sight of the big bird almost in my face, froze me for a second, but I managed to raise the gun and fire a clean shot into the bird. Luckily, it dropped him immediately, because Grandpa`s gun was a bolt action and there would not have been time for a second shot.

I proudly carried my prize home and Mother decided we would have a roast Pheasant feast this Sunday! So, I dressed the bird and put it in the refrigerator till the week-end.

Sunday dinner came and we saw all the trimmings set for the great feast. Grandma and Grandpa joined us for the hunters celebration of his first Pheasant kill. As we all dug in, Mother, Dad and I exchanged quizzical glances with expressions of disbelief as we all started to say “I thought this was supposed to be a delicacy!?”; it tastes like crap.

Grandma and Grandpa, being the only ones to have had Pheasant before, were smiling and complimenting Mother and I on having such a fine feast!

1960, MARCH

Two thirds of the way through our senior year and it has been one hectic roller coaster ride!

Grandma and Grandpa were proud of my Senior Athletic Letter for running track and managing cross country and basketball.

Basketball season was winding down and it was time for the seniors to host the annual Senior Pep Rally with a post game sock hop to follow!

Meanwhile, back at home The Neighbor From Hell was still trying to pull one off. Dad was up in the front yard planting nine weeping willow trees along the fence line to block the view into the unsightly Neighbor From Hell`s backyard. The neighbor comes over to our yard and asks Dad what he thinks he`s doing and continues to complain that the willow roots will grow into his septic lateral system and cause problems! Dad told him that he was free to dig up any roots that strayed into his property and that he should kindly get his ass back home!

A couple weeks later, Mother and Dad come home from work and find a farm fence fastened to steel posts that are imbedded in cement and run right down the middle of our easement drive. There is just barely eight feet between that fence and the other neighbor`s fence with a drainage ditch running along the edge. With two wheels in the ditch and two wheels on the drive they managed to slowly make their way to our drive.

The next day Mother takes the deed and a recorded property surveyors plat to his lawyer. The deed grants easement rights and with the survey shows that the easement has been in that location for over twenty years and cannot be relocated without Mother and Dad`s permission!

That same week, the work crew was out removing the cemented posts and regrading the drive and putting down fresh crushed stone. Will he never learn?

At school we were preparing for the music department`s annual Variety Show. Carole performed in several musical dance numbers and I worked with the sound and lighting crew. Carole and I were involved in many activities together throughout high school, but we had never dated yet…

1960, APRIL

Spring starts the track and cross country season. I never could run distance so I settled on being student manager for the cross country team and running the high hurdles in track.

I am the hurdler on the right. The photographer set up the low hurdles for the photo and you can see by my leg elevation that I was mind set on high hurdles!

Class officers were finalizing the class trip projects and we were packing in preparation for our well earned April class trip to Washington D. C. and New York. We held meetings wherever and whenever we could find time. Mr. Parr was our class sponsor and great supporter of our efforts and that`s me leaning against the tree.

Plans were also being finalized for our Junior-Senior Prom which was to be held at Butler University in Indianapolis this May.

This bus photo reminds me of an incident involving Carole and I during the trip. For some reason, me being class president, the class sponsor and the tour guides thought it would be a good idea for me to help with the daily activity announcements. I would get on the busses and inform everyone of the planned tours and activities for the day. Simple enough; right? One day as I`m in the middle of making the announcements, Carole stands up in the back of the bus and yells, “Why don`t you go sit down? Nobody cares what you`ve got to say!” So I quickly wrapped up the presentation and went to my bus thinking, “You know…she`s absolutely right. That`s what I thought when the chaperones first suggested it!” Two months later we started dating!

Most of the kids were disappointed with the group picture because the Capitol Building dome was being painted and was coated with the rust color primer instead of the usual brilliant white. I thought it was neat because this only happens every fifty years or so and we have a photo that captures history with us in it!

1960, MAY

Our Prom was held on the Butler University campus in Indianapolis, Indiana. Carole went with her boyfriend and I went with my girlfriend.

The post-prom traveling breakfasts were still a great hit. Visiting with classmates and realizing that this may be one of the last times we have to share together was very nostalgic. Most of us have been together since grade school and have developed some great bonds and friendships over the years. We were still up at sunrise, not wanting the magic to end.

I managed to make the Familiar Faces section in the Pendleton Times, the local newspaper that was published once a week.

“Pippy Dene”, “Skip”, “Gene” or Marvin, I was finally ready for high school graduation!

Turning our Tassels!

Finally got that paper!

1960, JUNE

Our class went on that summer to organise the First Annual Junior Senior Bicycle Marathon Relay Race. With the cooperation of the police department, downtown merchants and the parks department, we developed about a mile long course through the Falls Park and around downtown. The Junior and Senior classes put together coed relay teams and the first to complete 100 laps was to be the winner. The prize being, to have bragging rights for the next 12 months!

This exhilerating journey through the school years was full of fond memories and awesome foolhardiness. But the decades to come will far overshadow any accomplishments that were achieved during those early years!

1960 MARVIN EUGENE "SKIP" WOLFF, JR. — 1960 MARVIN EUGENE “SKIP” WOLFF, JR.

1958-59 JUNIOR YEAR, PENDLETON HIGH SCHOOL

Bumper Tag & the Neighbor From Hell

May 2, 2016 Alpha

1958, SEPTEMBER

A new school year and new learning opportunities with organizations, classes and even after school activities!

Back to school for my junior year. I was still involved with the Hi-Y organization and this year I was selected to be a representative on the Student Council!

Carole Laws continued her work with the Sunshine Society and their charitable activities. She was selected, this year, to be an Office Secretary and help the principal`s staff one class period a day!

Carole was again selected to be a Varsity Cheerleader, this her third year!

Class pictures were taken as usual and we all tried to look mature. Some did and some didn`t!

Carole Laws is in the middle of the fourth row looking cute!

With the name Wolff, I was always on the tail-end of any school list or posting. So, as usual I am in the last row, second from the left. We had a whopping 81 students in our Junior Class!

1958, OCTOBER

We had a mild Autumn this year and when we picked up Grandma Wolff for a visit, we went to the Falls Park in Pendleton for an outing with the ducks.

Grandma wasn`t an outdoors person even though she grew up on a farm in Canada. She was an avid reader and loved to sew and crochet. But, she did enjoy short outings and had a nice morning with the ducks.

Of course during the fall baseball series on television, the gang still played our games in the front yard! On one such day we were

playing ball and dad was using his new Bolens lawn tractor and trailer to spread driveway stone. The Neighbor From Hell made the mistake of coming onto our property and confronting Dad about how Dad should make us stop playing ball. It wasn`t long until Dad had the Neighbor From Hell by the seat of his pants and shirt collar and was escorting him off the property! The Neighbor From Hell immediately jumped in his car and took off for Anderson and his lawyer. Obviously nothing ever came of it, except that Halloween was just around the corner and revenge was sweet!

Mother changed jobs to work in Indianapolis with the Jefferson National Life Insurance Company. She would be the private secretary to one of the vice presidents of the company. She could ride to work with Dad and save her having to drive.

Meanwhile at school, the new vocational building had been completed and I was taking woodworking and drafting classes. I was working on two majors, science college prep and vocational arts. At this time I was planning on studying civil engineering at Purdue University.

I also began my new duties as the assistant basketball student manager and statistician. This of course required daily after school time, so I drove to school every day.

Often after practice, I would go to Tanky`s Drug Store where Carole worked and have a spanish hamburger on a grilled bun with chocolate milk. We would talk about everything and often time would slip away and I would be late getting home. She had a feisty personality, but was very passionate and caring about other people`s feelings. I was dating other girls, but this just seemed like a real nice friendship that didn`t require dating!

We shared a game of “bumper tag” as Carole had a driver`s license and no car and her friend had a car and no license. The game started about sunset with a group of school kids meeting at the school parking lot. The rules were simple. As we drove our cars around

town and into the country, obeying all traffic laws and coming to complete stops at stop signs, we would try to “tag” another`s bumper with our bumper. Score was kept by the honor system and we would meet at Jimmie`s Dairy Bar or some other designated spot, at a designated time, always after dark!

Back then, bumpers were constructed of sturdy, frame mounted, stamped steel and could easily take a “tag” of a couple miles per hour! The trick after dark was to turn off your headlights so you couldn`t be seen from the front and the use of the emergency brake hid your detection from the rear.

Another fun activity, especially around Halloween time, was to plan a cemetery pizza party. Pizzas were just beginning to get popular as Art`s Pizza had recently opened in Anderson. When I first heard about pizza it didn`t sound like a combination I would like, but that changed quick. But I digress. The cemetery pizza parties were bring your own and a car load of kids to a designated cemetery usually late at night. Pizza and pop around the head stones or in the mausoleum if open, was accompanied by horror stories and weird sounds!

Pendleton had its` drive in restaurants where the kids would hang out. Not as fancy as Indy but always packed with friends.

Indianapolis had the Tee Pee drive in by the State Fair Grounds, but the big drive-in curb service restaurants in Anderson were always a big draw too. Frische`s and the A&W root beer drive-ins were popular places to park and be seen. Police were a common sight to direct traffic in and out as kids made the rounds!

At this time, on a clear night, we could watch this tiny shiny object cross the evening sky. Sputnik, as it was called in Russian, meant “Elementary Satellite ” and was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on October 4, 1957. It was a 23 inch diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennae to broadcast radio pulses. It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable. This surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War.

1958, NOVEMBER

With baseball season over and the gang`s time and interest waining, Dad decided to plant weeping willow trees on the home plate and pitcher`s mound bare spots. I bet the Neighbor From Hell jumped for joy thinking the ballgames were over! They did slack off a little, but we continued to play occasionally, much to his dismay.

With the three of us off to work and school, it was becoming a problem keeping King Beau inside all day while Tippy was out running. They couldn`t be trusted to be together without supervision, so Dad decided to build a kennel and joining dog houses so they could be outdoors all day.

We started digging and framing for the cement runs, which would be up against the cow barn to help protect against the weather. A large shed roof dog house with vents and an inside partition was constructed on the west end. The farm fence enclosure also divided the dog run in to two sides.

As King Beau grew, he was able to jump the fence and the electric wire fence from our horse days had to be installed around the top. When we got home, they were happy to get out and enjoy each other, for the most part!

Dad was also busy wiring the house for hi-fi speakers in every room. The old tube type receiver-amplifier was going to be updated! He had bought a big oak console hi-fi with built in radio, turntable and duel speakers to take advantage of the “stereo hi-fi” that was soon to be available.

Dad was happy with his new transistorised Hi-Fi Stereo components. In the 1950s, audio manufacturers employed the phrase high fidelity as a marketing term to describe records and equipment intended

to provide faithful sound reproduction. Hi-fi became a generic term for home sound equipment, to some extent displacing phonograph and record player.

The old 78 RPM records were easily broken and scratched and could only have one song recorded per side. The new high fidelity quality would propel the switch to a new larger diameter 33 1/3 RPM vinyl record. This slower speed and larger recording space enabled the recording industry to market a complete symphony on a single record!

The radio stations were updating also to compete with the hi-fi craze. The AM stations were being challenged by the higher quality FM stations, however the drawback for the FM stations was that they were broadcast much like a TV signal and didn`t have the long range of an AM station.

Since the end of the war, it seemed as though things were changing at an accelerated pace. New and improved products were being developed and more women remained in the workforce following the war. With two incomes, more and more two-car families were popping up and automobile sales were setting records.

All of this change didn`t go unnoticed in our small town of Pendleton. It even came to change our comings and goings at Pendleton High School! The school trustees had noticed an increase of automobile traffic flowing down East Street in front of the high school. At present on East Street, there was no interruption of traffic flow for several blocks in both directions and the front of the school was becoming a cruse zone for the increased number of high school drivers.

This fall, it was decided to install a traffic signal at the intersection in front of the school. This was great for Carole who lived just across the street on the corner. She now had her own traffic signal to insure her safety during her perilous trek to school! (That`s her house in the background.)

1958, DECEMBER

Christmas time and another BIG tree of course.

This winter I decided to retire from the rabbit raising industry. It was becoming too time consuming with pressing studies and school activities. But, I found another venture that required much less time and maintenance. Raising Guinea Pigs for Eli Lilly laboratories!

Winter school activities included the annual Sunshine & Hi-Yi Christmas Dance. Carole and I were dating, but not each other.

Carole was also selected as the school representative to be on the Blocks High School Fashion Board. She traveled to Indianapolis and the Blocks Department Store each month for a luncheon and fashion discussions with the other board members and the Blocks teen fashion purchasers.

1959, SPRING

As a warmup for March Madness, Pendleton hosted an invitational basketball tourney with many Madison county high school teams participating. This year, the PHS Fighting Irish walked away with the trophy!

Popular demand started the first Madison County Basketball Tournament in 1959 and the new Madison Heights High School hosted the first games.

Spring was also time for the PHS Annual Band Variety Show. It was scheduled right after the last home basketball game since the whole gym was transformed into a musical showplace. I was part of the lighting and sound crew and Carole and my girlfriend were part of the dance troupe.

I also helped my girlfriend teach dance lessons at her home dance studio which occupied nearly the whole upstairs of the house. She advertised in the High School Year Book.

Spring season was, as always, unpredictable Indiana weather. An April snow storm swept through, just to keep us off kilter wondering if summer was ever going to show up!

1959, MAY

I had been showing Tippy at area American Kennel Club (AKC) dog shows for awhile now and this year we started taking King Beau also.

Getting two dogs bathed, trimmed, brushed and ready to travel in the Nash Rambler station wagon was always an adventure. King was big enough now that he was always trying to dethrone Tippy`s dominance as the Alpha Male. These two pictures, taken in 1958, and 1959, show how much King Beau had grown.

Tippy`s ribbons and trophies can be seen over the mantel.

Despite the size difference, Tippy maintained his dominance throughout their relationship. On bath day, I would bathe Tippy in the bathtub and he would stand perfectly still throughout the ordeal. I would dry him off and hang the towel up and he would wait for the signal that it was over and he could jump out. Mother would bathe King and it was always a total disaster with soap suds everywhere from floor to ceiling! When he would shake himself dry, before Mother could grab the towel, it was like turning on the sprinkler hose.

During our dog obedience classes, I met a trainer who worked with the Indiana State Police canine training unit. He asked if I would be interested in helping him with some of the training. I said sure and spent the summer working with him and the recruits.

Meanwhile, I still had some school to finish. I was taking a drafting class and our semester assignment was to design the plans for our dream house. Little did I know that 45 years later that dream house would present itself for sale to Carole and myself!

From the outside the Cape Cod style house was just like my design with the one exception. My design had an open breezeway between the house and garage and this house, which was built in 1948, had the breezeway enclosed for an entry at some time. It had the living room bay window, the sunken den, the double built in china cabinets in the dining room, the front upstairs window dormers and the rear shed dormer across the back just like my original plans from 1959. We bought it in 2006, after 11 years of negotiations for the sale of our home to a developer in an increasingly busy business district.

Unbeknownst to Carole, she fell in love with my “Dream House” the first time she saw it, 48 years after I designed it! I know this is a giant leap in the time line, but the story started here in 1959, and this is where it needs to be told!

Back to 1959 and our Junior Class Play, `Susan Steps Out`, which was a great opportunity for many of us to participate in new activities never before experienced. There was acting, directing, publicizing, sales, advertising, printing, makeup, costumes, stage design, and lighting. I enjoyed the hands on part of being stage manager and creating sets and going with the teacher-director to pick out furniture and props for the show. I didn`t have talent but I did have skills!

Speaking of not having talent, for some reason I tried out for the varsity track team. I made the team, trying to run the 110 yard high hurdles, but I didn`t letter this year. “If at first you don`t succeed…”

This Spring was the time for Grandpa and Grandma Barrett to expand their garden to twice its` previous size. It now stretched all the way to the back property line, but keeping the same width. Grandpa was now 69 years old and still working part time running a turret lathe at a machine shop in Anderson. He told them he was thinking of quitting so he could work more with his garden. They offered him a raise to stay! He and Grandma truly loved working with the earth so he retired again and they ordered more fruit trees and berry bushes for the expanded garden!

Strawberries, black and red raspberries, apples, peaches, pears, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, white onions, sweet onions, green onions, butternut squash, cantaloupe, watermelon, potatoes and green beans along with huge flower beds surrounding the house kept them happy working together.

Back at school, our junior class was putting the finishing touches on decorations for the school prom which was hosted by the juniors for the senior class. Carole and I both went to the prom, but again, not with each other! Carole was part of the junior welcoming committee for the prom and was Chairperson of the crowning committee.

Our class initiated and organized the first post-prom traveling breakfast for Pendleton High School. With a lot of help and parent volunteers, homes and a few businesses were opened up for the various breakfast courses. Our house was one of the stops.

1959, JULY

School was out and the summer activities took over. This included the continuing saga of the neighbor from Hell! We had taken a mini vacation up to see Mackinac Island and the Mackinac Suspension Bridge. (A little side information about the bridge courtesy of the Mackinac Bridge Authority.)

“The Mackinac Bridge is currently the fifth longest suspension bridge in the world and It is the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere. Its total length is 26,372 feet. All suspension bridges are designed to move to accommodate wind, change in temperature, and weight. It is possible that the deck at center span could move as much as 35 feet (east or west) due to high winds. This would only happen under severe wind conditions. The deck would not swing or “sway” but rather move slowly in one direction based on the force and direction of the wind. After the wind subsides, the weight of the vehicles crossing would slowly move it back into center position.”

Ok back to the trip. We returned after a few days and as we drove into the driveway easement, next to the Neighbor from Hell`s garage, and started onto our part of the drive, Dad noticed something liquid in the tire ruts of the drive and so he pulled over to avoid driving in it. Good thing! We could smell the odor of raw sewage as we passed over the waste! Once on our property Dad stopped and we got out to investigate. It didn`t take long to figure out that the Neighbor from Hell had gotten sewage from his septic tank and spread it on our end of the easement.

As soon as Mother got out of the car and through the door to the phone, the lines were burning! Calls to the State Board of Health, State Police and the Madison County Health Commissioner were made in her secretarial efficiency and that afternoon there was action!

The police were the first to arrive and after interviewing Mother and Dad and collecting some background, they were off to talk to the Neighbor from Hell. The idiot not only admitted he did it, but that he had every right to do whatever he wanted on his property. The officers informed him as to the definition of an easement and that it was not his property to do with as he wished and that he would have to clean it up immediately.

About this time the Madison County Health Commissioner shows up and gives the Neighbor from Hell 24 hours to decontaminate the site and put down new crushed stone or face prosecution. Off to his lawyer he goes and the next morning, bright and early, a crew was out cleaning and spraying the mess. New crushed stone was put down that afternoon and all was well, for now!

This summer Carole was still working at the drug store and she also started working at the Falls Park Pool concession stand. I finally got the nerve to ask her if she would like to go with me for a drive and a coke and she said ok!

I received my athletic jacket this year and was able to wrangle the convertible every once in a while for special occasions, like taking Carole on our first ride!

My summer project was helping repaint the Barn House; the high areas especially! The red paint used on the 1953 painting was touted as the best on the marked and guaranteed non-fading. It turned a shade of purple and of course the manufacturer claimed no responsibility. This picture shows the difference in color.

Little did they know, that they were dealing with a bulldog of a gal who didn`t know how to let go! It wasn`t long until replacement paint of a superior quality was delivered to the house for free!

Baling hay was also on my summer work load Great food and the pay was ok.

1959, AUGUST

A gravel pit company started up along highway 67 just about half a mile northeast of us and it would have an impact on a project of ours. Years ago Dad and I started hand digging a pond in the middle of the back field, by the Cow Barn. Over the years, as we kept enlarging the pond little by little, it was becoming quite the rest spot with its weeping willow trees and fish in the crystal clear pond.

Then this fall, we noticed a continuing drop in the water level and clarity. Mother called some neighbors, who were all on well water, and confirmed that we were all experiencing less water pressure. Here was another “bulldog” crusade for Mother to get her teeth into!

The gravel company tried to assure Mother that this was just a temporary problem and that they were only digging gravel for the construction of the new interstate 69 highway project. Not a good answer and a few days later a work crew with a backhoe and truck from the gravel pit showed up.

After we netted the fish to safety, the workers began the project to expand and deepen the pond. They worked around the existing willow trees and followed Mother`s suggestions for the layout of the expanded pond.

Soon Dad was busy planning a bridge walkway across the pond and retainer beams for seating. Some of Grandpa`s fruit trees can be seen in the background.

A circulating pump was added to the pond and connected to a cement statue fountain of A Boy on a Dolphin.

Grandpa`s fruit trees began producing this year which meant more freezing and canning for this fall. Grandpa and Grandma enjoyed their first peach harvest.

This Junior year of high school was certainly full of exciting experiences and new accomplishments, but this Senior year, which was about to begin, would be filled with more whirlwind experiences than I could have imagined! Let`s follow the musings of the character building activities of my final high school year. It may be revealing!

1957-58 SOPHOMORE YEAR, PENDLETON HIGH SCHOOL

WILL I EVER GET TO DRIVE ?

March 4, 2016 Alpha

1957, SEPTEMBER

I am now in the rabbit fur business! One Sunday, during a family dinner, I lamented the fact that I would like to find a way to make my own money. Oh, I got an allowance for doing chores around the house, but I wanted my own hard earned money.

Grandpa Barrett told the story of when he was a youngster in the Indian Territories, he and his Dad would trap for fur pelts. The popular furs then were mink, fox and muskrat. Nowadays, he said, the most used and in demand fur was rabbit. It is used in a variety of clothing including most all outer ware. Even Sears and Roebuck were buying rabbit furs now! Sounded like a good idea to me and to make the most profit, I would do my own butchering and hide tanning.

Grandpa helped me build several rabbit hutches, (that is I helped him), and he found a place to buy my starter rabbits. I bought the rabbit feed, bowls and straw with my allowance money. Now I just had to wait for nature to run its course!

While I was preoccupied with my new project, Mother had been writing and phoning Aunt Jin about a breed of dog Aunt Jin thought Mother might be interested in getting.

One weekend we drove up to visit Aunt Jin and we all went over to meet the breeder of these Great Pyrenees dogs. The Pyrenean Mountain Dog, known as the Great Pyrenees in North America, is a large breed of dog used as a livestock guardian dog. Males grow to 110–120 pounds and 27–32 inches, while females reach 85–100 pounds and 25–29 inches.

We all fell in love with the dogs and the puppies. Jin bought a female and we picked out a male. On the drive back home, the new puppy made himself right at home!

But, how would he be received by Tippy, the current alpha at home?

Mother checked out her French and came up with the American Kennel Club (AKC), registered name of King Beau Nevois De Wolff; which means, a kingly gentleman abounding in snow. We called him King Beau!

Nothing to worry about concerning Tippy`s dominance. They got along great and both knew who was the Alpha… for now anyway.

A big step up to the sophomore year at Pendleton High School! Carole was again a member of the Sunshine Society and was selected to be on the Varsity Cheerleading Squad.

I joined the Hi-Y Club which was the male counterpart to the Sunshine Society. The two groups put on a joint semi formal dance each year. But of course, that is not why I joined!

Somehow I was elected to serve as the Sophomore Class Secretary. This process began with an assembly of the class in the high school auditorium and the class sponsor conducted the meeting. Nominations were taken from the floor for the offices to be filled and these were posted on the bulletin boards located in the hallways.

There was no campaigning, but the classmates did discuss their options for a week and then we had another assembly. Ballots were distributed and the vote taken. The class sponsor collected and tallied the votes and then posted the results on the bulletin boards.

Carole Laws is in the third row from the bottom, second from the right.

The first order of business was selecting a class sweater design and color. We were the first class to shy away from the traditional color wheel selection options. We chose grey with white numbers outlined in red!

My class councilor helped me select a college prep course plan which included a study hall period. I opted for a shop class instead and for one of my electives I added a business math course.

With school all set and underway, I was anxious to sign up for my beginner`s driving permit. Studied the manual, filled out the paperwork and Mother signed me up. Boy was I a nuisance, wanting to drive everywhere!

1957, OCTOBER

Grandma Barrett still picking strawberries from their garden on October 9th that year!

Living out in the outskirts of town, Halloween trick-or-treating was not an evening that took a lot of time. With only five or six houses to visit, it didn`t take long. I never had a store bought costume, instead, Mother would create a clown, hobo, girl or other character with wardrobe and makeup! We also had to go inside the house and let the people guess who we were.

Now that I was older, Mother or Dad would drive me to Pendleton where I would meet my school friends downtown. We usually met at Tanke`s Drug Store. They had a lunch counter and soda fountain area where we congregated. Carole Laws had started working there and that was another good reason to go there!

Last year we learned about a high school Halloween tradition and this year we were going to participate! It seemed that just about nightfall, objects began showing up on the high school front lawn. You could see park benches, canoes, lawn chairs, farm wagons, outhouses, swing sets, trailers, dog houses, chicken coops, hay bales, wheelbarrows, farm implements, statues and even a goat tied out on the grass.

The town marshal would patrol the area and shine his car`s spotlight around and everyone would scatter. He would slowly head back to town and the items would keep multiplying!

At school, the following Monday, the farmers and townspeople would show up to claim their items and haul them back home. The school custodians, students from the various club activities and student volunteers would get everything back to normal. No harm, no foul!

1957, NOVEMBER

Thanksgiving rolled around and Grandma Wolff, with some of the Barrett clan, joined us for Thanksgiving dinner.

Using the need for a picture for my “darkroom project”, I talked Grandma Wolff into sitting still in a rare photo! I was so anxious to capture the moment before she decided to move, that I Jerked the camera and didn`t get a sharp photo. Rats, she still won!

1957, DECEMBER

Another family dinner at the Wolff`s Den with all the fixin`s!

Dad continued his love of and fascination with audio electronics when he got his Hi-Fi amplifier and audio selector for Christmas!

We also found an upgrade model Kodak 8mm movie camera with a turret, three lens selection mount under the tree. This model also had a slow motion mode which moved the film much faster through the camera resulting in much less viewing time per roll of film.

1958, JANUARY

Mother was still working at Trop-Arctic, which developed and produced environmental testing and control instruments. One of their clients was the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency. Early in January, a group from the agency came for a follow-up meeting with the Trop-Arctic engineers and staff to thank them for their contributions to the Explorer 1 project and Wernher von Braun was with them! No photographs were allowed, but Mother did get to meet and talk with him.

1954 WALT DISNEY & DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN

Walt Disney and von Braun, seen in 1954 holding a model of his passenger ship, collaborated on a series of three educational films.

As director of the Development Operations Division of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, Wernher von Braun, with his team, developed the Jupiter-C, a modified Redstone rocket. The Jupiter-C successfully launched the West’s first satellite, Explorer 1, on January 31, 1958. This event signaled the birth of America’s space program.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (March 23, 1912 – June 16, 1977) was a German, later an American, aerospace engineer and space architect credited with inventing the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany and the Saturn V for the United States. He was one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany, where he was a member of the Nazi Party and the SS. Following World War II, he was moved to the United States, along with about 1,500 other scientists, technicians, and engineers, as part of Operation Paperclip, where he developed the rockets that launched United States first space satellite and first series of moon missions.

1958, MARCH

Hoosier Hysteria began with the sectional tournament which was always held at the Anderson Wigwam. Back then there was not a class basketball system. When it came to the IHSAA Tournament, the pairings were strictly by random drawing. Remember the big excitement about tiny Milan winning it all?

This year we drew the Anderson Indians and all of Pendleton were trying to get tickets. We had a good team that had their first winning season in a decade and everyone was optimistic!

The original Anderson High School gymnasium was built in 1925 and burned to the ground later this year. At its peak, the Wigwam attracted 5,000 season-ticket holders to Anderson High School boys’ basketball games. The teams and the crowds measured up to the gym’s 8,996-seat capacity. That made the Wigwam the second-biggest high school gym in America, but Anderson athletic directors still found themselves testifying in divorce hearings over the custody of season tickets.

During sectional competition, the Irish lost a heartbreaking 58-57 game to Anderson`s Indians and tallied a spectacular 62% shooting mark from the field. By combining a semi-stall, a few fast breaks and their fighting spirit, the Irish had the Indians quite confused during most of the game. That was what Hoosier Hysteria was all about.

My school elective, Business Arithmetic, that I took this year proved to be a good choice. The teacher was the high school varsity basketball coach. At mid-term he congratulated me on receiving a perfect score on all of my quizzes and tests. Then he asked if I would be interested in being the team`s statistition and assistant student manager next year. I said I would do my best!

1958, APRIL

Dad`s mid-life-clock must have gone off this spring, because getting a new car was nothing unusual, but getting a flashy white with red interior convertible was! The new 1958, Chevrolet Impala convertible with the 348 cubic inch engine and 4 barrel carburetor and the new posi-traction rear differential was built for speed! Way to go Dad!

Dad moved the backup lights to below the trunk and made the taillights six red ones. Fender skirts were added along with dual glass-packed mufflers.

I began harvesting my rabbit pelts this spring. Grandpa taught me how to dress the meat and tan the hide mounted on a stretcher. Most of the meat was cooked and added to supplement the dog food. They really enjoyed that. After the hides cured they were shipped to Sears and Roebuck who would grade and price the pelts and mail me a check! That part I liked!

1958, MAY

Some of the high school fads from this year!

Several of us guys signed up for dance lessons that were going to be taught in town by an instructor from Anderson. We finished our class just in time for the annual Sunshine Society and Hi-Y joint charity dance. It turned out that we all went stag, but still had a good time.

1958, JUNE

Mother and Dad ever improving and adding to The Wolff`s Den, built an arbor at the end of the walk and on the other side of the drive. They planted two of Mother`s favorite fragrant plants…honeysuckle vines on either side.

Mother and Dad always had a pot of coffee at the ready and Mother enjoyed setting on the front porch and relaxing with a cup.

I almost forgot about Cookie, the toy terrier. She got along with both dogs fine and they seemed to appreciate her size and were very careful with her.

Mother enjoyed wearing Indian moccasins whenever she could.

School was winding down and one of the school classes sponsored a sock hop that was held in the school gym. The popular disc jockey from the Indianapolis radio station WIBC spun the platters.

1958, JULY

Dad drove me to town to take my driving and written tests for my permanent driver`s license. One of the biggest days in my life and I passed the requirements!

A few days later I was totally blown away

when Dad brought home a 1951, Chevy Fleetwood sedan and said it was mine. Happy birthday !!

I had just turned 16 and this was Dad`s 15th car! Most of my classmates already had their driver`s licenses, so I had to drive to Pendleton that evening and hang out with the guys at the local gas station hangout or Jimmie`s Dairy Bar. It was like a new episode of “HAPPY DAYS”!

Grandpa and Grandma Barrett were enjoying their garden produce and their many flower beds!

Mother and Grandma would devour the early nursery catalogues and plan their orders for the new varieties or colors to add to their painting pallet. Grandma loved her hybrid roses!

The garden kept them both busy and Grandpa was selling produce at his roadside stand as fast as he could harvest it. He wished he had a bigger garden!

Many of the strawberries, blackberries and raspberries were frozen and kept for winter desserts. We loved the family dinners!

1958 GRANDPA`S HAEVEST — 1958 GRANDPA`S HARVEST

Sweet onions, white onions, potatoes and tomatoes were best when eaten right out of the garden!

1958, AUGUST

Mother enrolled King Beau in the puppy obedience class in Pendleton and of course he was the biggest puppy there!

I had taken Tippy to a couple of dog shows in the area and he seemed to enjoy the outing, but I still had to deal with his obsession with wanting to be in control of his environment. He would really rather be home surveying his domain.

Note the tall TV antenna mast at the end of the carport. Indianapolis now had several TV stations broadcasting from various locations around town and a new independent station broadcasting from Bloomington. If we wanted a sharper picture when we changed channels, someone would have to go outside and turn the TV mast until the signal lined up. Guess who got that job?!

Shortly before school was about to begin, a big Barrett family reunion was held and I photographed it for posterity!

Left to right: Marvin & Gerrie Wolff, Jim & Jin Prevo, Jay & Dot Barrett, Fred Scarcelli & Grandma, Marg & Walt Schemmer, Grandpa & May Scarcelli.

Really excited about finally getting to drive to school and not at all going to miss the hour long bus ride! Yahoo for a driver`s license!

1956-57 FRESHMAN YEAR, PENDLETON HIGH SCHOOL

A LOWLY ROOKIE AGAIN

February 22, 2016 Alpha

1956, SEPTEMBER

I looked forward to starting high school with its` new routine and opportunities even though I would be a lowly freshman. The kids were the same ones I had come to know over the last 4 years and that was unique, given my past grammar school roaming.

That cute girl, Carole Laws, was elected Freshman Class treasurer and selected as a junior varsity basketball cheer leader!

She also joined the Sunshine Society which helped support the Riley Hospital patients program.

I joined the camera club and a dog obedience class that was taught by the camera club sponsor. The class was on the weekends behind the school, weather permitting, or in the old gym. Tippy and I never missed.

With school started, Rusty gone and our daily lives settling into our regular routines, Dad continued his habit of tweaking and upgrading the Barn House and landscaping.

It`s interesting how looking back at these old photos brings so many stories to mind. This one reminds me of at least three stories.

The foreground and dominant theme is of Dad and his constantly finding aesthetic improvements that were really not necessities, but they always added to the uniqueness and beauty of the Wolff`s Den! This one was a fence around the carport`s flat roof.

The second story, in the mid-field range, shows Grandpa`s 1949 Nash that he kept for a second car. He let me drive it around the circle drive, up and down the hill. That was how I learned to drive a straight shift, three speed on the column automobile! I would intentionally stop on the hill in front of the old Quonset, and on the gravel drive, try to start up the hill without rolling backward or spinning gravel under the tires. Foot off the brake, foot on the gas, let out the clutch…crap! Start over again.

The third story, and the furthest from view, centered around our neighborhood baseball games and the new neighbor from hell. Soon after he moved in, we hit a baseball that just rolled through the front fence and into his yard. As we had many times before, when Leona lived there, one of us went to retrieve the ball. But, this time, the new neighbor comes running out his back door and scoops up the ball and refuses to give it back. After repeated requests to return the ball, he tells us we just need to quit playing ball by his yard!

Now I know we are getting older and stronger, but try as we might, none of us can hit the ball more than a couple feet past the fence, even on a good day. The gauntlet was dropped and stubbornness prevailed! We didn`t go running to our parents. No, we would handle this ourselves.

We pooled our resources and bought extra baseballs. We didn`t need many because seldom could we get one into his yard and he usually wasn`t home. But, when he was, he would run out, get the ball and mark where it landed with a stake or rock. We later found out that this was his”proof” for his lawyer as to how dangerous these baseballs were.

The irony of the dangerous baseballs was, that when he would mow his yard, he would hit the “forgotten” baseball markers and send them flying! Fun and games. We had fun with his house when Halloween came next month!

1956, OCTOBER

The Quonset was once again clean and reverted back to a workshop. Dad had bought his first power tool and it was a dandy; a Shopsmith wood working station! Dad purchased the optional jig saw attachment which he used to cut out the Wolff`s Den signs. One of them is visible in the background.

The Shopsmith Mark V (Model 500); Magna America put this American classic 5-in-1 tool into production in 1953.

Shopsmith tools were made in San Francisco by Magna Engineering Corp. from 1947 to the late 1950s. Yuba Power Products, Inc. of Cleveland bought Magna Engineering, but soon sold the Shopsmith line to some employees, who used the name Magna American Corp. They also eventually failed to make a go of it, and the Shopsmith manufacture ceased in 1966.

Shopsmith, Inc., was formed in 1972 to resume manufacturing using all the original equipment. This new company began operations in Troy, but moved to Dayton in the late 1970s.

The Shopsmith was a versatile woodworking machine with a variable speed motor which turned an arbor on one end and on the other a power take off for running the jig saw and other optional tools. The arbor could accommodate a drill chuck, 12 inch saw blade, 12inch sanding disc, drum sander and a faceplate for driving the wood lathe. The rails with the motor could be raised vertically and locked in place to accommodate vertical drilling or drum sanding with the saw table rotated 90 degrees.I was hooked and started my wood working hobby with this machine.

Mother had been thinking about going back to work and was checking out various secretarial openings in the area. Dad was looking at the new cars that just came out this fall. He decided on a new 1957, Nash Rambler station wagon, since Mother liked the used one she had. Bright red this time with artificial wood trim!

1956, NOVEMBER

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, the baking and dinner preparations began. Note our “new” phone and the wraped lower sections of the support posts are finished.

Mother had soooo much free time during the winter, she decided to try her hand at water color painting. Of course we don`t start small and she selected a scene of the fields out back for her first endeavor.

The painting may have to wait for awhile, Mother took an office manager job in Muncie with an environmental testing equipment company, Trop-Arctic.

1957, SPRING

Spring sprang early this year and Tippy was feeling his oats as the weather began to warm up. Tippy loved to run and his herding and territorial instincts rapidly developed over the winter.

As part of his obedience training, I would walk him, with his leash and choke chain collar, around the five acre boundaries. He was to “heel”, that is to walk at my heel and not try to lead, as we made our rounds. He was the smartest dog I had ever had or been around.

Sadly this spring, my dog obedience teacher from school passed away. She was so active with everything she was involved with and her passing was a total surprise.

In the short time we had together, she taught me the importance of discipline and patience, not only when working with dog obedience, but also in photography.

1957, SUMMER

Continuing our training, Tippy quickly learned not to go through a gate unless called or invited. I could walk all the way to the back field and he would still be laying by the gate waiting for the “come” command. With that one word, he would be sitting by my side within seconds.

By the middle of summer, we were finishing up hand signals for heel, stay, come, stop, sit and lay down.

I had a growth spurt over the winter and as I turned 15 this July, I was 6 feet tall.

Mother`s flower beds kept her busy and at times Dad had to call her to come in at dark! She loved the dirt and growing new species. She and Grandma Barrett joined the Pendleton Flower Club and would take turns hosting the meetings.

Grandma kept busy in her flower beds when not in the vegetable garden helping Grandpa. She continued to do this with high blood pressure and diagnosed congestive heart problems!

Grandpa loved gardening and once said, if he had a good mule and 10 acres he could feed the whole town! He was at it from dawn to dusk, enjoying every minute.

The harvest was great! September was approaching and the sophomore year was awaiting, but some cousins came down to visit Grandpa and Grandma before school started.

Barbara and I made early Christmas cookies for the family dinner. We had a small early family Christmas for some members who were going to be away for the holidays.

Always something unusual going on at The Wolff`s Den!

Musings from the Den

Category Archives: PENDLETON HIGH SCHOOL

THE FINAL HIGH SCHOOL CHAPTER

Bumper Tag & the Neighbor From Hell

WILL I EVER GET TO DRIVE ?

A LOWLY ROOKIE AGAIN

As Alpha Sees It