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Reminiscence of a Small-Town Life
I was born in 1934 and grew up in the town of Odem, pop.1,200. Our house
was right on Highway 77. On our left lived my grandmother, uncle, aunt,
and cousin. On our right another uncle, aunt, and two cousins lived.
Three uncles and an aunt lived on farms out from town.
My daddy owned a big red-brick general store in the block next to our
house. One side was dry goods and the other side groceries, where lots
of my cousins worked at different times. On the side of the "Big Store"
was a sign that said "Everything for the Entire Family." Across the
street he put in a drugstore that an uncle and aunt ran and later
bought. Lots of cousins worked there too.
I believe I knew everyone in town and where they lived. The store's
phone number was 9 and the drugstore's phone number was 34. A friend
lived in the country and her number was 904F2 and it was a party line.
Another friend's mother ran the telephone office and I loved to go down
there and answer calls.
We had to have ration stamps for many things. I would help at the store
by sticking stamps in the big book the grocers had to have. Once my
shoes were worn out and my aunt had an extra stamp for me to get shoes.
Another time my mother had to go to Sinton to get an extra stamp from
the rationing board to buy my shoes.
One time there was a big scrap drive and we all went out hunting for
scrap metal. I took my red wagon to school to help carry it in.
In
the war my daddy had to go to San Antonio to buy goods because the
salesmen would hardly come any more. My mother told me about this
wonderful machine they had at the Majestic Theater where you put a
nickel in and a cup came down and filled with ice and then Coke. I could
hardly wait to get to San Antonio to see it. When I did I thought it was
magnificent.
At that time there were no cotton-picking machines. When the cotton
pickers came to town the farmers would call my daddy, even on Sunday or
at night, and he would go down to the store to open up for them.
There were very few paved streets. I can remember going with the boys at
the store to deliver groceries and sliding all over the place.
During the war my daddy was an air raid warden. There was a practice air
raid and we went with my daddy to a farm road where he was supposed to
stop all cars. It was so disappointing that not a single car came along.
I never wanted to live anywhere else. I thought my entire life would be
spent in that wonderful place. Of course I went to college, married,
raised my children, and never got to live in Odem again. It was a
wonderful time, a wonderful place, but of course there have been other
wonderful times and places. The people have been what made them so great.
Barbara Glenn Scull Turcotte
San Antonio, Texas
Published:
November 14,
2005
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