| Like Dorothy, growing up in Kansas in the 1930s and 1940s provided many dream-like and dangerous qualities. The small towns, the great people, and the four seasons were everything any kid could want. The following stories are one kid's recollections of growing up during the Great Depression and WWII. Stories about other kids are linked at the bottom of the page. |
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Competing with his older sister, little Bobby is an accident in progress, yet he survives all mishaps until one fateful day. |
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Older cousin, Robert, puts a whole new meaning on what it means to hang out at the ice cream store on a hot day. |
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Little Bobby worries about his older cousin leading him astray on a midnight escapade, but then cousin Robert has always been a little bit crooked. |
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In the second grade, Bobby learns first hand about meat eaters and other creatures, seen and unseen, while skinny dipping. This is his first intimate contact with cows. |
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This high-risk story details the inevitable childhood experiments with physics and flatulence while the parents are away. |
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In preparation for a costume party, the lady in black prepares for many responses as a cross-dresser in a small town culture. A girl friend blows the whistle on the charade. |
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Acquiring a gender identity before television is an uphill battle. The girlie show at the county fair is no exception, a complete bummer. |
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While racing Whizzer bicycles, every trick at winning fails except on one very tricky stretch of road out of town. |
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On returning from an out-of-town football game, Wakefield's old three-story schoolhouse is ablaze. What had been a sorry schoolhouse produces a magnificent bonfire. |
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After relocating school in ten different temporary sites, lightening strikes a second time exactly where the band played |
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Skipping class one beautiful spring day, and driving a Model-T with one pedal too many produces some startling downsides. Two fourteen year olds learn a lesson. |
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The Keener brothers, with contrasting styles known throughout school, entertain their classmates through John's novel way to enter shop class late. Even John could not have planned this entrance, with its high degree of difficulty. |
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Learning to drive on country roads produces wisdom in the face of all distractions, except for one, the perfect distraction. |
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Wakefield's Board of Education plans the perfect inducement to attract a top-notch coach to our fair little city when bribing Blackie. |
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Football games in Longford in 1948 provide an exhilarating experience for all in attendance. The necessity of a level playing field in Longford was a foreign concept, and is greatly exaggerated in importance. |
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"Blackie", our football coach, plans and executes perfect revenge on a team of skunks, who refuse to follow the rules of combat in sports. |
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Blackie's Brainstorm works magic on the football field until one day a fatal flaw is discovered. |
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According to selected girlfriends, some very special services turn little Milford, Kansas into a secret retreat for the rich, the famous, and others in need of a somewhat personal recharge. |
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So many homegrown goblins, so little time on the night the spooks arrive in Wakefield. |
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Going for a spin in a Funk on Sunday morning brushes with disaster, and reveals a few of the talents of Wylie Walno, Wonder Pilot. |
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High school boys conduct a behavioral experiment on the town drunk, and are out-foxed when they discover the town's third watering hole. |
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Wakefield's notorious basketball court gives rise to both the three-point and four-point field goals, and are told you can't do that. |
Swing through the
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