Hello Patrick,
My it is a small world, isn't it? I'm a 40-something year old
computer geek that immediately recognized the big town of
Independence. My parents grew up between Neosha and Chanute. I'll
call my mom after bit and call the rest of the family down in Chanute.
I live south of Tampa, Florida now. I was last through your little
town last summer with my mom to return home to see family and attend a
cousin's wedding.
Thank you for sharing your exiting weekend with us in the telecom
group and letting those of us who still remember the joys that small
Kanasas towns have to offer.
David
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You are quite welcome; I guess Independence
is the 'big town' compared to the other places you named, which are
smaller and more rural. I know on Friday and Saturday night, a lot of
rural people come through town to the Independence Cinema and also to
see the high school basketball/football games, etc. Do you remember
about one year ago when the New York Times ran the full page story
about Independence, calling us the 'magical town in southeast Kansas'?
It seems a lady and her husband were traveling from the west coast
back to New York, and on much of the trip came through Kansas on
Highway 169. She said they decided to stop overnight here, staying at
a motel (I think it was the Appletree Inn downtown). She was rather
amazed at how little their room cost, and instead of hitting the road
early the next morning, decided to look all over town, and was 'just
delighted' at things like our real-genuine drug store downtown with an
actual soda fountain/lunch counter; all the stores downtown lined up
one after another on Penn Street, etc, all very 1930 to 50-ish; our
radio station, our daily newspaper, etc and perhaps some will be
impresed, our _very tiny_ by comparison (perhaps fifty page) telephone
directory from Southwestern Bell.
My nephew Justin went back to Orlando just several days ago, and I
recall him one day asking me, "Can I look something up in the phone
book?" I handed him the directory, which resembles an early issue of
_Readers Digest_ (that size and shape, about fifty pages with a staple
in the side binder.) Poor Justin, his eyes bulged out of his head as
he said, "Is that the WHOLE phone book?" He saw SBC's name and logo
on the front cover, along with admonitions to use 911 in emergency and
he marveled saying "our phone book in Orlando is much larger." I told
him so is the phone book for Manhattan or Chicago. I told him not only
is it Independence listings, but all the listings for the six southern-
most counties in Kansas. PAT]
David LaRue (Huey.DLL@GTE.Net)