The Ride from Marquette

When I was quite young, say five years old it would've been 1950. I was born in December, 1944 so I had almost a full year to wait until the subtraction of age from year became accurate.

My Uncle Earl and Aunt Becky (Rebbecca) lived in Marquette, MI where he was a pharmacist at Pendle's Drug Store. Earl was my father's brother. Several time a year my Mother, Father and I drove to Marquette to have dinner with Earl, Becky and their sons John and Pete. It was a good outing for me. I was quite young and my cousin Jon was some eight years my senior and Pete was five or six years older than I so I wasn't good playing material. However, they did try to include me in things their play, but I'm sure I was an anchor.

Aunt Becky always set a formal table. There was a dining room in the small two story home, and it featured a real solid wood Dining Room set with a Hutch and Buffet. Usually dinner was a nice beef roast or some traditional Sunday fare. Aunt Becky was English, so we had things that I am sure were traditional for that ethnic background. One of the things Aunt Becky made was to most delicious coffee I've ever tasted. I did not drink coffee when I was five, but in later years when my wife and I visited she would serve lunch and after the meal coffee. Beck always asked how many cups of coffee you would drink after lunch, and always just made enough. Somehow she mixed an egg in with the ground, and I believe she boiled the coffee. I've tried it and ended up with coffee grounds lumped by the egg and a very weak imitation of the drink. So, her recipe died with her.

Back to my story. We usually left to return to Munising, some 50 miles East, about 6 or 7 PM. It was about a hour home and we would be home in time for bed and Monday morning. It was the trip home that sticks in my memory. Marquette had one of the only radio stations in the Upper Peninsula. I'm sure Escanaba had radio and perhaps Sault Ste. Marie, but we got Marquette loud and clear. Sunday evenings radio broadcast the various radio dramas. The Green Hornet, The Shadow, Amos & Andy, The Great Gildersleeve, etc. My dad would tune in Marquette on the way home and I was treated to all my favorite radio stories.

Many of our trips were in cold or cool weather, it is that climate that tends to dominate the U.P. So I would be in the back seat by myself while Mom and Dad sat in the front. Heat from the car heater would blow under the front seat and warm my area nicely. Many times I would lay down on the back seat and listen to the radio shows. This my friends was security at its highest. Warm heat, The Shadow knowing "what evil lurks in the hearts and minds of men." I usually did not sleep, I just laid there and listened. I was safe, secure, and was going home where a warm bed and peaceful sleep waited for me. It is my belief that at no other time do we know such safe security as when we are little children being cared for by Mom and Dad.

There are children who missed that period, and miss it today. I find myself, at times walking in the quiet woods of our home wishing for that sense of security and safety again because now I have the responsibility. When a wise man said we may never return home, I know in my heart what that means. I accept it, but it doesn't mean I don't long for that feeling form time to time.