Ross,+Jim+Interview

I wasn’t, a, you know I worked in Highschool quite a bit, ah, had to go to work right away, so right after school and in the backyard of west was a service station and that where I went as soon as, so I didn’t get any money. I tried out for sports but then the job took over, and I had to, and being small I never went our for football or nothing like that but It worked out nice having the job there right away through all the- through school I bet Yah I know that’s a problem for a lot of kids these days Oh yeah finding a place to get a job Yeah, so what year did you graduate from west 1956 Ok Yah That’s- um and were you invokved in any activities at west? Uhh I belonged to some clubs, you know, theres a hiking club and automechanics and I uh, that’s where I got introduced to cars and once I did that then I found an interest there I really had an in there because my dad knew the gentleman that ran the service station behind the highschool and so I worked there for five years And you have your own business now, don’t you? Yah- run my own business. Im retired now. My son took it over, so that’s how it all got started- basically uh- doin- workin for different people and getting the experience and some schooling and then I opened my own business That’s really cool So it worked out fine, yah And then hiking club- did you guys go out and hike? Yah- they a really took a these long hikes I don’t know if they recorded how long wed go- there was no contest of anykind it was just a club- theres a lot of other things, they had movie clubs- my god they had all kinds of clubs, but for whatever reason I liked the outdoors and (yah) it got you out of school and everything- taking hikes So you skipped school days? Uh- It was part of the school day Nice To go somewhere, yah I don’t know if they do that now or not, but that was a neat deal Where did you guys hike, like was there any place around here? Well I mean it was just from the highschool- we could go either way from there- up to the square and (ok) I don’t think we even went out into the country too much- it was mostly in the city. Just hiked around I guess maybe pointing out points of interest and stuff like that- that’s all I can remember That’s cool yah have you kept and interest in wests happenings over the years? We have class reunions and it’s a small group that gets together –we get together once a year and then on the big numbers like the fiftieth or something like that then a large amount of people get together for a reunion, and its good to see some of your classmates from you know, when you graduated and theres a lot of them that have passed away since then but um yah its really nice to get together with those and talk over things that happened while you were in school, so how good the basketball and football teams were- things like that And then, um, is mrs. Hawthorne your daughter?- is that how youre related to allie? Aliie is my- Joni hawthorne, allies mother, is my daughter, yah- youngest daughter And so- and she went to west too I think so, yah, in fact all the kids did. I had four of them and the two boys and the two girls all went to west That’s really cool Mmhmm ya I don’t know what year they really closed, but it was a short time after- and it was handy for us because we lived here and highschool’s less than a mile away Yah I mean they walked to school- they walked to st. mary’s- they went to st. amry’s grade school, walked to highschool, I walked to work and it all- it all revolves around here- that’s why we stayed here I gues- its- everythings handy, youknow, were centrally located I should say That is realy cool Yah Um do you remember any major events that occurered outside of school during your years at west? Outside of school? Uh yah there was a major flood in Belleville- that was 57 or 58 I believe- the year after I graduated so it- it was big it took out** creek and it got- I worked at the Chevrolet plant- Chevrolet dealership called mckinley Chevrolet and I worked there 18 years and I think I was hired right after that flood went through there so I started there in about 60 or 61 So a few years after the flood, but that water went way up the hill towards the Chevrolet dealership and got part of itand It came all the way up to- almost nine street in Belleville- from the creek all the way up to nine street- so it was bad- it got- there was an ice plant down there that got- where everybody kept their food- it was a freezing place where you could keep storage and it ruined everything in there- got the service station down there- it was quite a big deal- put a lot of people out of work for a while, you couldn’t go across town unless you went by boat Was there any work done to get rid of it? Was there anything you could do? Well after it went through then they found out that they better take care of the creek and clean it out cuz that’s what caused the water to jam up- but I think it would have happened either way because we had- it was something like ten inches of water in just a really short time Yah And believe me- anything. I mean lakes busted their dams and everything, so it was pretty serious, and it ruined- well in my line of work it ruined a lot of cars to where you had to take the engines and stuff apart or whatever because of the water conditions- get in there and get them back in shape again Wow Soit involved a lot of- it ruined a lot of things furniture places were- there was a big furniture storedown there across the moto on sixth street- the flood went right through it- in the front and out the back- and took everything Oh my gosh It ruined everything, yah,so Im sure it cost a lot of money, in a roundabout way with all the damage it did Wow Mmhmm That’s intense That’s one of the biggest things I can remember. There was another thing that was pretty serious- uh I cant remember the boy’s name, and I think it was right before- right before graduation. 161 was brand new and they didn’t have the bridges built yet-m in other words the highways were built and you had the big gap and then they were building the bridges. Well this young man for whatever reason, and I don’t think he committed suicide, he actually thought he could do it- he tried to jump it with his car. And he was by himself- he did nt take anyone else with him. But he went out there- and he told somebody else he was going to do it but nobody believed him and he went out there and didn’t make it- it was a big mess- you know he landed in the side of the hill instead of.. you know I guess maybeyou’ve seen this in the movies or I don’t know whatever- but he tried to jump it and it was pretty bad. And he had close friends that hated to lose him, but he had an idea that he could do it, I guess and gave it a try. So there was people that did things like that, either got killed in automobile accidents and stuff like that so, you know you kind of remember those things (yah) same age as you are, you know Whats your favorite memory of west? Oh I don’t know I guess the friends that you make, and then like I said I had it nice there because of theconnection with my job, right there that I went to work and it was nice for me- here I am getting taught some of the stuff in school and I could put it to work right away where as some kids get all the schooling they get and everything, they had to wait till they graduated to even find a job and put their knowledge to work and I was able to, you know, do it right away. and I got married while I was there you know I was- I got married when I was 18 I think, or nineteen. So and then got married while I was there nand then moved on to another job with more experience. That was the best thing I could remember about it- and the friends that yo made over the years, being at school So 19- were yo out of high school when you got married? Oh yeah I had graduated- 19 is right after, you graduated at 18 im pretty sure Yah Yah I got married right away- patty was 18 so we were young and then right after that we took a big jump and a year or so after we got married- a year and a half or so- I don’t know how we did it but we had this house built- and with no help from our parents or nothing we just (oh my gosh) I just worked night and day you know, to help pay for it, so patty was working a short time before we got married but after that I worked on cars in the evenings and during the day to make a go of it That’s incredible Yah, we like it here Huge accomplishment Yah, I think so Did you attend west fo all four years of highschool? Yes, I went to jr high and in grade school I went to humblt school, which they made a rental r.property out of it- they condemned it as a school and fixed it up and it’s a home for, I don’t think its elderly people, its just apartments for… I mean that was close too, I walked to it What was the most popular sport or activity while you were at west?- or both, either one They were noted for their basketball and football- we used to be quite a lot of contention between east saint Louis and Belleville- I think there was a bell involved. And when we used to, if youd win you would get the bell for the year, and if they won they got the bell for the year (cool) so it was kind of neat- and that was a big deal- Friday nights at the football- and they’ve still got the stadium behind there. Lindenwoods got it. But that was a big deal- almost everybody went to it on Friday nights- whether you were- whether you either played it or attended- you know, that where everybody went, and it was kind of neat Do you keep, well do you keep in contact with people from west, you said you guys get together each year? Yah Like you said you guys get together each year And theres- I belong to the YMCA, Patty and I both joined it after I retired. We got there almost every day and its pretty odd I stumbled into a cuple of guys that I graduated with ans I didn’t even know them Yah People change, you know, over the years and I got to talking. I think I might know you well we got to talking we har graduates together now we weren’t close in school cuz classes were kind of big, but Yah I think two or three hundred. And then one guys was into music well then I wasn’t into music so different fields there but now we got to know each other and we even go out with each other and our wives and everything like that so its fun to get together with them its kind of neat That’s cool after all these years Exactly. Yah you think gosh we didn’t know wach other that well and now we got a lot in common- weve graduated together and now were both at the Y thyin to stay young That’s cool Yah What was your favorite class to take? Oh boy I guess mechanical drawing cuz im into artwork now as a hobby. I draw. I painted pictures and stuff likie that so I got into it. The only regret I have is tha I didn’t take art in highschool. I guess I didn’t get persuaded to take it and I had a bad experience in junior high with an art teacher in there and I didn’t get much encouragement from her- I could always draw but the art classes we took in junior high wanted you to nake things up and use your imagination which is good but at that time I didn’t have that. I could draw- you could show me anything in a book and I could draw it and I could put it into a scene and stuff like that- that’s what I do now I also joined_ I belong to the wood carvers and I carved wood and that too so and its just a hobby with me you know I sell sone stuff every once in a while but its no big deal_ I didn’t want to be professional at itits just a hobby. But that’s the only regret ive got- that I didn’t take art in high school cuz I think it would have helped me, you know I would have gotten furher you know I waited til I got married and the kids had gone so I started that later And you did all these? Yah Ive got pictures. My kids all- allies got some hanging up in her house- all my kids have got them. And then like I said ive had art shows where ive sold some of them Those are really cool Yah water colors is what I do Oh my gosh Yeah… woodcarving is just more of a I got some of those I’d have to show you later but uh, its more of a challenge than, than water colors because you take a hunk of wood and you know you try and see something in it or, or look through a book and say oh boy I think I can do that out of wood and you get a knife and then some tools and you try to simulate what you see. And if you can draw, it helps to if you want to be a carver because youre you’ve got a sense of size and all and everything. It works, it helps to draw (laughs) if you want to carve That’s really cool Yea. It’s a neat hobby. What was your favorite teacher? did you have a specific one? Oh, boy, yeah. I don’t, I don’t think so. Umm, the mechanic teacher I had was not, he wasn’t a very personable guy, a lot of people didn’t even like him because he was really strict and, and everything like that but he got uh, he got the point across what he was teaching and he did fine, but as far as personable guy he was not (laughs) he was pretty, pretty strict and rough, you know. And anybody got along he had a temper (laughs). And in school, see when I went to school, if kids got out of line, you were allowed to strike the child. Yea. Yea So if, and it wasn’t bad, it didn’t, but they’d be in jail now probably (both laugh) But uh, they were able to, they had to use a ruler on you or whatever if you got out of, got out of line. So it kept everybody on the up and up you know if you did something wrong. I never got any of that. I never did get into much trouble and so… no I cant think of any um, there was a coach Freeark {check spelling} that I remember who was a good teacher. Not really, you know I really, if I had to do it over again, I think id do, um, would take high school more serious. You know it was a thing where you, not a fun time but I mean I really should have knuckled down I could’ve got better grades and everything else. And uh, you cant go back now and uh. Yea So. How many school dances were there? Um, you know what they had uh, they a real big one that was our, our prom, uh they had a big name band Stan Kettin {check spelling} he was a, he was, he was national he was really big and they had him at that, at our prom. And so I mean everybody you know dressed up that was a that was a big, a big thing. But uh, we used to go to teen town, they had a teen town in Belleville, it was where the old, the old YMCA is at. And it was in the back of that. It was called Turner Hall. And it was a place to get together and then they7 played, it was like a soda, what do you call it, a counter where you could get a, you know sodas and ice creams I guess across it and then they played music and you would dance, and I liked to dance and I you know, that’s where you could meet girls, and stuff like that so it was kind of nice. That’s nice. Yep. So what was the typical dress when you went out to dance and stuff? Oh… you know, with the teen town, that was just le, that was just levis, but it was all uh, it was pegged pants at that time. Everything was tight like so, had zippers, zippers on em. I had a pair of blue sued shoes, which is what elvis used to sing about. And it was, they had zippers on them, but it was pegged pants at that time. And then eventually later on it went with what, bellbottoms, and I think that was I think that came later. Yeah it was pegged pants and it was tight, you know? (laughs) but um, we never, we never wore em low like they do now, nowadays, it was all. I don’t remember a lot of white t-shirts and everything, and a lot of kids um, smoked I guess, cause it was a big thing, I never touched a cigarette but uh never any reason to but a lot of kids did, and uh, they, the going thing was to put the cigarette pack on your, on your t-shirt folded up under and to carry it there. It just was a status thing I think. Kids used to do even if they didn’t smoke they used to put a pack of one up there (both laugh) They wanted to act like they, you know, yup, I don’t know why, they, all my friends smoked, I never took it up. I hated it. I tried one one time, coughed (raspberry). I bet It pays off now I should say. It, yeah, a lot of them got, Patty’s brothers got emphysema, and, and it damages your lungs, you know, all them years. They didn’t know it was bad, though, at that time. My god, you look on TV, you, they, they handed them out in the service when you were in the army, you know, which I wasn’t in but I mean they, they made it part of the, part of the deal, so they didn’t know. Now they do though. What was it decorated like? do you have any special, I know cause like 70’s was disco ball or whatever, or did you have anything that really stood out? Hmm. Not really, uh, it was like a, like Steak ‘n Shake I mean there were a lot of places had the checkered floors, stuff like that. I don’t remember too much about the teen town. You know leather, they had a lot of booths. Cause that was big, and they had most of the restaurants around always had a record, they had a little uh, almost like a miniature uh… Jukebox? Jukebox yeah. They had them on the tables and you could pick out the song, at the table, an, and uh, punch it in and play it. So that was, and it had a list of all of the songs. I don’t remember if you had to get up and, I think you could play it from there. I don’t know, I don’t remember the, how they did the money deal. Maybe, it was, it was probably free. Nice But um, it was a big place, it was a get together uh, it was on Main Street where um, the video place is on the 17th on the the corner. Family Home Video? Home video yeah. Called it Obins {check Spelling} it was a hangout place where cars could drive up. I don’t know whether they had car hops there or not, but that’s where we uh, they say that’s where the Wimpy {check spelling} the hamburger started. At that place. A guy had ground up hamburgers, and it really, really went over big, and it was cheap, too, you know, so it was, but it was sort of a, sort of a place where you could go to get a hamburger and soda, and hang out and, cars. A lot of hotrod cars at that time, they had, they had the car clubs in Belleville, its, and they’re still goin, and some of the guys that I went to school with belonged to this club its called gear jammers. Its, its pretty big in Belleville. And some of those guys have the same car that they had when they were kids. They kept them. Or they bought another car just like it and, and then they fixed it up so they could so like the memories of them about you know, ridin around those old kind of cars. They used to chop them down, make them real low, hotrod engines in them, loud exhaust. And then they had this little plaque hanging back and it almost dragged on the street, just a little bit above it. But it had the title of the club like gear jammers, or piston pushers, or whatever it was, it was kind of a status thing. If you were able to ride around with those guys, you were, everybody looked, sort of looked up to you. That made you cool? Yeah, that was cool. And then they’d have a, they’d have get togethers for those, they’d have what they call a, runs, I guess they’d call em or uh, competitions. You’d get into it, and it wasn’t a race at all, they, they abide by the rules, but they’d give you a map and you had to uh, figure it all out. And then they had a place where you would meet after you were done, and after then like a picnic or something. So it was, kind of neat you, if you rode along with them guys in them cars everybody looked at you you know, when you had em. It was kind of neat. Was there any type of dress code while you were at west? Umm… well, other than the uh, I don’t think they, they didn’t get onto us about the tight, the tight jeans and stuff. I think the girls in that they uh, you know they, short shorts were in, and they didn’t want that worn in school, a lot of guy tried to uh, cut their hair like Mohawks, and stuff, and well then you got suspended Ooh… Yeah it was… I think, I think they frowned on that. But bury haircuts were, yeah, it was flat tops, most of that. But they hated to see you, uh, you know, there wasn’t too many gangs at that time so, but I think its one of those things that really were, other than that, I know t-shirts, and levis you know was it. They just make sure that you were uh, you know, dressed like that, I think that was about all they could an wanted to keep you straight. What were P.E. classes like for you? Umm… pretty intense, they made sure that everybody, you had to run that trak out there, whether or not you were a track runner or not, you, ther was no way to go around it, and to run all the way, and make sure your, stamina, and then they played everybody had to play uh, basketball and stuff in the gyms when it was bad weather out there, so we all did that. Uhm, I went out for baseball, like I said, my job took over so I didnt go into that at all. Um, yeah, gym, yeah was like I said pretty intense. But like I said the kids were physically I think they did more, it seemed like it, than they do now, from what I hear. I mean sure, they’ve got football you can go out for and all that stuff but there are some kids in that who just don’t like sports, and they want almost everybody to do it. You know you had to uh, see how you’re fit. The one boy, uh, we lost another one like that, I don’t know what year he was in, but he had a heart attack, you know, so I mean, you just didn’t know, we didn’t go through any big physicals at that time and, he wasn’t a chubby or heavier set kid, and he died, you know, goin from school, I think, goin home or whatever. So this is kinda the things that happened. How did you like the school’s lunches? Or did you bring? Um… you know, I did both, and I liked school lunches, yeah they were they were pretty decent, uh, they had stuff that they probably wouldn’t be selling now, like more of a fast food type thing. A lot of hamburgers and soups and stuff like that. Yeah but I did, I did take some stuff, I think most, I think most people, you felt conscious about, about bringing it in a bag though and eating it. I don’t know how it is now, but its they, they thought you should be able to buy, to buy there. Was there one that was the most popular? Food? Yeah. Hmm… (laughs) i remember the chilies and that and tht, that what they used to do with the chilies and that, a couple times that somebody would have to get up and go get something and a guy would take a pepper shaker and loosen it up an then they would dump it into the guy’s chili (both laugh) well then stir it up and watch what happens to it when he comes back. That used to be kind of a mess (both laugh). I bet Yeah he just spit it out it, and then that, and so he’d be in trouble, and it wasn’t his fault, but uh, he was the one that caused it, so he would have to stay after and clean it up, but I don’t think they threw up, but I don’t think that they could stand it in their mouth, and then would drink a lot of water (both laugh) yeah that was a, that was about all I could remember about lunches. Well at least for me. What time did school start in the morning? Uh, I think that it was, uh, I guess it was 8? 7:30 or 8. im pretty sure it wasn’t any earlier than that, but you’d get there earlier and if you wanted to do any studies or that type, you could go to the study hall and stop by. But uh, it was nice I, I lived by a kid, I was raised on 10th and Main, I walked from 10th to the high school here, which is, that’s only like a mile or something. And at that time alleys went all of the way through, and you didn’t have to walk around main streets, you could walk the alleys. That was kinda neat. Would you have preferred the current 8:30 start? Oh I don’t think it would have mattered, I mean we put our, we go off at 3 something just like you do now, or I think some of them do. I don’t the school was big enough. They didn’t have any split times, they, everybody went to start at the same time and everybody got off at the same time. so um, when I got off like I didn’t even go home, I just went right over to work and worked until 6 and then, and then went home from there. And then I worked on weekends, or Saturdays walked back to the service station. I didn’t get a car until after I graduated. A lot of kids get cars nowadays goin through school, but, I didn’t need one. You know, I walked everywhere. So you walked to school eacyh morning? Oh yeah, everyday. Did you like walking to school? Oh yeah, I did a lot of walking. you’ll see me do a lot of walking now even. You know, up to the Y, and on the treadmill and everything like that, sop we got some bycicles, and we camp and we try to keep active so. You know walkiin is good for you. Did you participate in Donkey basketball? Yes, yeah. Yeah I did that, I know it was, they had everything is trained, I think, to knock you off (laughs) I don’t remember too much about scoring or anything, I just know to not fall, an that would be bad, cause they didn’t put any type of special equipment on or anything, to ride em, like helmets and that cause you could fall the wrong way and break something. I don’t think it happened too often, but I wonder if it did, but that was fun. Where was your graduation? Um, right out there at the football stadium, right by the football stadiuim ddoors. They lucked out a lot of times. I don’t know, if it got bad weather, I guess they would have gone inside, some of them, im sure, had to, but ours was outside. Yeah its um and you had plenty of seating for whoever wanted to come there and they had a good sound system. Yeah I remember that. I don’t remember um, goin anywhere after that, uh, we went over to St. Louis to a restaurant afterwards, with a date, you know you go out after you, after you graduated. But that’s about all I can remember about that. Was graduation a big thing, still? Yeah, oh yeah, it was a, we didn’t actually have a lot of kids that went further than you did, get much better grades, and top of the class, and I guess everybody kinda looked up to those kind of people. Especially those who took up music, and stuff like that and you weren’t into that kind of stuff. Its uh, that was a big deal, getting that because a lot of kids quit school and uh, even joined the service. There wasn’t really any war going on at the time, but there was a draft, and if you weren’t married, and if you didn’t get married right after you got out of high school, you had to go to the service. So I was lucky to, I got married and a year later we had a boy, you know, so it kept you out of the service. Not that I did want to get out of it, but I think a lot of guys made better people out of them by getting in the service. Straightened em out, you know? Learned to take orders. What makes you most proud to be a Belleville West Alumni? I don’t know, it was, it was a good group of kids, that came out of there. I think a lot of them really made other things out of themselves. Theres a lot of well known people in Belleville that um, like this gentleman I was telling you that I met that was in the music well he was their band conductor up there and he, mr. Slayseengher {check spelling} was his name, and he, he was big, I mean he had the, what do you call it, the black knights? They had a band in there, they got in all the parades, they got a lot of awards, he got a masters degree in uh, he went to Indiana state college and stuff like that so guys like that really went pretty far with it, you know. Na dhten end up being a teacher. After that, there are some kids int there that I thought wasn’t very good students, and they ended up being teachers, which is good, but blows my mind. They straightened out after they, after they got towards the end of high school, and get into college, and then they end up being teachers, but they really, I mean people change, and you’d think oh god they’d never be a teacher, but they ended up doin that so that’s kinda neat. And a lot of them ended up uh, ended up working at Boeing, and McDonald Douglass, and the aircraft over there, and that was, that was a big move too. You know, having a job like that, and some of them learned it, learned their craft by being in the service, the service taught em what they could do for a living, so, that’s pretty good. Jobs weren’t hard to get and I mean you could find things to do, uh, whether it be a service station, or, a foundary in Belleville had two big stove foundaries, Empire and I don’t know what the other one here is named, but its still goin today, and kids, kids worked there, and uh, worked there full time, and stayed there for quite a few years, and then found something a little bit better. So, so work was available. It was good. Thank you so much-