I attended "St. Mary's" in kindergarton, then
on to "All Saints Elementary" I was fortunate enough to have a Brownie Leader
by the name of continued.............
{This story will be continued
every month or so....there's just too much to 
This is a link to the first Chapter of my Story.
through 8th grade. We all walked to school no matter what the weather.
Sometimes we learned more from our journey to school than we did in the
classroom. I remember we had to go thru a very heavily
wooded area on the way and
imaginations would run wild at times. I thought once I saw a peacock..his
tail
dragging behind him....and of course there were the rustles of bears, and
cougers
<none heard of in Kansas that I know of>. I guess the
artist in me was born
during those days because I not only had a lot of imagination but saw so
much
beauty all around me. The nuns once had me draw a poster with
angels, and
on it was the saying, "Keep God's Kitchen Clean". You
might have guessed
by now that I attended Catholic schools. I sang in
the Scola Maria all thru grade
school. We sang the Mass in Latin, not really sure at all what
we were singing, but
sounding like God's angels until I would get the hiccups...and we
would all start
giggling....or someone would intentionally yawn..and make me start yawning
too.
Dolly Bellinghausen She had an only daughter named Marilyn,
and I feel
this was Dolly's way of supplying Marilyn with sisters. We
really "lived"
at Dolly's house. I remember the Father's Night Box Supper's
when we
decorated shoe boxes with crepe paper and anything else our imagination
could
come up with, filling the box with fried chicken and a desertThen you would
share
these with your Dad. I would always share someone's father so
he would end up
eating from two boxes.
We went to the "Little House" located in the park here, and spent
the night
and weekend many times. There was the witches house (I'm still
not quite
sure what it is...but I think it must be some kind of well house),
a rock bridge
that went over a gully with no water, then there was a beautiful little
lake
with a rock edging. We trapsed thru those woods many times
collecting leaves,
using a compass, making trails, and spotting birds, all to add to our many
badges
on our sash.
Last of all when we got back to the "Little House" we
would cook our dinner
over tin coffee cans. I really don't remember what we
put in them to make them
burn, but I do remember how wonderful even the simplist things tasted.
And I'll
bet there's not one person who's ever been a Brownie, Girl Scout, Cub Scout
or
Boy Scout who wouldn't know what smore's are!!!!!
Dolly kept Troup 158 together from 3rd grade thru 8th, helping us receive
the
highest honor given in Girl Scouts. In looking back in my book
I kept, and at
the badge sash I worked so hard to fill I know that Dolly had to be
a Saint made in
heaven to give so much of her time and dedication to all these little girls.
Every girl
should have a "Dolly" to inspire her.
In the photo on the left I'm in the back row 3rd from the left. This was
our
"Doll" day I always got stuck in the back row or behind
something because
I never had my uniform on.
In the photo on the right I did better this time. At least
I had my Brownie
Hat on. I'm the one right between the two nuns. The
nun on the left is
Sister Tarcisia who is now Head of Kansas Neuman here in Wichita.
tell at one time...so I hope you'll come back.
If
you can catch her you can return to my Home Page