(Top picture - David and Dan at the NMSU campus; bottom - Dan and David in front of boyhood home on Reymond Street.)Dan’s brother, David, arrived for a visit on Friday. He loves to travel by train so he had left his home in Mishawaka, Indiana on Wednesday and arrived in Albuquerque Thursday afternoon. He drove to Las Cruces on Friday morning, arriving in time to eat a bowl of soup with us.
During the three days that David was here I accompanied the two brothers in a walk down memory lane. This was the first time they had both been in Las Cruces at the same time in nearly fifty years, so it was a special time. It was interesting for me to see how their collective memories recalled so much more than either of them could have alone. Of course, occasionally they did not recall things in exactly the same way! We drove to their old neighborhood, found those school buildings that were still standing, and went past friends’ former houses. I could not help but think how different it is to have lived in one place for a long time as they did. (20 years or so) When I return to any of the five places I lived before going away to school I certainly cannot recall nearly so much.
Naturally we took pictures in front of all of these “historic” buildings, including the one where they had each had piano recitals and a several buildings at the university where one or the other had classes. Since they were both SAEs we, of course, had to drive by the old fraternity house, now converted into apartments. I wondered if the people who live there have any idea about the shenanigans that used to occur there!
David related one interesting story that I had never heard before. As he stood on a corner near their first home (no longer standing) in Las Cruces he pointed in the direction of one of the main thoroughfares. He recalls seeing trucks going by with German prisoners of war in them. He said that some of the Germans expressed great interest in the very blond, curly-haired toodler,“Danny”, whom they thought looked like a German child!
Having lived in Las Cruces myself the first year of our marriage, there were a number of places of interest to me as well. We went to the small apartment, attached to a carport of a big house (I think it had been the servant’s quarters at some point!) that was out first home. The young woman who was living there now was outside, so Dan went over to talk with her and she invited us to come inside. That was a very strange experience since there had been some major changes since we had lived there --- a wall knocked out and a door or two moved. Nevertheless it certainly brought back a lot of memories. I thought it was appropriate that the current resident had a cat since we had one when we lived there, too.
On Sunday we went to the University United Methodist Church because we knew that some of the people in David’s high school class were members there. Sure enough, we saw two or three couples from his class as well as one from Dan’s high school class. In addition there was another couple who had been members of St. Paul’s UMC (Dan’s home church) when I worked there as the Education Director. We hung around after church for a half hour or longer visiting with these old friends and then headed out for brunch at our “usual” Sunday restaurant. I think Tony, the waiter, already knows that I’m going to order huevos rancheros with red and green sauce. At the restaurant David ran into another former classmate that Dan also knew. I had known his father because he was a church leader during the time I lived here.
David left this afternoon but Dan and I have now added these memories to our 2009 New Mexico venture --- walking down memory lane with David, eating lots of Mexican food together while rating the chile sauce, and having some quality time to talk and share with one another. The only thing missing was Marietta, David’s wife, who died in May of 2007. However, there were times when I felt her presence with us and knew that she, Mother Ivey, and Aunt Ruth must be smiling down on us and being so delighted that we were having this time together in a place they all loved so muc
During the three days that David was here I accompanied the two brothers in a walk down memory lane. This was the first time they had both been in Las Cruces at the same time in nearly fifty years, so it was a special time. It was interesting for me to see how their collective memories recalled so much more than either of them could have alone. Of course, occasionally they did not recall things in exactly the same way! We drove to their old neighborhood, found those school buildings that were still standing, and went past friends’ former houses. I could not help but think how different it is to have lived in one place for a long time as they did. (20 years or so) When I return to any of the five places I lived before going away to school I certainly cannot recall nearly so much.
Naturally we took pictures in front of all of these “historic” buildings, including the one where they had each had piano recitals and a several buildings at the university where one or the other had classes. Since they were both SAEs we, of course, had to drive by the old fraternity house, now converted into apartments. I wondered if the people who live there have any idea about the shenanigans that used to occur there!
David related one interesting story that I had never heard before. As he stood on a corner near their first home (no longer standing) in Las Cruces he pointed in the direction of one of the main thoroughfares. He recalls seeing trucks going by with German prisoners of war in them. He said that some of the Germans expressed great interest in the very blond, curly-haired toodler,“Danny”, whom they thought looked like a German child!
Having lived in Las Cruces myself the first year of our marriage, there were a number of places of interest to me as well. We went to the small apartment, attached to a carport of a big house (I think it had been the servant’s quarters at some point!) that was out first home. The young woman who was living there now was outside, so Dan went over to talk with her and she invited us to come inside. That was a very strange experience since there had been some major changes since we had lived there --- a wall knocked out and a door or two moved. Nevertheless it certainly brought back a lot of memories. I thought it was appropriate that the current resident had a cat since we had one when we lived there, too.
On Sunday we went to the University United Methodist Church because we knew that some of the people in David’s high school class were members there. Sure enough, we saw two or three couples from his class as well as one from Dan’s high school class. In addition there was another couple who had been members of St. Paul’s UMC (Dan’s home church) when I worked there as the Education Director. We hung around after church for a half hour or longer visiting with these old friends and then headed out for brunch at our “usual” Sunday restaurant. I think Tony, the waiter, already knows that I’m going to order huevos rancheros with red and green sauce. At the restaurant David ran into another former classmate that Dan also knew. I had known his father because he was a church leader during the time I lived here.
David left this afternoon but Dan and I have now added these memories to our 2009 New Mexico venture --- walking down memory lane with David, eating lots of Mexican food together while rating the chile sauce, and having some quality time to talk and share with one another. The only thing missing was Marietta, David’s wife, who died in May of 2007. However, there were times when I felt her presence with us and knew that she, Mother Ivey, and Aunt Ruth must be smiling down on us and being so delighted that we were having this time together in a place they all loved so muc
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