Let's Just Say I'd Do It All Again: Revisiting "Dates Daze", a Newspaper Column of the Trenton Sun, 1959-1962

By Helen Dates Jeude

The author’s columns of the antics of her four offspring in small-town middle-America were only the beginning. While teaching English and German for 18 years, she took students to Washington DC and the N.Y. World’s Fair as their sponsor, saw her children out the door while teaching at Batavia High School and West Aurora High School in the Chicago suburbs, and then completed a Masters of Theology from Bethany Theological Seminary.

From there she went to the University of Chicago Oriental Institute, focusing on Syro-Palestinian Archaeology, spending 10 summers in Israel and Jordan. It was at Chicago that she met her current husband, they now live in Trophy Club, TX. From then until her retirement in 2010, she was Sr. Technical Editor for the Flora of N. America project.

Now retired and in her 80’s, the author felt it was time to revisit these stories to relive these fun-filled years once again and make them available to her extended family, friends, and anyone that enjoys the daily humor of family life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Jun 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483451053

Book preview

Let's Just Say

I'd Do It All Again

Revisiting Dates Daze, a Newspaper Column of the Trenton Sun, 1959-1962

A compilation of the columns written by Helen Dates Jeude for The Trenton Sun from 1959 through 1962, telling the story of small-town life by a schoolteacher while raising her kids in a much simpler time

Helen Dates Jeude

Copyright © 2016 Helen Dates Jeude.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means---whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic---without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-5262-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-5105-3 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 05/16/2016

Contents

How This Came to Be

A Bit of Background...

The Library Corner Columns

The Library Whispers Columns

The Dates Daze Columns

Epilogue

Dedicated to the

Wesclin High School

Graduating Class of 1964

You chose me as your sponsor for your Wesclin years, and because of that...

We grew great together!

For your Senior Class trip we traveled both to Washington, DC and to the World's Fair in New York City in 1964 together!

And when you held your 25th Reunion in 1989, we renewed our friendship when we saw each other again as I had just returned to the area with my new husband. I still remember the looks on your faces when my husband and I drove up to the reunion, each on our own motorcycles. I would like to think you would have expected nothing less of me, but seeing all of you who were there reminded me again why I loved being your friend and mentor during those years.

THIS CLASS OF 1964 TRULY ROCKED!

AND NOW -- some 25 years later! -- I have the privilege of being with you to celebrate the 50 year Reunion of the terrific Class of 1964!

May each of you continue to be blessed and be a blessing to others around you.

How This Came to Be

This book is a compilation of original columns the author wrote weekly for The Trenton Sun from Thursday, June 11, 1959 through Thursday, December 20, 1962, along with some added stories from that period that came to mind as I worked on preparing this book.

The Trenton Sun office was -- and still is -- based in Trenton, Illinois. The late John Glanzner was the editor at the time, and Paul was the patient colleague who prepared the copy for each issue. They were a lot of fun to work with -- and incredibly patient about my dashing in at the last moment with my column! Appreciation is expressed here to Mike and Sybil Conley, current editors and owners of the renamed The Sun who graciously allowed me to copy all those original columns for this compilation.

Originally named Library Corner, it was intended to drum up support for a community library. The column changed to Library Whispers after the vote, Then, as I began to write more about the antics of the children than I did the library activities, the column was changed to Dates Daze, an appropriate title as I focused on accounts of humorous and/or outrageous behavior on the part of our four offspring to keep the readers laughing -- or horrified, possibly! -- at least, in many cases.

We loved Trenton and made many great friends while there. This compilation is made to celebrate those years and those friends -- knowing full well that time, as well as friends, pass; yet we are richer because of it all.

A Bit of Background...

After graduating from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana Campus, in June 1954, my husband Jim and I moved back to East St. Louis, where both sets of parents still lived. Jim had been in ROTC and he was called to active duty in the early Fall. I was pregnant with our first child and remained with the parents until he had his first PCS (Permanent Change of Station). Kathy (now called Kate by friends and colleagues) was due in mid-September. The due date came and passed -- for a long time. My parents were mildly concerned; Jim's were getting panicky; and I tried to reassure everyone that Dad was from Mississippi, Mom from Missouri; and I was the unexpected tag-along fourth kid nobody had expected. Of course, I did everything more slowly. Kathy finally arrived the day after Thanksgiving, setting a pattern of eleven-month pregnancies for her ensuing siblings.

Three years and another child later (Merid -- known now to friends as Doc -- had arrived in July 1956), Jim had completed his tour of duty, and we found ourselves headed back home on 1 November 1957. Again, we lived in Mom and Dad's house in East St. Louis. And I was pregnant yet again, of course. Elaine dutifully followed her sister and brother in taking her time, arriving in late February.

In the Spring, we began looking for a home to buy. After a fairly long search, we wandered into Trenton, Illinois, and fell in love with a beautiful old, historic, brick house on 20 acres in a square on the edge of town, in the northwest quadrant. We learned the bricks had been hand-made and kilned on that property. What an incredible house with space for a young couple with a growing family!

Although another family had been living there at the time, Mrs. Pletscher still owned the property. She was a beautiful and delightful lady with five grown and married daughters. Mr. Pletscher had been a terrific farmer, very interested in hybridization and cross-pollination. He had planted numerous grapevines, fruit trees, and, behind the house, a very rare cross he had made between a hickory tree and a pecan tree -- now a magnificent, beautiful, huge, old hickan. The shells of the nuts are thick and the nut meats themselves delicious. Since Jim's family had done truck-farming in Florida as he and his sister were growing up, Jim had always loved growing things and had majored in floriculture at the University of Illinois. He was equally excited about the plantings, trees, and layout of the acreage. And definitely as thrilled with the place as I was. We bought the house (with some loving help from family members) and were able to move in late spring, 1958.

I started writing the column Library Corner when we were working to get the libraries for Trenton, New Baden, Germantown, and Carlyle. Over the years it progressed to Library Whispers and eventually to Dates Daze. It's been a lot of fun!

In honor of and gratitude for my terrific children whose escapades provided the human interest factors and most of the humor for this volume.

Kathryn Elizabeth (Dates) Higgins

Merid Dewaine (Doc) Dates

Helen Elaine (Dates) Worrell

Krista Lynn (Dates) Bishop

And in loving memories of their late father. . .

Jimmy Dewaine Dates

And of their maternal grandparents. . .

Merid Rea and Naomi (Peters) Broome

And of their paternal grandparents. . .

Arthur Dewaine and Lillian (Wilson) Dates

And of course, the Great Danes, both named Pike!

The Library Corner Columns

Thursday, June 11, 1959

Since I have successfully badgered John into letting me write a column (I'm still not sure whether it was because he has a strong sense of civic duty or because he was very busy at the time and could most easily get me out of the way by agreeing; maybe it was a bit of both), but anyway, now it remains to be seen how many deadlines I can miss before he says, Go, and never darken my newspaper office again!

By now, of course, you all know about our new library. Certainly, it is obvious the younger generation has discovered it, as is testified by the steady stream of the small fry-to-teenagers group on any given library day. This group, at present, accounts for the largest number of cards, and by far, the biggest percentage of book-borrowing. It is highly commendable that these young people have taken such an interest, and we hope they continue to do so. It would be even more desirable, however, if the adults of the community were as active in their support of the library.

From time to time, we'll be telling you of specific books, projects, or services the library offers. Today's column deals only with generalities. At present, the library has only a portion of the volumes promised. More will be coming in constantly. The Juvenile and Youth Sections are outstanding. The Adult books have a fairly adequate selection in all the major fields of interest. The fiction, at this time, offers a field-day for any arm-chair sleuth. We hope the next shipment of books rounds it out a bit better. Detective enthusiast or not, though, you will find much to enjoy by browsing for yourself. Stop in soon and see. (You have to go downtown for your mail and groceries anyway.) I think you'll enjoy it.

And there's an added advantage, too ---- a built-in baby-sitter. Merely select appropriate books from the Juvenile Section, plop the wee ones at the provided table and chairs -- and you're free to look to your heart's content -- for at least the next four or five minutes!

Thursday, June 18, 1959

Hi! John, brave, dear soul that he is, hasn't swung the axe yet, so here I am with a descriptive sampling of some of the books discovered so far in my browsing.

If you have a passel of children and/or dearly love the little darlings or if you detest them, for that matter and wouldn't allow one on the place, you will probably enjoy Jean Kerr's best-seller, Please Don't Eat the Daisies. Jean has four boys, and life in her household gets almost as wild and woolly as life in another household with which I am intimately familiar -- mine. You will laugh at their antics, agree and sympathize with their parents, and like me, probably be able to add several explosive chapters of your own. And by the way, if your taste in children runs along the more, the merrier line, you will say, Hilarious! about a volume with the arresting title, Beware the Children!

This couple, happily blessed with several children of their own, increased the number to seventeen for a month's holiday. (Oh, my! I wonder what Joe Weisenfeld and Ben Schoene would do if I came shopping for groceries with seventeen, instead of three?)

If you are a do-it-yourself enthusiast, you will find several handy books to study. You'll even find one telling you How to Build Twenty Boats, by Area. Anyone interested?

For general and specific information on gardening, both flower and vegetable, be sure to come in and look over the available volumes. There are several books on each or both, and you might find a book on weed identification and control helpful.

Way down on a bottom shelf, next to the Manual for Chevrolets Owners, I found something called Porsche Guide, by Sloninger. Jimmy says it's a type of car, and I guess maybe he's right. Some of the pictures did look like cars. But I could have sworn it was a type of soup.

And speaking of soups, you gals with a venturesome spirit may enjoy some of the cookbooks for gourmet or foreign cookery, such as Maria Kozslik Donovan's Far Eastern Epicure. These cookbooks could conceivably serve a dual purpose. If the man of the house hates to go out to eat, why not borrow a book, Chinese Cookery for American Kitchens, and treat him to a new delight each night? I can almost promise that somewhere between the fifth and fourteenth day, according to the temperament under duress, he'll come into the kitchen and shout, Oh, good grief! (Censorship, you know.) Not again. Get the kids and your purse. We're going to Trenton House. At least, he probably will -- if he hasn't filed suit for divorce first.

Thursday, June 25, 1959

Hi. Have you been in the library yet this week? Aren't those labels distinguishing Science from History and so on the most? Ernie Brooks fixed those signs for us; and they should aid and guide the prospective readers, and eliminate some confusion. Thanks, Ernie, and a pat on the civic back -- or a civic pat on the back, or something.

I found some more books that you might enjoy. Skimming through Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs, by Francis X. Weiser, I found it appeared both interesting and enlightening. I made a mental note to take it out for further study. I will, too, if that mental note doesn't get hopelessly lost somewhere in the chaotic disorder of my mental file. Perhaps I had better study Rudolph Flesch's Art of Clear Thinking first.

If you like a warm personal touch to your reading matter, you will enjoy the autobiography of Jane Boyle Needham, Looking Up (as told to Rosemary Taylor. Remember her? She's the one who wrote Chicken Every Sunday some years back.) Jane is an iron-lung polio victim, but she doesn't depress you about it. As she tells her story, the reader feels she is talking with a very good friend -- the kind with a big smile and a lot of optimistic hope for the future.

If you have a yen for sciences, either Pure or Applied, you should enjoy thumbing through the books on those shelves. Most of them have recent publication dates, and they cover a wide range from atoms to popular mechanics. One Popular Mechanics publication is entitled Motorist's Fix-It Book. That intrigues me, and I'm all for taking it out immediately. Unfortunately Jimmy remembers all too well the vivid account circulated in the East St. Louis Sr. High School about eight or nine years ago. It was a grossly exaggerated tale of how a girl named Helen caused a certain Advanced Physics instructor to have heart failure by repairing a prize gas engine with a bobby pin, an emery board, and a wad of chewing gum. I repeat, it was grossly exaggerated. He did not have heart failure; he merely turned a rather peculiar shade of green. Anyway, on basis of this, and this only, mind you, Jim makes me renew my vow periodically that, in case of car trouble, I solemnly promise I shall not attempt to repair the trouble, but shall run to the nearest telephone, and call a mechanic immediately, so help me God!

By the way, I found a number of non-whodunit fiction. I haven't read them all yet, but they sound worthy of your browsing attention. Listing a few of them, we find: Nevil Shute, The Rainbow and the Rose; Daphne Barclay, Amedeo; Dan Cushman, Goodbye, Old Dry (described as a novel about a genial con man); and Robert Abraham, The Uncommon Soldier.

And speaking of fiction, or non-fiction for that matter, if any one has any extra books that he would like to loan or donate to the library, (s)he would certainly be most welcome to do so. The librarian, Rhonda Problys, will keep a list of all such books, and they will be circulated in the same manner as the other library books, but shall be retained in this library and not swapped with the other local branches. Any loans or donations will be greatly appreciated.

Thursday, July 2, 1959

Hi. Do you ever re-read things? I just spent a rib-tickling half hour re-reading all the cartoons in the Saturday Evening Post's Cartoons Festival, cartoons selected by Marione R. Nickles. Being a somewhat simple soul -- I did not say simple-minded, although that's a matter for speculation -- I am vastly amused by simple things. The cartoons were just as funny on the second and third readings as they were on the first. One of my favorites, probably because it is so close to home, shows an enormous Great Dane standing in the doorway and dangling a small boy by the seat of his pants. The caption: Can I keep him, Mom? -- He followed me home. When our Pike was a not-so-small Great Dane puppy, his favorite sleeping spot was beneath the baby's crib. Then he grew to the stage where he would come wandering out each morning with the crib on his back. True, the baby enjoyed the ride, but we had to discourage the practice. Pike had absolutely no regard or regrets about scratched paint or woodwork, and we spent a good portion of our time repairing damages.

Also this week, I read Small Boat Through Holland, by Roger Pilkington. Although this landlubber felt somewhat waterlogged, possibly by being washed overboard in the first chapter into a sea of nautical terms, she enjoyed the book. Dr. Pilkington has presented a neatly written adventure-travelogue, with a many-sided portrait of the Dutch people. Not an earth-shattering piece, nevertheless, it will be enjoyed by those of you who like accuracy of detail and incident, off-beat historical fragments, and quiet good humor.

I found a book that should have strong appeal for many people around here. America's Riding Horses, by Orcutt and Orcutt, depicts the favored mounts all the way from the Arabian pony to the Tennessee Walking Horse, and contains apt information on each.

If you like your fiction against an historical background of Biblical times, be sure to watch for Frank Slaughter's Thorn of Arimathea. There are one or two people on the waiting list, but those who have read it feel that it is well worth waiting for.

And incidentally, just to show that I'm not really unduly prejudiced, I read one of those whodunits last week. It was a terrifying little master-piece of murder, sex, and violence. I am purposely neglecting to mention the title or you would all rush out to read it, and the next time you see me, you would tell me you didn't think it was very terrifying or sexy, etc. Be that as it may, I happened to read it on one of those nights when Jim works swings, and arrives home about 1:30 A.M. I wasn't exactly unnerved, but it did seem wise to bring Pike in for the night. Jim didn't mind stumbling over two hundred pounds of dog at the bedroom door, but he completely refused to believe Pike wanted in because he was cold and lonely.

Trenton's Traditional 4th of July