Close your eyes and think back to the ’50s and ’60s

I love it when others share their memories. So please take a walk through Carterville and Webb City with Cindy Furry Mayes Sloniker. This memory was shared years ago, but a good memory is worth repeating!

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rowing up in Carterville and Webb City in the ’50s and ’60s was a very memorable experience. I only wish our children and grandchildren could experience the safe and secure environment that we had.

Let me start my walk in Carterville in the mid ’50s, since I was born in 1951, my recollections would begin around 1956. So everyone sit back, close your eyes and let me take you for a walk.

We lived in Carterville on Wilson Street. One block from the school, half a block from my Grandma Furry, and about three or four blocks from my Great Grandma Caughenbaugh, Aunt Martha and Uncle Walt.

I remember playing in the school yard in the summer and climbing up the old fire escape and playing under the weeping willow at Rev. Eugene Farmer’s house. My brother George and I would go riding our bikes all over Carterville and play in the chats. I would play with my friend, Susan Madden, at her Grandma Pinkard’s house or we would go out to the Pinkard Farm. I would get to stay all night with her and play in her parents’ store, Karl’s Market. We would go to Ms. Pearson’s Dry Goods and on to the Carterville Drug Store and have a Coke or go down to my cousin Goldie’s when she had the Dairy Creme. We would walk to our Brownie Class at Bessie Halteman’s house. We would walk to church at the Methodist Church. Milo Friend’s Grocery store was a great place to walk to, and Mesplay’s Market had great pimento cheese. I had Grandma as my fifth grade teacher and my cousin Goldie Pittman as my second grade teacher. Remember Mr. Jones, the music teacher who stood on his head. One of my worst memories is when they lined us all up for shots at school! Yuck!

I remember the great meatloaf and mashed potatoes with brown gravy at the Shamrock Cafe. Remember getting candy at Floyd Hammer’s store. My Uncle Sug was the bus driver between Carterville and Webb City, and I loved riding the bus. When I was in the sixth grade, we moved to Webb City. I was in Ms. Burton’s class, where I met new friends, and we all remained friends through school… Nancy Stines, Mary Siegfried, Nancee Waggoner, Rebecca Perry, Steve Lightle, Don Collins, Johnny Spencer and so many more wonderful friends. We lived on Broadway between Pennsylvania and Ball streets. We loved to stop at Patrick’s Grocery Store on the way home from school. Lanny Lea’s Dance Studio was across the street from our house and my sister and I took dance lessons there.

Then we hit junior high where we met many more new friends that we would remain close to throughout school and we had so many wonderful memories. My friend Vicki Groff’s mom, Squab, and Helen Mahurin would take us to Montie’s for a cherry Coke and then we would go “bushwhacking” on Karbe Hill. We had wonderful school memories like: school dances, basketball games, football games, and our great pep club. We enjoyed walking to the West End Drug Store for lunch. We loved the tuna salad sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, hamburgers and Pepsi. We would go to Bradbury Bishop Drug store for malts, phosphates and sandwiches. Some of our other favorite places to visit included: The Webb City Cafe, The Kress Dime Store, Wheeler’s Shoe store, Shapiro’s Shoe store, The Hub and Harry Raymond Ball’s Store. Remember Ms. Corley’s Dress Shop and the Royal Furniture Co?

During my teen years, I worked at Bruner Drug store and Harry Easley’s Investment Company/Home Land and Loan Co. Our mother, Margie Poole Mayes, worked at the old telephone company, where the police department is located.

I remember what fun we had playing ball on the empty lot by the Methodist Church with my brother George Mayes and his friends. I won’t ever forget my sister, Celia Mayes, and my first party when we lived on Broadway. All of our friends came: Gale Mahurin, Bobbie Whitelock, Vicki Groff, Paula Smith, Pat Eggleston, Charlie Walker, Kathy Mahurin, Lynn Swoveland, and so, so many more I can’t even think of all of them. It was so much fun. Lots of great people.

Then we moved to out to College Street, where we spent our summers at the pool and tennis courts. In the summer, the grounds at Hatten Park would be filled with beach towels and girls and boys running around in their bathing suits; staying from the time it opened until it closed. My brother, sister and I would have lots of parties in the summer on our deck. There would be kids everywhere. What fun we had at our slumber parties, walking to Hatten Park in our PJs after the parents went to bed! I loved spending the night with Kathy Mahurin or Bobbie Whitelock and everyone going over to Tommy Laster’s and jumping on his trampoline in the middle of the night.

Do you remember the Webb City Dairy Queen’s hamburgers and hot dogs and, of course, Montie’s Dairy Creme (a.k.a. Bill’s Drive-in)? Let’s not forget Dog’n Suds.

These are all great memories to share, but of course, there are some that we will keep to ourselves, hidden in our hearts, forever. The most precious are those memories of the good-hearted people of that era who made us, as we were growing up, feel safe and secure and worthwhile by watching out for us and listening to us even if they didn’t know us on a personal basis. But we were one of them… citizens of Carterville and Webb City. Thank you for the memories, Cindy Furry Mayes Sloniker.

Cindy has passed away since sharing these memories and how great it is to have these memories in her own words to look back on and smile. Thank you Cindy for the memories!