And now for more memories of the Marietta we used to know … When a small boy would look out of the upstairs window of Waterman Street School and dream of seeing the wonderful house on Sugar Hill up close. When several mothers of young ladies would get together and sponsor a dance at the old Marietta Country Club. For some of the younger kids, this provided their first dating experiences. If you didn’t have a date, the sponsors would assign you one. When Marietta High athletes would work for the city recreation department in the summer and wet-nurse juvenile boys at day camps. Almost every kid in town learned how to weave a keychain out of plastic strips. When kids entertained themselves by playing Red Rover, kick the can, steal the bacon, hopscotch, blind man’s bluff, tag, and hide-and-go-seek. The older kids also played the fox and the hound and went on scavenger hunts. When all the school kids would draw names before Christmas and would spend days trying to find out who had drawn their name. When a class would get an extra school holiday if every class member brought in a “perfect teeth” certificate from their dentist. The last two or three would be hounded by everyone else until they brought theirs in. When the 10 cents stores on the Square, namely McClellan’s and Irvin’s (or was it Irving’s?), really had items for a dime or less. This was where we went for all our school supplies, before the days when drug stores sold everything under the sun. If you had a special need, you could go to Mr. Dempsey Medford’s Bookstore next door to McClellan’s.

Bill Kinney is associate editor of The Marietta Daily Journal.