I Can Breath in a Small Town

     I have lived all over the state of Illinois.  I have spent my whole life in Illinois.  Illinois to most outsiders is Chicago.  There is more to Illinois than Chicago. 

     I was raised on a farm just outside of one of Illinois' smallest communities, San Jose.  The town is now mostly known because of it's facebook page of  "I know how to pronounce San Jose".  Because nowadays, there really is not  much left to the town except of course for the one thing that is now mandated in order for a town to exist,  and that's a Casey's.

     I've seen it all in a small town.  Had myself a ball in a small town.  Taught to fear Jesus in a small town.  Had myself  a ball in a small town where there's little opportunity.  My parents lived in that same small town.  I used to day dream in a small town.  That's probably where they'll bury me.

     John Cougar Melancamp wrote that song about his childhood small town of Bloomington, IN.  But that small town has nothing on the small town I grew up in.  His small town was probably 30,000 people.  My small town was lucky to be 600 people.  I could walk up and down the hall ways of my high school and name all 115  people who occupied that entire high school.  Heck there probably was a time when I could walk up and down most every street in town and name the people who lived in most every house.

     There really wasn't a whole lot of anything in this small town at the time that I grew up there.  There were 2 gas stations.  And I mean gas stations not today's convenience stores.  This is where Lloyd or John, depending on which station you went to (one across from the other on the only highway going through town U.S. Rte 136) would come out and greet you by name and ask how much gas you wanted them to put into your tank for you, as they popped the hood to check your oil.  The driver and Loyd or John would get each other caught up on the latest bit of gossip in town and you would be on your way.

     There was also one little cafe in town that probably served the best pizza burger that I've had even to this day.  Another place to go to hear the latest gossip and to watch the famers nurse a cup or 5 cups of coffee as they solved the world's problems.  They could slide down to the cafe while their grain truck was being unloaded of its corn by Keith at the grain elevator at the top of the hill.  The Mrs. might take a huge gamble and call the cafe using the 4 digit phone number that was assigned to it to see if John Smith (really his name) could walk over to the only grocery store in town so he could get a carton of milk and a loaf of bread from Claude.  Graham's store was good with the charge accounts because he knew his loyal customers were good for it.  Almost forgot, I still remember our phone number was 3606 and could be reached by any one from Delavan to Mason City.  Then if you went down that street slightly you could stop into the post office to see if you knew any one there.  Of course you did.  Then if you needed a little lumber, Bill always was ready to load you up at the next business along the busiest street in town (next to 136).

     For the people who still had livestock they could go clear over to the east side of town, about 6 blocks away and see either Bill or Dick for their feed needs at the feed store.  That would be another place to get the latest gossip as well.  I used to love listening to Dick and my dad tell stories to each other and lies about each other and then laugh their stupid heads off while they were doing it.  If you haven't caught on by now,  this small town was pretty much a farming community.  So like any other small farm town you also had to have an tractor dealer and repair shop.  So when the combine or tractor broke down you would have to make a trip over to Woll's tractor shop.  Ya know it never really dawned on me then but now I think back at it and remeber most of the tractors around the area were John Deere.  Woll's shop was suppose to be a White dealership.  It's no wonder they went out of business.

     Speaking of Woll's,  they used to keep that town a buzzing with dress shops, stores etc.  Along with W. G. Kelley, they owned most of the rest of the town.  Good people and good shrood business people.  Nuf said.  They also had an interest, a strong interest in the Tri-County state Bank.  Again the only bank in town as well.  It was called Tri-County because our fair town had the distinction of bordering 3 counties.  That's pretty weird seeing how small the town really was.

     Even though the town didn't really have a lot to offer in the way of commerce or enrtainment for that matter, there were many advantages to living in a small town.  A thought just occurred to me though.  For nothing really substantial going on in this town, there sure were a lot of places to gather to get caught up on the latest gossip.  I guess that was the entertainment.  Any way getting back to the advantages of a small town.  It was great knowing every one.  You could trust every one and didn't have to worry about being obducted or robbed.  Heck I bet to this day many of the doors go unlocked 90% of the time.  By knowing  every one, that meant you knew your teachers, too and they knew you.  They even knew your siblings and your cousins and could compare your good qualities and your not so good qualities to them.  But that also meant that you could get by with things sometimes too.  I don't know how many times I got out of class just to take care of important things like playing baseball or even car shopping with Miss Price.

     Because there weren't many kids to choose from you always made the sport's team without the worry of try outs.  Although I do remember the girls having to try out for the cheerleading squad.  But that was okay because we would have an assembly that got us out of class to vote on who we wanted to be the cheerleaders for that year for the one sport, basketball, that we had cheerleaders for.  Again, in a small school you don't have enough to field a football team.  Thankfully there were plenty of other extra-curricular activities.  You could be in Donnie-Bill's FFA.  Again, farming community so that was  a biggie.  There was also Mr. Schoeburn's plays.  Play practice consumed about 90% of the school year and about that many of the student body.  Then there was Zim's band and swing choir.  To be honest I feel we always had the very best band around and we can all thank Zim for that one.  And there was my favorite, baseball.  That was coached by either Donnie-Bill (that's sir to you), Coach Coriell, or Turtle Johnson depending on which era you played in.  Another activity that was very popular were the school dances that were held in the high school gym.  Decorating for that was always a chore and a big secret because they didn't want the theme of the dance to be released along with the appearance of the decorations until the night of the dance.

     Now many years have gone by since I have even lived in that small town.  The only reason I have left to go back there any more is to see my mom who still lives on that same farm that I grew up on.  Well that and every 5 years I do go back to the all school alumni banquet.  How many towns can brag about that one now.  The Alumni Committe plans a big suare every year to honor grads from SJHS every 5 yrs.  This major event is held in my old Methodist church where I spent many a Wednesday nights practicing for choir and many Sunday nights joining with friends for MYF.  I loved and still love the events in that old church. Actually, thinking back, there were a lot of things I loved about that little town.  At the time I really couldn't wait to get out of there.  A great philosopher once said "Everybody knows this is nowhere."  It may be.  It may only be a wide spot in the road.  Every one of those businesses that I mentioned may be gone now, but damn it, that's still my home town.  No one can take that away from me.