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Come Reminisce With Me

by Dr. Emmett "Duke" Murray

234 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-1350; ISBN 1-4120-0981-2; US$21.50, C$26.00, EUR16.90, £12.50

In colorful tales of growing up in Lima, Ohio during the 1930s, Dr. Emmett Murray describes beloved neighbors, boyhood jobs, playground antics, swift discipline, and fun on his uncle's farm.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpts & Table of Contents      catalogue info

About the Book Growing up in Lima, Ohio during the Depression Era was a time of great adventures for Duke Murray. In these affectionate memoirs, Duke (aka. Dr. Emmett Murray, a retired family physician), tells 35 favorite stories from his boyhood years in the Midwest. After some early mishaps, Duke's entry into grade school opens new worlds of enjoyment. Horace Mann Elementary School and its vast playgrounds receive long and affectionate descriptions. Adventures on his own find Duke up at dawn to watch the Big Top circuses set up, hauling huge ice blocks while working at Lima Ice and Coal, training the family beagle to hunt and to win show prizes, and taking X-rays of steel castings at a tank plant. Duke helps an eccentric neighbor go after night crawlers, and he faces death and family alcoholism in a school friend's life. The book conveys the atmosphere of daily life in the 1930s, and Murray's contemporaries will find many a brand name and Age of Radio show to identify with. But Duke Murray goes beyond these to describe also the sounds, the tastes and the smells of the time. "Saturday night in Lima, 1930s Style" is a golden example of his talent for evoking atmosphere. Murray communicates a special fascination with life on the farm and with the industry and humor of farming people. He describes the big meals, the homemade ice cream and grapes from the arbor. But his fondest memories are of making hay, raising chickens, cattle and hogs, and watching his aunts put up canned food stores for company in the days before modern refrigeration. The book goes on to describe the dawning realization by America of the inevitability of World War II, and the rather frightening experiences of enlistment and service by all the three Murray sons in the U.S. Army. The book's chronology ends with Duke Murray in medical school, entertaining himself by winning a tall tale radio contest in Columbus, and singing in barbershop quartets with his dissecting partners over their cadaver. These tales will be especially enjoyed by fans of Lima and Allen County, who will respond with glee to references such as the Lima Rescue Mission and the Kewpee Hamburger Restaurant. However, the stories are more than local memoirs in that they evoke the 1930s overall, and depict the universal struggles of a young person learning to fill his shoes in America. The book includes a map of Duke's old neighborhood, his immediate family tree, an appreciation of his storytelling history, and contact information. Come Reminisce with Me sounds a note of optimism with its attitude that life presents experiences from which lessons may often be derived. Dr. Murray shows that happiness and laughter can happen anywhere, and that life may not be perfect, but that it still offers a lot to enjoy, appreciate and be grateful for at every turn. Companion site to Dr. Murray's memoirs:www.explain.com/newstories/

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About the Author Dr. Emmett Murray, known as Duke to friends and family, practiced family medicine in Lima, Ohio from 1953 till 1995, when he retired. He and his wife, Polly, then moved to Ft. Myers, Florida to the Woodlands, a residential area in the Shell Point Village retirement community. He was born at home on Hazel Avenue in Lima in 1925 to Faye and Emmett Murray, the youngest of four children. His father was a construction foreman and carpenter and his mother, a former candy-maker and an excellent cook, was full-time at home. Both had been raised on farms and enjoyed Duke's pursuit of adventure as he helped with chores on his aunt and uncle's farm. Duke Murray developed an interest in hunting and sporting dogs and found success in dog shows with his prize beagle, Ace. He worked at many jobs while growing up and thought he would continue working after high school. However his brother, Marvin, and his neighbor, Ruth Creviston, insisted that he attend college. Because of his experiences on the farm and with his dogs, he decided to become a veterinarian. This plan was disrupted when, after less than a year in college as an ROTC freshman, he was called into active military duty in 1944. He was trained by the Army as an X-ray technician and then sent to France where he worked in several Army hospitals during his two-and-a-half-year tour of duty. During this time, a chance remark by an Army doctor changed his destiny. The doctor, hearing about Duke's plans for vet school, said, "Why don't you try medicine?" and told him he thought he'd be good at it. After the war, Duke Murray changed his Ohio State major to pre-med, and the die was cast. During medical school he continued to employ his X-ray skills as a part-time technician, and he met someone else on the job who had been taught to take X-rays, a medical secretary from Columbus named Pauline List. They share a sense of humor, among many other things, and in 1949 were married in a double-ceremony with Pauline's twin sister, Kathleen, who married Daniel Susil. Duke and Polly had their first son, Scott, in 1952, who later also completed pre-med at Ohio State and went on not only to become a physician, but also to marry one (Dr. Nancy Winters) as well. After Duke's graduation in Columbus, he and Polly moved to his home town of Lima and he completed his internship at St. Rita's hospital. The couple had three more children: Robin (Robb), Cynthia Ann (Cindy) and Betsy. Dr. Murray began his office practice with Drs. Bill Grannis and Bill Foxx, then added Ken Burns, and later practiced in partnership with Dr. Gene Wright. To supplement his office practice, Dr. Murray worked part time at BLH (formerly the Lima Locomotive Works) as the plant doctor from 1954-1979 (25 years) and later continued his involvement with occupational medicine in helping Dr. A. C. Reed to set up a plant clinic at Crown Control in New Bremen, Ohio in the early 1990s. Dr. and Mrs. Murray were supporters of many Lima cultural and professional organizations such as the Cotillion Club, and Lima Symphony, Encore Theatre, the Lima Elks Lodge, and the Auxiliary of the Lima Medical Academy. Pauline (Polly) was active in the Lotus Club, the League of Women Voters, and the Red Cross. Dr. Murray served for a time on the Consistory of Calvary UCC, and he was elected to the Lima City Board of Education in 1962 and served as President from 1965-1970. He was Chief of Staff at Lima Memorial Hospital for a two-year term during the 1980s. Dr. Murray's boyhood hobbies of hunting and dog shows were replaced by fishing, handball, tennis and, much later, gardening. He has remained an inveterate storyteller, humorist, and something of a mimic as well. Both Dr. and Mrs. Murray are devoted readers, and each reads aloud to the other quite often. In Ft. Myers, they enjoy attending the Southwest Florida Symphony programs and numerous other plays and shows. They are quite active in the Current Affairs discussion group at Shell Point, and both attend meetings at the Tamiami Tale Tellers (TTT) Club, the weekly coffee hour at the Woodlands, services at the Village Church and, of course, their Memoirs class.

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Sample Excerpts & Table of Contents

From Chapter 8: A Saturday Night in Lima, 1930's Style

People from all walks of life and all the sectors of our economy would come to town on Saturday night. My folks were each raised on a farm and so they would see and greet many of their farm friends.

The stores were all open, and business flourished. My folks did a great deal of their shopping at Wright's Market on the corner of High and Union, across from the Barr Hotel. When you entered, you could smell the dill pickle and the barrel with the smoked herring or "Blind Robin". Nearby were the cheeses, with Limburger leading the aroma barrage.

These groceries had no grocery carts to push around. To get items from your list, you would hail a clerk and start telling what you wanted. You would tell him your first item, he would go and get it, and then you'd tell him your next item, etc. It was a very inefficient method, but each housewife felt as if she were being "personally served".

If the list were too long, the clerks got smart and would ask for Madame's list and they would quickly gather everything and place it on the counter. They would add up the cost of the items on a brown paper sack. After you paid your bill, they would bag your groceries for you, and make sure that you got the sack with the figures on it for your receipt. Then you would tote your purchases off to your car.

I guess I was a typically observant youngster and one night we saw a blind man with a white cane standing against a store front on East High. He was wearing a cap and had a cup in his hand. He would sing softly, and occasionally a passerby would put a coin in his cup. He would thank them, and deftly pour the coin into his other hand and pocket it.

One Saturday when I was five, my folks and I were parked on East High. When my folks started heading for Wright's Market, I asked them if I could stay in the car and Mom said yes. I had smuggled a tin cup into the back seat when we left home...

From Chapter 12: The Day the Circus Came to Town

On the morning the circus came into town, if it came from the west, from Ft. Wayne on the Pennsy, I would be in luck. Mom would wake me up about six AM and hurry me to get dressed and eat breakfast. Then she and I would start walking east on Hazel Avenue to College Avenue and about two-and-a-half blocks to Delphos Road. There before my eyes was a magnificent sight: the circus train unloading!

It was like a Cecil B. DeMille movie set, as crowds of people would come to watch the spectacle. There would be elephants pushing wagons with their heads. There would be beautiful horses pulling cages on wheels with lions and tigers inside. Circus hands would be leading camels and zebras. Sometimes a small tractor would pull the big steam calliope off the train and then a four-or-six horse team would be hooked to it.

Sometimes the circus would parade down Main Street on the way to the Vine Street show grounds or to those on East Kibby Street. There the steam calliope and the circus brass band would put on a great musical entertainment show, thereby enticing more people to come out to the circus.

I never really got to see them set up the tents, but I am told that the workers used the horses and the elephants to pull the poles into position. Then the roustabouts would start driving stakes, and ropes would appear from the tops of the poles, and all of a sudden- "Presto!"- the Big Top would be up. Next, the sideshow tents would go up, to house "The Fat Lady", "Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy", the snake charmer, and so on.

We would leave home for the circus at least an hour-and-a-half before show time, park as close as we could, and then walk to the Main Entrance, give them our tickets, and then be inside the circus grounds. We'd spend some of our hard-earned money for cotton candy, saltwater taffy, and circus peanuts to eat while we watched the show. We could walk past the sideshows and look at the garish signs about those within. But we were never allowed to go inside the sideshows.

Finally, we would enter the Big Top that housed the Three Rings. I don't recall that there were any reserved seats, and so we would rush to get the best seats we could find, and position ourselves in our space, getting ready to watch "The Greatest Show on Earth".

The Ringmaster would come in on a beautiful white horse and direct our attention to the first ring...

From Chapter 14: Our Comical Neighbor, Perry

The next thing Perry did to try to get the night crawlers to come out was also a miserable failure. Someone had given him a sure-fire worm extractor. It was a long electric cord with a male plug on one end to insert into an electric socket. At the other end, the cord split into two separate wires, each with a wooden insulating handle and a long stiff wire probe. The idea was to wet the grass and yard, then insert the probes into the turf about two or three feet apart, and then plug in the electric outlet.

Perry had given the electric plug to Blanche and told her not to plug it in till she heard him holler. I came up just as Perry had picked up the probes and was preparing to stick them into the turf. I asked Perry if he was trying something new...

From Chapter 25: Aunt Lu and Uncle Charlie, Revisited

Another less painful and more humorous experience happened when Uncle Charlie and I were "haying it". I was driving the mules and Uncle Charlie was taking the hay with his pitchfork as it came up the hay loader, and distributing it evenly over the wagon.

We kept moving forward and had almost a full load when a big bunch of Canadian thistles came up from the loader. Uncle Charlie pitched them up and they happened to fall right behind me. Right about then the wagon hit a rut and I fell backward...

From Chapter 27: Holidays the Way I Remember Them

One Christmas I will never forget was when I was 10 years old. As we were unwrapping gifts, I received an envelope from my brother, Marvin, who was 20 years old and very much my senior. The note inside outlined a treasure hunt for my present.

The first clue said to look in the coldest place in the house for the next clue. I went to the Norge Refrigerator and in the ice cube compartment, I found an oblong package and a note. I ripped off the paper and there was the fore-piece for a shotgun! So I had some idea of what was coming!

The next clue was to look in a warm place in the house, I had many places to look. Behind the gas burner in the living room fireplace I found the butt of an H&R single-shot gun.

The next clue was to look where Mom kept her "discipline stick", which was a broad yardstick standing in the corner behind the door to the back porch. There, I found the completion of my treasure hunt -- and what a treasure it was: a little 20-gauge single-shot Harrington and Richards shotgun! I don't believe I could count the hours of pleasure I spent carrying that Christmas present around in the crook of my arm on my many hunting expeditions. Marvin had come through with the most memorable Christmas gift of my youth.

I passed his treasure hunt idea down in our family...

From Chapter 31: Doubling Back: My Introduction to the Army

While I was putting my blankets on the bed and my clothes in the duffel bag, I noticed that a button on my shirt collar was about to fall off. So I got out my pocket sewing kit and began to sew the button back on. As I sat there sewing, a loud raucous voice rang out from an ugly redneck about 5ft. 4 inches tall, weighing 250 pounds, with a three-day growth of beard and a mouth full of rotten teeth. He said, "Well, now! I've found an Army sweetheart!"

I knew that the prisons were discharging inmates early and the draft boards were sending them on to the Army. It didn't take me long to realize the situation I was faced with. I knew that the 1st Sergeant would be of no help, so I figured that this would be my baptism of fire.

The speaker, Bubba, came over to where I sat and put a hand on my shoulder I knocked it off and stood up, but he started backing me into a corner...

TABLE OF CONTENTS
MY STORIES:
Our Old Neighborhood
The Hazel Avenue Murrays
Acknowledgements
Dedication
Foreword: Come Reminisce with Me
Days of Innocence
1. Two Young Boys Discover Fire
2. Lost in Buffalo
3. Foaming at the Mouth
4. Two Family Quests with My Sister, Mary
5. Highway to Oklahoma
6. Two Doors East and Two Doors West
Grade School Years
7. My Most Memorable Grade School Teacher
8. A Saturday Night in Lima, 1930's Style
9. What I Learned from a Boyhood Chum
10. "Someday, I'll Live There"
11. Horace Mann Grade School, Revisited
12. The Day the Circus Came To Town
13. The Playground at Horace Mann School
My Adventures Expand
14. Our Comical Neighbor, Perry
15. My Newspaperin' Days
16. A Tribute to Uncle Charlie
17. Some of My Best Friends Were Dogs
18. My Jobs as a Boy in the 1930's
19. My First Cigarette at the Football Game
Life in the '30s
20. The Sounds of Lima in the 1930's
21. Bums, Hobos and Knights of the Open Road
22. Our Entertainment Indoors
23. Aunt Lydia and Uncle Ray
24. The Clothes We Wore
25. Aunt Lu and Uncle Charlie, Revisited
26. Outdoor Entertainment
27. Holidays the Way I Remember Them
28. Some Smells and Tastes from A Bygone Time
Leaving Home
29. The Murrays of Hazel Avenue Take on WWII
30. "Here Come the Murrays!"
31. Doubling Back: My Introduction to the Army
32. My Entry into the Tall Tale Contest
Odds and Ends
33. The Singing in My Life
34. The First Doctor in Allen County, Ohio
35. Some Memories That Fell Through the Cracks
Afterwords
36. Storytelling in Dad's Life (By Robb Murray)
38. More to Come!
Biographical Sketch
Neat Things a Kid Could Learn in the 1930s

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Catalogue Information

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