Roberta Wilcox Welch's story

This is part two of a two-part story on the recollections of Shelton-area resident Roberta Wilcox Welch. The first installment ran in the Shelton-Mason County Journal on Jan. 20.

At Christmas season, 1943, J.C. Penney at Second and Cota had a window display with the most beautiful doll I had ever seen. Her name was Miss Babette. She had blond, rolled hair and wore an evening gown and cape of pink sheer fabric with silver sparkles. Her cape was edged in marabou feathers. Now our family did not go in for frivolous gifts and I knew that I would not get that doll. I always got things like boots and snowsuits. My sister Pat knew how much I wanted that doll, and she bought it for me out of her earnings at the bank. I'm sure it was a hardship. It cost $4.95, which was a lot of money. Miss Babette is still with me. Her hair and face are as beautiful as ever.

My first seven years of schooling were spent at Lincoln School. We used to have some great special programs there. There was a costume room in the basement, and I can remember dressing up in Revolutionary War period costumes and learning to dance the minuet. May Day was eagerly awaited after an interminable winter. We would make small baskets out of construction paper, fill them with flowers, and leave them on someone's front porch. The idea was to ring the doorbell and then run before the person could see who had left the gift. The highlight of May Day, though, was the maypole. It reached almost to the top of the gymnasium, with many strips of crepe paper hanging down. We were instructed how to skip around, holding a streamer, weaving over and under our neighbor's streamer. The idea was to braid the streamers clear down to the end. It seldom worked - once in a while at practice, but never for the program.

Forest Festival was a magical time. My first memory of it is set in the Lincoln gym. All the students had filed across from the school and were seated in the bleachers. Someone talked to us about this great festival we were going to celebrate and they led in a beautiful dark-haired girl in a magnificent red velvet robe with a sparkling crown on her head. We were all very impressed by the speaker telling us that our help was needed in making this festival undertaking a success. Every Forest Festival after that was almost a yearly rebirth. Always the same and yet always new.

Like the various war efforts, Forest Festival was a solidifying endeavor for the community. It seems that everyone, at least everyone who desired to, was a participant. The teachers and community leaders worked tirelessly. Students felt they were getting away with something to get out of school to practice for the pageant. Little did we know how much we were learning - even just sitting still in the hot sun, waiting for our turn to rehearse our part. And sitting there while little fairies and woodland creatures performed was for many of us our first introduction to classical music. Certain bits of such music still bring visions of slightly disheveled fairies trying to daintily tiptoe across the plywood stage.

Fourth grade was a bad school year for me. We had six changes of teachers, and most of us were terrified of the teacher we ended up with. Fifth grade was a wonderful year. My teacher was Miss Alice Gardiner, who later became Mrs. Diehl. She really loved her students and wanted us to be excited about the world in which we lived. I remember making a cloth doll from a real pattern, following the printed instructions. It turned out very well and I was the most surprised person. That small accomplishment was such a boost to my self-esteem and paved the way for trying new things. Alice almost never got angry. The only time I can remember involved a girl in class who got into physical fights and used her long, dirty fingernails on other children. Talking to her wasn't doing the job, and one day Alice had finally had enough. She held the girl down and cut off her long nails.

Another building I remember is the brick building at the corner of Third and Cota streets, which used to be the telephone building. When the side street door was opened you would see the line of operators sitting at their switchboards. We would pick up the phone and the operator would say, "Number, please." We would give her the number we wanted to call and she would ring it. There were multiple party lines. Your neighbors' rings would be heard in your house. Each household had a unique ring sequence; one might have one long ring and two short rings, another might have one short and two longs, etc. Listening on the party line was a favorite activity. When I called friends at Island Lake I would say goodbye, then tap the receiver to make it sound like I'd hung up the phone. I could then hear phones hanging up all around the lake. Another interesting fact about our phone system involved the pay phones. After the operator connected you with your number she would say, "Deposit five cents please." Having already spent her money at the movies, a friend of mine would hurriedly shout, "Come get me," then hang up and run off as if the operator could see through the line to identify her.

Judging by today's standards, I had no childhood advantages to prepare me for education or a successful life. There were no Head Start programs, no educational toys, no computers, no television, very few movies, and no art or musical experiences beyond the high school band concert. More valuable than the advantages kids have today was the opportunity of meeting the people I have known. Growing up in Shelton, Washington, in the '40s and '50s was a marvelous experience.

■ Jan Parker is a researcher for the Mason County Historical Museum. She can be reached at [email protected]. Membership in the Mason County Historical Society is $25 per year. For a limited time, new members will receive a free copy of the book "Shelton, the First Century Plus Ten."