Social Life -1950s

Social Life - 1950s

Leisure crossroads or corners was the social gathering place (107th Ave and 64th St) for East Casco Township.  It included the Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB), Riley's Handy Store, the Community Hall, and the Fire Station.  A great deal of informal socializing or "loafing" was carried on at the store.  Men sit on the benches in front of the store after dinner and chores were done.  On occasion Riley would  show free movies on the north side of his store building and softball games where played north of the store.

Most everyone in the area attended the EUB Church led by Rev. Crosby and then Rev. Litchfield in the 50s.  Opal Barden was the organist and her son Richard frequently played his marimba.  Richard is still playing at the new Casco United Methodist Church.  One of his favorite hymns is "His Eye Is On The Sparrow".  Fund raising dinners by the Ladies Aid Society of the EUB Church were don't-miss social gatherings.  Dinners were in the small Church basement until the new Community Hall was built across the street in 1953.  This new community hall with large basement and kitchen replaced the Knights of the Maccabees Hall.  The Grange members also used the hall for their Saturday meetings and noon meal.

Many men belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) benevolent fraternal organization.  The Rebekah Lodge was a branch/auxiliary of the IOOF open to all women.  Both groups used the community hall and supported a summer camping program for youth.  Some women of the community belonged to the East Casco Garden Study Club.  Membership was limited in number because the club meetings were held at member homes.  If you were hosting the club meeting your garden was on tour.  Many of these same women (and couples) would meet on occasion to play cards and would take winter trips to the same area in Florida.

Another "social club" for men was the Township Fire Dept.  Fire Chief Harry Overhiser lived within a long stones throw of the station.  Riley Overhiser ran the store, never went anywhere, and lived a short stones throw from the one truck station.  Riley (the dispatcher) would take fire calls and push a button to activate the siren.  The first volunteer to arrive drove the truck and others follow along.  In the 1960s a second truck was purchased and the Dept became much more organized and connected with the South Haven Fire Dept.  The men also had a softball team and dear hunting groups.

The all men Casco Band of the 50s was formed in 1928.  It practiced Monday nights and performed in and around the community.  Brothers Riley (trombone), Ward (clarinet), and Ray (cornet) Overhiser were members and at one time there were 7 Adkins in the band.  The Casco Band is still practicing and performing today and has allowed some women to join.

 

The Casco - South Haven Pomological Society was made up of fruit growers from SW Michigan.  The members from the Casco area helped organize an annual Parade of Peaches with dinner at the Community Hall.  The well attended annual farm machinery show was also hosted by the East Casco farmers for farmers from all over the state.  The equipment was set up on Arlie Overhiser's field across from Riley's store and Rankin Lyman was in charge of a dinner at the hall.

For the youth of the community there were school activities, EUB Youth Fellowship, movies in South Haven, dances and roller skating in Allegan.  Family gatherings were also super social events.  Living on the farm was hard work but there were many opportunities for fun.

At The Farm January 6, 2012

Allan survived his birthday on the 4th and has been attending lots of meetings to start the year.  Aaron, the freshman, is having fun playing on the Fennville varsity basketball team.  The family has been kept busy and entertained attending the games.  The fruit trees are resting and getting their annual trims so they will be ready to produce this next summer. 

Fruit Farm Fragrance - 1950s

Fruit Farm Fragrance - 1950s
Smells can invoke vivid memories.  Here are some farm fragrances I remember from the 1950s when I  lived on the farm and attended school in South Haven.

• Edna and Bill's Basement - the smell of apples and potatoes stored on stairs under the bilco door, storm windows being caulked and painted red, musty damp dirt-floor storage area for canned goods, salt brine over flowing the ice cream maker, fuel oil furnace, clothes drying in the basement (Edna had a washer but not a dryer), fishing tackle box, and Grandpa Bill's cigarette smoke. 

• Our Farm House - the smell of wood burning in the pot belly stove, wood storage room on back of house, hot water (heated on range) being pored into the cold bath water in the cold bathroom, then fuel oil (from Flemings) for the space heater and water heater, wet gloves drying on the space heater, vicks vaporizer, eggs and bacon cooking, laundry room clothes, plucking chickens, chicken being browned in a fry pan, canning fruit and canned goods stored in our Michigan basement.  Then there was the fragrance of the outback outhouse that Albert used sometimes so he would not tie up the house bathroom
 

• Farm Equipment and storage buildings - the smell of rubber tires, hydraulic fluid, flooded tractor motors, grease guns, fertilizer spreader, spray dope (as we called it) storage area, piles of lime ready to be spread, rye and oats for seeding orchards, and the smell of the sour cherry lugs. 

• Orchards and Fields - the smells from harvesting the different fruits, brush piles burning, fertilizers and sprays, damp orchard grass, dirt and dust from working the soil, rotting cauliflower, spring blossoms, Lake Michigan winds, and peach thinning smells and always the peach fuzz.
• Barn - the smell of animals, dusty stored equipment, hay and straw, ropes, skunk, rust on equipment, and basketballs as we had a small court inside the barn.

• Ratcliffe Field Locker Room -the smell of sweaty kids, sweaty dirty uniforms, musty showers, rubbing gels in the training room, tape for ankles, brown sticky tuff skin for blisters, rubber inside helmets, and equipment storage boxes.  I added these non-farm locker room smells so I could share the photo of us celebrating South Haven's first football championship in 1957 - yes in the smelly locker room.

At The Farm December 1, 2011

Let it snow.  The farm is ready for a long winter's nap.  Soil at the farm has been tested and lime and potash (potassium carbonate) spread in the orchards.  Allan has just gotten his pesticide license renewed.  This is required every three years.  He must obtain 22 credits by taking 15 to 20 classes during the three year period.  Tree trimming is ongoing.  The 5 kids are all playing basketball.  Aaron has made the Fennville varsity as a freshman.  Hope we get to see him play this winter.

This past week Allan lost one of his fruit customers - Fred Meijer, age 91, the founder of Meijer Inc.  Many of Allan's apples end up in the big stores, including Meijer's.  For the past 6 years one wholesaler from the GR area made sure they got a bushel of Allan's Golden Russet apples and gave them to Fred for his homemade apple sauce.  I would assume Fred remembered the taste and fragrance of the Golden Russet from his childhood.
May 2012 NOTE - The Russet photo above was taken by Adam of Adam's Apple's.  He informs me it is not "Golden" but "Roxbury Russet" a close cousin of the "Golden".  Adam produces a great blog all about apples.  Check it out at www.adamapples.blogspot.com