Mary Uible Horton: The Early Years - Part 2

Part 2 of Mary's reflections on her early years. See Part 1 here.

Mary Uible Horton August 8, 1913 - March 2, 2012

Written by the Hortons for Aunt Mary's 90th Birthday [with notes added by Catherine].  Transcription follows.

Mary Uible Horton - Reflections p.2

School daze . . .
I went to school with the lower grades on the first floor.  Older students were upstairs.  I was a good student but I always wanted to talk to someone (an only child syndrome)!  I got my seat changed a lot!! I remember (questionable) my first day of school ... a big bow in my hair, pretty dress and holding a bouquet for the teacher.  Also that year, I had pneumonia and they tell me the country Doc saved me.

Back to where I began and my athletic endeavors . . .
Then we moved back to Hillsboro, Ohio.  My Grandma Hiestand [Mary Ellen Fawley Hiestand 1853-1929] had built a Bungalow across the street from the original home.  We lived there until we moved to New Vienna.  It was a fun time!  The house next to ours had two or three girls and a boy and we were always doing something ... playing baseball and other kid games.  I had my bicycle and roller skates.  In winter, we walked to a field and took our sleds.  I was the fastest!  My friend's house was brick and the side wall facing our house had no windows ... so I used my tennis racket ... good practice!  Their Dad owned the Harsha Monument's Building.  I have no idea what happened to the kids.

I fell down on my roller skates and hurt my wrist.  Riding on my bike, I turned a corner on loose gravel and [I have had] a scar from that for years.  One night there was a big fire at the stables ... you could see it from our upstairs window.  Awful!

Harold happens . . .
Most important happening was my Mother being pregnant and my brother was born, October 27, 1925.  I was so proud to have a brother and getting to get up in class and tell about him.  Little did I realize that we wouldn't have much in common until he got out of College!  [A special memory was] when a date came to the house, Harold was to be on good behavior ... quiet and out of sight.  I was never too tired to go dancing and needed to do piano practicing [as Harold recalls] when there were dishes to do!!

A prodigy?... no, just curious . . .
I liked school.  I started taking piano lessons when I was eight years old.  I went to the public library to get books.  I loved to read.  I got a reward in history in eighth grade.  I loved Geography and had a wonderful teacher.  I had made a lot of friends through the Church in Hillsboro.  One family, The Riber family, Margaret Ellen and I were the same age.  They had a tennis courts.  So we went over often after we moved to New Vienna.

Uprooted again . . .
Then the "blow" came.  Dad had bought a house.  A retired Wilmington College Professor had lived there.  [Frank Terrell]  I was really unhappy to leave Hillsboro and my friends.  School was quite small ... about 22 in the freshman class [19 graduated in the Class of 1931] There were only four or five of us taking prep courses for College.  Most of the students came from farms.  Most of the kids were engaged by the time they were Juniors or Seniors.  I enjoyed the basketball games and we made County play offs.  That was fun.  Then, I made friends at the Methodist Church.  We had a small orchestra.  I played cello.  (I love to play the piano, but I would always get nervous every time I had to play in front of other people.)  Also, my best friend, Joe, played violin.  Joe's Mother (Mrs. Helen Morton 1887-1969) was our leader at Piano and we practiced at her house.  Dr. [Lyle] Morton [1884-1947] was a dentist.  He didn't like to hurt you!

There goes my Safe Driving Award . . .
I had learned to drive our Ford in a courtyard on somebody's farm when I was twelve.  One incident (later when we lived in Hillsboro), Mother sent me uptown to the Bank and guess what???  When I parked or backed out (I forget), I scraped somebody's fender and never told my parents.  Of course, someone got my license number.  I don't remember if they too my privileges away.  I sure miss my car not but it's more practical to quit when you're my age.  The traffic here [Florida] is so bad ... always building more roads, lots of accidents on I-95 here.  Scary!  No courteous drivers.

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To be continued . . .