Memories of a Golden Time

SECTION FROM THE CHAPTER "THE NEIGHBORS"

There was a real sense of family in rural Iowa and there was also a real sense of community as well.  You certainly knew your neighbors and in many cases would often times work with them to complete projects that would be difficult to complete doing them yourself.  I alluded to this earlier in the “seasons” portion of this book.  Dad worked very closely with his cousin Erv and another neighbor Henry.  They seemed almost as much apart of our family as my mom, dad, and siblings.  Dad and mom knew not only their immediate neighbors, but also many people in the community and county.  They spent most of their lives in Benton County and they both were very active in civic, community, and church work.  This was a time when if your neighbor was in need, neighbors, community, and church were there to give a hand.  No one went without food, shelter, or clothing, it would not have been right.  Like in many small towns, it was difficult to keep secrets.  It seemed on several occasions, your neighbors knew more about your business than you did. As in any situation there are positives and negatives and you must deal with what is going on in the present.

For the most part we knew our neighbors and they were good people.  They were outgoing, friendly, and if you needed a hand, they were there to help.  We had a few reclusive types that wanted to stay to themselves and everyone honored their requests.  Even though they were not well known, they were not mean spirited, hated the people around them, or tried to cause problems.  They just wanted to be left alone. 

One such family was the Groverts.  They were a family of two brothers and two sisters, none of whom had ever married.  They owned a great deal of land in our county.  The two brothers farmed some of their ground, but the sisters rented out their land to local farmers.  One of the sisters, Delia, owned 80 acres directly across the road from us.  Delia lived in town, but from time to time would drive out and spend a day or two in the country.  I assumed this was her way of “getting away” and “roughing it” a bit.  The farm house, directly across the road from us, had no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and no means of heating other than a pot bellied stove.  She drove a 1939 black Chevrolet.  She always wore dark clothing, and wore a big wide black straw hat.  I only saw her face to face once or twice.  She would pull into the farmstead driveway, open the gate, drive in, close the gate, and then disappear into the house.  Once in a while she would be puttering around outside pulling weeds and straightening things up a bit.  Since there was no electricity in the house, things were dark inside at night.  You could sometimes see a faint glow coming from one of the windows, which we assumed was a kerosene lamp or candle.  None of us kids were brave enough to go over and peer through the windows.  We would dare and double dare one another to go over and have a peek, but could never muster enough courage to do so.  The kids were convinced she was up to sinister purposes.  This certainly was not the case, because she was a kindly person and never threatened any of us. 

One of the few times I saw her face up close was when she came over to visit with my Dad.  When I saw her slowly coming across the road, all kinds of thoughts ran through my head as to what was going to happen.  She told dad there was a foul odor coming from her basement and would dad come over and investigate the situation.  She was elderly