Quick Ottumwa Photo Tour

This past Sunday, I took a quick trip down to Ottumwa to visit my parents (down and back the same day). On the way there, I stopped at the cemetery where my Rose-side grandparents are buried, which is west of town (near Munterville). While I've been to O-town several times since high school, I've only entered town from the west maybe once or twice before. So, I decided to grab a camera and snap some pics as I went (don't worry, I did keep one hand on the wheel the whole time, and didn't look thru the viewfinder. It was the point-and-snap-hope-you-aimed-well method of picture taking.)

So, without further ado, here is a very brief photo tour of my route. I thought this may spark some memories for those of you former Ottumwans who haven't been back in years.

You can click on any picture for larger version.

Where "old" highway 34 meets "new" highway 34 (it looks like I was playing chicken with the train, but really it was stopped).

That's the entrance to some new stores -- "new" Wal-Mart on my right, and the building you see is a Kohls. Menards is nearby, too.

Vaughn Motors is now here on Hwy. 34 opposite the mall.

Quincy Place Mall. What used to be Wal-Mart is now M.C. Sports.

We have Arbys!

Looking toward downtown.

Facing NE at the intersection of Hwy. 34 and what used to be Hwy. 63. When the bypass was finished, the "in-town" portion of the N-S highway was re-numbered as the southernmost extension of Hwy. 149, which ends here.

End of the Market St./Church St. exit, facing east. I've always been a fan of the sign with the blinking light that tells you if the other end of the Market St. bridge is blocked by a train. I've never seen one of those in any other town.

The "new" Bridge View Center (former Coliseum). You can see that [unknown to me until after I turned north] the Market St. bridge was blocked off due to construction. So I turned around at the Beach entrance.

"Hey Todd!!!"

I used to work admissions/concessions at The Beach. The yellow slide was added some time after 1997.

This is where Fareway used to be (Peter!), I was told it's now out on Albia Road, near the former Pamida site.

Turning left (north) onto Jefferson St. viaduct.

Tried to get a picture of my little league field -- the "National League." Sorry it's blurry.

Looking east/southeast -- Railroad bridge (now a pedestrian bridge).

"We'll all join in together, to root for OHS!"

Downtown from the bridge.

Looking west down Main St. at "The China Restaurant" (not sure if still called that). I always wondered why they didn't call it "The Chinese Restaurant?" Main is no longer a 1-way street.

"Voc-Tech!" -- The standard "band member" entrance. Note the doors on the far right are a little different. I'm guessing those are no longer unlocked all the time.

J.R. ... Richards???

Facing West on 4th street, at intersection with Jefferson. Catholic church to the right, Methodist to the left.

"Ghetto Gas" / "Sweaty Betty's" -- Looks pretty nice!

Continued up Jefferson to Pennsylvania, then I found out that this gas station, AND this intersection was blocked off due to construction!!! OK, time to find a different way up to Elm St. ...

Chris Ellis's old house.

Decided to head up Jay St. ...

Which is NARROW!

What street am I on? :)

 Heading North on Elm.

 Memorial Park (non-playground part). Looks perfect for leaning up against a tree for senior pictures!

This house is new ... old one was torn down.

Destination reached!

Self-Guided OHS Tour

In mid-August (2012) I went down to Ottumwa for a football meeting at OHS (I officiate High School football part-time in the Fall).

My crew arrived a bit early, so I decided to give myself a tour of my alma matter, and grab a few grainy cell phone pics.

(In case anyone is wondering about "security," rest assured that someone met us at the door and let us in who was with the state association. I would not have been able to just "walk in" off the street.)

I started in the auditorium. It was exactly as I remembered it, except for two exceptions: there were new seats, and the big round "seals" with the class mottos were not hanging from the balconys. (I recall one assembly where one fell down and hit a kid on the head or shoulders... maybe that's why they were removed?)

From there, I moved toward the Vo-Tec (Voc-Tech?) building. This now involves a walk thru the new library/fancy building that was conveniently completed just two weeks before I graduated. (Remember having to carry our instruments through the auto-body room just to go between buildings for concerts & pep rallies? "Whoa, look at that big saxamaphone!" All of the inconvenience of construction, almost no benefit.) Well, there is a hallway down the middle that essentially replicates the old 2nd- story "skywalk," which leads to that half-flight of stairs that goes down to the 2nd floor of the Voc-Tech near the elevator.

That door was locked - kind of. When I pulled on the handle the lock literally fell off. I wasn't pulling that hard or anything, but the round, removable lock that sets in the door must not have been set in properly. So, in I go.

In the halls of Vo-Tech, it was very dark, but in spite of the darkness everything looked exactly the same as I remember from 1993-1997.

Vo-Tec 2nd Story Men's Room

I went into the men's room right there, and noticed that the large half-circle style "sink" had been replaced by two more traditional sinks. Peter Hemmings would be sad to hear this, I knew.











The orchestra room was locked, and I tried the stairwell right next to it to see if I could get roof access, but it was gated off with a padlock. Shucks.

The "main" door (near Mr. Flanigan's office) to the band room was unlocked. Score!

Bandroom. The director would be facing toward me, but the offices are behind me.

Woah! What's this? I've stepped into backwards world! There was no elevated platform for the band practice area. Even more surprising, it was turned around. The percussion was close to the middle of the room, and the director stood on the south/east wall (basically right about where the snare drums used to be). I wonder what the reason for that was? I don't remember if the platforms were movable or not. I was thinking they were built in, and, if so, must have been torn out. It was just about a week before school started, so the marching band drums were already out. I'm guessing the first few practices had occurred -- at least the "drums only" ones. (Did you know that we had to come a week earlier than the rest of you each year? You should be thankful....)

I went over to the vocal music room which was essentially unchanged. In the rooms at the "back" they had 4-5 computers in there. (These are the rooms where we would practice in small groups or quartets sometimes. I recall one time where we were goofing off a little, and Mr. Schneider stormed in and ripped us to pieces [verbally]! ~ don't get me wrong, we deserved it.)

New Cafeteria

Out the other door and down the stairs I went, and back toward the main building. I was going to cut through the cafeteria on the lower level of the new building, but the floors looked like they had fresh wax on them so decided not to.








The "original" part of the high school, for the most part, looked completely unchanged. I did slide down one of the banisters! The area behind the auditorium (behind the stage side) had been re-worked entirely with new siding on the walls, as had the downstairs area behind what used to be the cafeteria and next to the student council room. Frankly, I was running low on time, and didn't want to risk getting stuck behind a locked door, so at that point I retreated back to the auditorium. It was a fun little 20 minute journey. I should also note that one of our breakout sessions was in the new library/media room on the upper level of the fancy new building, and it was very nice. What do they call that, the "middle building?" I propose "Mo-Tech."

(One last interesting note - the signs now all refer to OHS as a 4 story building. IE, instead of "basement" plus 3 other floors, the lowest level is "1st floor," the offices and auditorium are on the "2nd floor," etc.)

This "classroom" is on the east end of the 2nd  floor now (or is that 3rd floor?).

Reminisce Your Age

A few days ago I was surfing YouTube, reminiscing as I occasionally do about cartoons, etc. (see prior article, here). By chance, I came across a video about Crystal Pepsi (if you're not sure what that is, see a summary here ).

The guy in the video was describing Crystal Pepsi from both a marketing point of view, and an experiential point of view. The thing that struck me as odd, however, is that the guy in the video seemed to be no more than 25 years old -- if I am estimating to the high end, and I think the video is no more than 1 year old.

If you're one of my high school friends, you may remember that odd/eventful day that a Pepsi truck parked in front of OHS, and every student got a free bottle of Crystal Pepsi. I emphasize "bottle" because that's all it was -- a bottle. A sealed, empty bottle (somewhere in my parent's house I think I still have it). I'm not sure what the thought there was -- maybe they weren't allowed to give out free pop at school? Maybe it was cheaper? Or maybe just a marketing ploy?

So, according to my research, there was only one year that I was both in High School and Crystal Pepsi was still being made, and that would have been Fall of 1993 -- my freshman year. That also means that the poster in the video was at most age 7 in 1993 -- 2nd grade. How much could a 2nd grader remember about a soft drink? That it existed, yes, certainly. Buying it at a gas station -- that is possible. But the marketing of it? The over-hypedness of it? Come on, there's no way you remember that. You may have read about it, researched it, heard about it, but that's probably all.

For some reason, that bothered me. I can't really explain it, but it obviously bothered other readers, too, as the most popular comment was one suggesting that the author was too young to have really experientially understood it.

We've all heard the saying "act your age;" I think there is also an unwritten rule that could be called "reminisce your age." Meaning this -- you need to be careful to distinguish between things you have experienced, and things you have just researched and have some degree of expertise in.

For example, I really like learning about the presidents. I was born in March of 1979, so I was alive during the Carter administration for about 1.75 years; but it would be a bit presumptive to say, "yeah, remember the Carter years? Man, "we" sure went through a rough patch there." Frankly, I didn't really understand much about politics during the Reagan or Bush 41 years either. I can write about those things from a point of view based on research, but not "memory," more than a few glimpses.

So I was thinking of things I genuinely do remember enough to understand -- or at least partially understand. And based on that, here are some things I would like to see if you remember along with me.

January 28, 1986 -- Challenger Disaster

At 10:38 AM (central) on this date, I was in Miss Kosman's 1st grade class at Horace Mann Elementary School. The small, grainy TV had been turned on only perhaps 5 minutes earlier so that we could watch teacher-turned-astronaut Christa McAuliffe teach a lesson as part of NASA's new "Teacher In Space" project. This is probably my earliest memory of a national event.

Now, of course I didn't remember the exact date and time, and I didn't remember the name of the teacher or the NASA mission. I didn't know or understand the cause and consequences until I read about it years later. But I do vividly remember that for several days beforehand, we were told that we would be watching a teacher teach a lesson of some kind from outer-space. Of course that would be memorable! I remember that when the shuttle exploded, we were all stunned and not exactly sure what had happened. Miss Kosman turned off the TV almost right away - probably trying to shield us from seeing something we shouldn't see - but it was clear from her reaction that something had gone terribly wrong. Several students were outwardly emotional/weepy. Oddly, I don't remember what happened next. I don't know if she gave us a "heart-to-heart" talk, or if she just ignored it and moved on to the next subject. Either way, can you imagine being a lower-elementary teacher in that situation?

1989-1990 - One-Hit-Wonders

During 4th grade, (the '88-'89 school year) my neighbor and friend Abe moved away. Roughly one year later, he came back to Ottumwa for a visit. I don't know why, but I distinctly recall being on the playground at Horace Mann, just the two of us (it must have either been summer or a Saturday), when he asked me, "Hey, have you heard about these two cool new music groups: M.C. Hammer and Vanilla Ice?" Of course, my parents never would have allowed me to own that kind of tape . . . nor did I really care to. (Abe also came back to visit for my kickin' 11th (or 12th?) birthday pool party at the "new" Super 8 in town. Our birthdays were both in March, I think.)

1991-1994 - Channel One

The '91-'92 school year was the first year that Channel One came to Ottumwa, at least to Evans Jr. High. Channel One was a 10-15 minute "news program" that students in grades 7-12 were forced to watch each morning during 1st period, in exchange for free TV's in each classroom (it was supported by commercial advertising during the program). Lisa Ling & Anderson Cooper were on during this era. I remember a lot of Pepsi commercials and Michael Jackson singing "Black or White." Also, in 7th grade I still remember doing the pledge of allegiance each morning in Mrs. Beisch's reading class (which was 1st period for me) right before (or after?) Channel One. I don't recall that in any subsequent years. [Note: even though I didn't graduate until '97, starting in 10th grade I had band 1st period, and we were exempted from watching it. That is why I listed the end year as '94.]

April 19, 1995 - Oklahoma City Bombing

It occurred around 9:00 AM, and Mr. Hansen, my 1oth grade History teacher, turned on the TV and we watched the news coverage of the happenings for the whole of 2nd period.

October 3, 1995 - O.J. Simpson Verdict

Early in 11th grade this time . . . the verdict was read at lunch time, and I had just walked into the basement cafeteria (I looked it up online, it was at 10:00 Pacific Time, which would have been noon our time). Someone - probably a school employee - had set up a TV along the south wall. Everyone I spoke with was shocked.

1996-97 (approx.) - SURGE

This time it was a Coca-Cola truck that parked in front of the High School one day, and we all got a free can of SURGE (full, this time). Yuck!

Obviously, I could go on with more, but now we're closing in on college, so that seems like a good stopping point. Please share your own memories with me in the comments below!

Julie Bigler (clap, clap, clap clap clap.)

OK, admit it -- 7 or 8 of you are singing it in your head right now.

For the rest of you: think of the popular chant at basketball games, "Let's go Falcons! (clap, clap, clap clap clap)" ["Falcons" could be replaced with any other two-syllable team name.]

I don't know very much about Julie Bigler. I do know that she is about the same age as me, give or take 2 years, and she played basketball for some high school team in Southeast Iowa -- perhaps Fairfield, Keokuk, or etc. She was fairly good at girls' basketball, as I recall.

So, in high school, basketball pep band was a lot of fun. Really - a lot lot lot of fun. You'll have to take my word for it. In one attempt to "get in the heads" of the opponents - or, maybe just be goofy - we started chanting "JULIE BIGLER!" during a game.

Well, Ottumwa tended to play the same teams fairly often. Probably a year or so after the chant was invented, another game with Julie's team came up. The girls' game ended and all the members of said team came out and sat behind the boys' team during the boys' game (girl-boy double headers were common). Someone dared me me go say something to Miss Bigler. One fellow band member dared me to go kiss her (I think) -- of course, I wasn't that bold, so I negotiated down to a high-five if they would give me some money. (One of those, "I'll give you $x if you can convince Julie Bigler to give you a high-five!" things.)

So, during a break of some kind, I mustered up my courage and did it. I walked up to the girls' team from the visiting school, and asked Julie if she would give me a high-five. She briefly hesitated, but then I just told her it was for a dare. She gave in, we had the high-five and I went back to the pep band balcony [where my peers were viewing my every move] and collected my $22.

Awesome.

My First Road Trip (One County Over)

During my senior year of high school, I was finally allowed to drive somewhere out of town. I had to ask permission of my parents/beg them to allow me. Where was the destination of this adventure? Oskaloosa - literally one county north.

The purpose of the trip was to watch a cross-country match. Well, it was even less cool than that, it was a JV cross-country match. Just going from memory, I think Ian Kenning and Shawn Neary tried out for cross-country our senior year and made the JV team . . . maybe Erin Alberty too. Why? I have no idea, other than I would guess that they had a fairly light acedemic year (a lot of my piers and I had a light senior year) and just wanted one last chance at a different experience. Why not.

So I went with a couple of my slightly younger peers -- my "sophomore friends." I do not remember which ones. I would be inclined to say Charlie Knight and Brad Williams . . . but I dunno.

The track meet was really boring. But what an amazing drive!!!

We Had Cars

In High School, most of my friends had a car of some kind that they could call their very own. Usually this would be your stereotypical cheap, used "starter car," but we loved them nonetheless.

I took Driver's Education class in the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of High School, and turned 16 in March of my sophomore year. The following summer I got my first car: a light blue 1988 Pontiac Grand-Am. My dad and I picked it up at the small place right where Vine Street ended - right before it dead-ended south of the river.* I think it was Martz Auto.

It wasn't much of anything, but I sure liked it and it served my purposes well, primarily driving to school, around town, to friend's homes, and to school related activities. I also had it for my first 3 years of college.

Two other prominent 88's come to mind:

Peter Hemmings had a black 1988 Ford Festiva (not to be confused with the "Fiesta."). Later, in college, I accidentally broke the passenger-side windshield with my roommate's forehead.

Kevin Crotty had a red 1988 Chevy Sprint. The iconic image was Kevin arriving for marching band practice with 7 seconds to spare, pulling into the gravel lower pit while pulling the parking brake, skidding, and falling out of the door with trombone in hand ready to march. Probably a slight exaggeration of an actual remembrance. I also remember I was in his car (I think he was driving me home) when he got his first speeding ticket, going 37 in a 25 MPH zone on North Court.

Other Honorable Mentions:

- Brian Jackson had an old Chevy LUV pickup, probably from the 1970's - DOT orange. I recall it had a radio with dials only, AM only, and one central speaker in the dashboard that didn't work too well.

- Matt Bednar had a GEO tracker - very cool (well, cool for 1996). I vaguely remember that one time someone put it in neutral (or it was left in neutral) and it rolled into another car in the Lutheran church parking lot (you could pay to park there, to avoid the distance and hazards of the upper or lower pit [the "public" student parking areas]).

- Dave Eilers had a big gray boat of a car, of some kind. His fame was that he was the first of my friends to get a car (must have had a birthday that made him "old" for the grade).

- Shawn Neary had some kind of dark red sedan, possibly a Buick Century or something like that.

- Alex Stroda had a burgundy station wagon.

- Chirs Knight got a big cream or white car at some point, although it seems like it was later than the rest of us.

- John Huston had a big creamy yellow sedan, probably from the 70's or very early 80's.

- It seems like I remember that Thad Fiscella, a fellow percussionist in band, had a fairly nice car that was aqua green of some kind. The weird thing was, my senior year I gave him rides to marching band practice and he paid me like $1 per day for that service. I'm not sure why, but I think it was because his dad didn't want him to park the "nice" car in one of the pits.

Do you remember any of these cars? Or did I leave out any of my High School acquaintances? If so, please post a comment.

NOTE: These pictures are simply random cars I found on Google Images that look "close enough" to what I remember. Not a photo of the actual car.

* Vine Street used to have a bridge over the Des Moines river that was closed and torn down before I was born - or at least old enough to remember. It was always very easy to see where it "should have been," though, especially from the south, it was the road that ran directly in front of the main entrance to John Deere. Vine street is also famous - in my opinion - for being the worst exit ramp ever. Highway 34/63 ran like an interstate through there (now just 34 due to the bypass), and the exit ramp in either direction basically requires you to slow from 45 down to 25 or less in about 15 feet and make a hard 90 degree turn to the right that starts a terribly sharp hair-pin style ramp.

If I ever move back to Ottumwa and run for mayor, my sole platform will be to bring back the Vine St. bridge. Because I assume mayors do that kind of stuff.