Jean Hiatt:
CLASS OF 1968
Labette County High SchoolClass of 1968
Altamont, KS
Pittsburg State UniversityClass of 1972
Pittsburg, KS
Labette Community CollegeClass of 1970
Parsons, KS
Jean's Story
I don't know where all of the years have gone. They have just flown by, until you look in a mirror and wonder why your Mother is looking at you. Kind of scary sometimes, but the alternative is not good. So, enjoy life, and your family and especially being a Grandma.
This Grandma stuff is pretty neat. Like the saying goes "If I had have known that this was so much fun, I would have had them first".
I started looking at classmates.com when my cousin, Margie, mentioned that there was going to be a possible '68 reunion on Nov. 14. My son, Brian, is getting married that day in KC, so that won't work for me. That would be a great way to start out as a Mother-In-Law----choosing a class reunion over his wedding. HaHa. Guess the new phrase is LOL.
I have enjoyed looking through this. I am still working on it. I do FB and they group you by year and there is a '68 group on there also. FB is really enjoyable. It keeps me in touch with the kids and I get to see current pictures of the grands. FB is kind of addictive. NO---It is addictive. I don't do the games, that gets on my nerves, I just like to check out the people, my kids, and friends.
It seems that on the week ends, we travel to see either one kid or the other. There are 4 of them. Two grand babies. Who knows what the final tally will be on that. It seems like we haven't been home one week end this summer. We have either gone back to Parsons or to Springfield, KC, or Columbia.
We live in Waynesville, MO.--which is outside Ft. Leonard Wood. We have been here for a while. He works civil service and is sure tired of that rat race. Come on retirement. However, he will have to find more activities than TV or it will be bad. He is retired LTC--Transportation Corps & was an Army brat; so he can't seem to get away from the Army.
We have been married 36 years. That seems like an eternity. Especially if you ask him, I am sure. In this day and age, I guess that is an accomplishment anyway.
Since we have been married, we have lived in the SL area, Germany, Virginia and then the Ft. Leonard Wood area. We wanted here because it was closer to KS.
What Have I been up to in a nutshell for 40+ years? There are times when I wonder myself. I went to JUCO and then Pitt State--or back then KSC. I graduated in 1972. I met my husband in college. I started out teaching Home Ec. in Granite City HS. Then we moved to Hanau & Frankfurt, Germany. I subbed in a HS & Jr High over there--no jobs. Heather was born in Frankfurt. We came back to Virginia for the Advanced course and then moved to the Ft. Wood area.
At Ft. Wood, we had 3 boys. People have asked if there wasn't anything else to do there than that. Brian, Patrick & Aaron were born there. We miss all of them being at home. The car was going to every sporting event possible for years on end---cheer leading, football, soccer & wrestling. I think they signed up for about everything possible to run me ragged. Aaron got a soccer scholarship that paid his college bills and they went to nationals & placed third, so I guess it was worth all of the games since age 3. Now that it is fall and the games are all going again, I miss that, but life moves on.
Since there were not always teaching positions open in my area, rather than going back to school for elementary, I decided that I would work for myself. In hindsight, I am not sure that I would have done that again. But, hindsight is 20/20.
I decided to open a Bed & Breakfast, back when that was the thing. I don't hear of people doing that much now. Probably because it would make you work your butt off for what--who knows. We found an old stone house off of the downtown area that was for sale. We worked on it for a long time---remodeling. I made curtains until I couldn't see straight. I thought this would be a neat job. I could be my own boss, sew and decorate, cook (because I used to teach foods)and visit with people. OK--sounds good. In reality, this was years and years of work for no paycheck. I enjoyed all of it, but the work load was insane for what you got out of it. I burned my kids out on cleaning. They might not ever clean anything ever again. We were trying to maintain 2 houses and run to all of the ballgames. Plus, the B&B Assn. recommended that you have a side related area with a B&B because it was so spotty with bookings. A gift shop, catering, etc. Well, I added that to the pile, just to try to make it work. I was working my butt off. I felt like a rat in a wheel. Once you have extra mortgage hanging over your head, it is stressful. So I kept working and working trying to make this work.
We had people that stole from us and did all kinds of crazy things. Most of the people were nice, but it just wasn't worth the hassle. So, I saved the gift shop part of this and then eventually moved my store out to the PX Mall at Ft. Wood. If I thought that I was working crazy hrs. before with the B&B---I really had no idea what was ahead of me for the mall business. That was 70 hr. work weeks. You had to be open when the mall was open---no matter what. You had to hire help (HS kids after school etc.). That was another story in itself.
I worked there from '02 on. There was lots of business out there because it was a mall full of soldiers and families, but the hrs. were horrible.
That was like working a full 40 hrs., plus another part time(20 hrs. + 10)and that was just door open hrs---not the prep work. Talk about being tired. We only got off one day a year--Christmas. No wonders I had dark circles under my eyes. That was like another rat race wheel. Once you sign a contract with them, you are committed for so many years at that mall. OMG. If you break your contract, they can sue you.
In the summer of '07 I had to have surgery and could not continue working those hrs. Pretty sad that the only legal way that you can get out of that contract mess was for health reasons. I couldn't keep hiring people without me doing some of the work myself, and it took me a while to recover. So, friends & family packed up that shop after I was released from that contract and filled 2 garage type storage sheds.
At least, I am not working those crazy hrs. I still have the gift stuff that needs ditched by some means. Maybe I will have Christmas gifts for the family for the rest of my life, if I can't get rid of it in a flea market, E-Bay or Craigslist. Just what they want is crap that they hated and had to pack up & move.
My family hated me working out there because I NEVER got to see them. So, now I am enjoying my family and getting to travel around and do NORMAL things---whatever normal is at this point in life. That really made me appreciate the little things in life---even being outside and seeing birds & trees. Being stuck inside a Mall for 10 hrs. a day---you don't see those type of things.
I have taken my old store--on the corner of the town square--and turned it into my own sewing room--just for my own stuff. Not open to the public. I have had people wanting me to sew stuff for them and fix their messes for too long. It is time in my life that I make some things for myself and the kids, or just do whatever in the world I want to do. I had rented the old store several times, but then had to put up with a mess there, so just decided to use it for myself and spread out all of my machines and sewing stuff. It is nice to be able to work on things and have the room to do it. I can work on quilts etc., s...Expand for more
pread them out and then walk out of the door, lock it up and then go back the next day. I am making quilts and clothes for the Grand babies and just enjoying my sewing. That is the one true love that I have in life is sewing. No one bothers me and it is a stress reliever and in the end, you have created something nice.
I am working on quilts for all of my kids and the Grand kids. That way someday, when I am gone, they will have something left that I made for them. A quilt is made with love, to cover the ones that you love.
Anyway, I don't mean to get sentimental on you there. At this point in your life, you don't worry about all of the insane crap any more, but want to enjoy your family. Stuff is stuff and you can't take any of it with you. It seems like any more, our society wants bigger and better and nothing is good enough for anyone. When you look back---is that what is the real key to life and happiness? Not for me. I have worked my can off, and I am not sure for what. If I could get some of that time back, I would.
At this point, we are probably all just trying to keep the car between the ditches, and enjoy what time we have left on the road to see the Grand kids.
I enjoy the computer and really like to write. Thank God for the typing classes at LC. I wrote some silly stuff about a year ago of all of us taking a Senior Trip now in comparison to the SR. trip back when we did the HS one. It was pretty funny. I called it the Purple Panther Senior Bus Trip (And I want my Senior Discount---Damn IT!). I shared that with some people I knew from '68 and they all had a good laugh out of it. My family keeps telling me that I should write some kind of a silly book with life experiences. Who knows---maybe someday. Erma Bombeck was someone that I always enjoyed as an author. Maybe I have the Irish Gift of Gab on the computer.
Anyway, I am sure that you might be tired of reading this, at this point. I could sit here and type all day. Actually, I am really surprised that there are still characters clicking away under this as I type. I haven't run out of number yet---I don't understand why.
I really like typing and writing. Who would have thought that those business classes would have paid off. We did have fun in some of those crazy classes. Look how technology has advanced since the 60's. Remember some of those procedures to make copies. How crazy was that? Typing on the normal typewriter, w/o ribbon, to cut a hole in the stencil. Then you would have to put on a correction, smelly goo, and let it dry, so you could then retype. After that you would have to take the stencil and attach it to the ink drum cartridge and turn it by hand to produce copies.
How times have changed. My kids can't believe that we used to have to do things the way that we did. In the whole span of life, 40+ years is not really that long, but look at the progress in technology that has come and gone.
Remember the old adding machines that weighed a ton and ratcheted back and forth to shake the room. Can you imagine lugging something like that around. That would be unheard of and insane.
Technology is amazing. My kids look at me like I am a dinosaur when it comes to their devices. They get frustrated with me for some of the questions that they ask them. They just look at me like they can't believe that I don't know what they do. DUH---they should have grown up with what we did. Most of the time when you were in a typing class, you were on a manual typewriter. You were uptown, when you got to work on the electric ones for a while---and you had to take turns. I would question whether anyone from their generation could even operate a manual typewriter. They would need an instruction manual to deal with it. So there you go, "What goes around comes around". Someday, these kids will have their kids looking at them and just shake their heads and say that they can't believe that they just don't get their new gadget. Then we will know that life has come full circle.
Speaking of business classes at LC, our lockers were right across the hall from Miss Morgan's book keeping room. That meant that we were targets for the verbal lashings on a daily basis. That was just crazy. I am not really sure what the problem was there, but there was something up. I do remember when she passed out in class and was taken off by an ambulance. I felt bad, even though she had yelled at us every day of our lives
Remembering some of the good times from HS are enjoyable. HS is a phase that everyone in life has to pass through to get to the adult world. Some parts good, some parts bad. Some parts funny and some sad. But we survived and managed to move into the adult world to make our own way in society---just as our children are doing now.
Would we have done things different?---I am sure that all of us probably would have changed some things. But, that is part of the learning and growing process. I guess there is the phrase, "That which doesn't kill you, makes you stronger". So now we are the older generation with words of wisdom for our children and grandchildren. Will they listen to us?---who knows, only time will tell.
I bought a little plaque a few months ago that I look at every day. It is hanging right in front of one of my sewing machines. The plaque says "It is official--I have become my mother". How true that is. I used to have a coffee cup that said that also. I am sure that many of you out there can say the same thing at this point. When you look in a mirror, do you see your parent?
I remember when my Mom had her 40 year class reunion from Altamont. She had me when she was 40 years old. Holy Cow. That was crazy, but that was the way that it was. No wonders that I was an only child. Anyway, she had her 40 year class reunion in 1968 when we were seniors. I remember thinking that she was ancient---having a 40 year class reunion. Now I look back at that with tongue and cheek and laugh. She seemed so old at the time, and a 40 year reunion did also.
Speaking about technology and time changing, when my Mom was in HS at Altamont, she had to stay down there through the week and only come home on the week ends. There were no buses that transported the students. I guess they had people that rented out rooms to the students. Can you imagine how strange that would have been to only see your family on the week ends, and have to live away from home just to go to school at Altamont? I guess the ones that lived in Altamont had it made.
I am going to have to wrap this up. We are supposed to go to KC today and I am sitting here typing away. My husband is getting ticked off at me. I just keep telling him, I just have to type a little more. Story of my life.
I do like to type and do Facebook also, so if you want to communicate through classmates or facebook, let me know. I wish that I could go to the reunion, but can't.
Enjoy your day----I sure hope to.
Bye for now. Guess what?--I still have a lot of characters left, but must stop. Hopefully you didn't fall asleep during this book.
The questions to the right says "How do you hope old friends will remember you?". That is a hard one. I guess just remembering me at all, at this point would be a start. Hopefully, we made some good friends in HS and if we are lucky, they will still keep up with you to this day. Friends & family is all that we can hope for in the end. The rest is immaterial.
Enjoy your families.
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