Seventy-five years ago

Seventy-five years ago - 1945 -a long time ago.  A lot of events being remembered this year.  World War II came to an end.  Auschwitz was liberated.   Celebrations have taken place in remembrance.  

I was a little girl back then, living in the little town of Lacoochee.  Lacoochee was a company town.   The Cummer Lumber Mill was there.  Cypress was milled there.  That is where my daddy worked.  The mill had housing for the employees.  There was a hotel where my mother worked.  If I recall correctly, she was the manager.  

I was born in September 1941, just before the US entered the war in December.  All the men went to Camp Blanding to volunteer.  My daddy was among them, but he was 4-F, so he was not accepted into the service.  He returned to Lacoochee, and during the course of the war, German war prisoners were brought to the States to camps.  There was one in Dade City, and each morning, the men were transported by bus to Lacoochee to work in the mill.  My daddy worked with, or supervised them, if I am correct

I was watching a movie the other night about families in France hiding Jewish children in their homes and getting them into Spain for safety.  At the end of the movie, when the war ended, people were dancing in the streets and cheering.  I remember that in Lacoochee.  When news came that the war had ended, people were honking car horns, laughing and crying, and hugging each other.

The other thing that I remember (I was not quite four yet.) was hearing my parents say, "When the war is over, we're leaving Lacoochee."  I don't know if they had the foresight to know that the lumber mill would not last forever or what, or if they were looking forward to a better life somewhere else.  Sure enough, in August, after the war was over, they moved from Lacoochee to Bradenton.

My parents bought a little house in Bradenton that was out of town, just inside the city limits.  On the block was our house, the house across the street, and one house down the street.  To the west, there was nothing until you came to old Palma Sola and Palma Sola Park.  Someone said to me one day, "Beverly, you lived way out of town."  It isn't that way any more.

One other thing of note happened in 1945.  Calvary Baptist Church was started.  It was the church that was closest to our house, and that is where Mother and Daddy took me to Sunday School.  I often look back and think how God leads and guides.  I remember well my Sunday School teachers.  Mrs. Thompson, the wife of the gentleman who was instrumental in starting the church was my first Sunday School teacher.  One of the pastors we had encouraged us to memorize Scripture.  Five of us enrolled in Bible Memory Association.  For twelve weeks we had passages to learn, and if we successfully learned those, we earned a free week at camp.  We learned 250 verses during those twelve weeks.  The only problem was the camp was in Alabama, which in the early 50's was a long distance.  

Our pastor knew of a camp in Polk City, Florida which had a similar program.  Their requirement was 300 verses for a free week.  He worked with them, and they permitted us to learn an additional 50 verses and go to camp there.  We did, and that became an activity each summer.  After the first year, there was a series a lessons to do to earn camp the next summer.  By the time I was in junior high, I went to camp to work in the kitchen.  Later on I worked as a junior counselor, and then as a senior counselor.  

(To be continued)