I have lived my entire life in Sioux Falls, SD. I would spend my summers at my
Grandpa's house in Hartley, Iowa ( Northwest corner of Iowa ). Never thought
about this until later years ( I am 46 now )..............as a child it wasn't
important but as the years go by... oh how very important! Here goes ( thanks
for your patience ):
My Grandpa had an old gasoline powered push mower ( which seemed like it
weighed 500 lbs. to a 7 - 10 year old little boy ). I would push that mower up
and down the sidewalks and some streets for that matter since some folks did
not have sidewalks. I would knock on each and every door ( I would venture out
just after breakfast then head to Grandpa's house when the firehouse siren
sounded to signal lunch then head out again until the 6 o'clck siren sounded
for supper time ) and ask if they needed their yard mowed, please envision that
some of these houses were 2, 3, 4, 5 and even 6 blocks from Grandpa's house....
This is the best part of the story..........
At almost every house that I went to the first thing people would recognize was
my Grandpa's old lawn mower and then they would say, " you must be Jake's
grandson from Sioux Falls. I now realize it was probably more special for
Grandpa Jake to have me come spend the Summer than I ever realized." In
retrospect he must have told alot of his friends and neighbors that I was
coming cuz there sure were alot of folks that knew whose grandson I was! What
a great memory!!!!
And as a matter of fact I was "hired" to mow quite afew of those yards for a
whopping 50 cents and once in a while a DOLLAR ( which was a lot of money in
the mid-1960's ) to a little kid.
They had an Ice-cream shop that was right next door to the Fire station.
My cousin that lived in Hartley was always envious that I lived in the BIG CITY
and I would have given anything to have switched places with him and grown up
in Hartley, Iowa. There is a sign out on the edge of town, even to this day
that states, "Hartley.the town with a heart".
Kelly in Sioux Falls, SD
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