Our State Street Home in Indianapolis

My mother purchased our State Street home that was located at the corner of State Street and Ohio, 1 block north of Washington Street, the main east-west street of Indianapolis, IN.  We moved to this house after living with my grandmother on N. College.  It was a 2 story, white frame house with 3 bedrooms and bath upstairs.  I had an imaginary friend named Jean who lived in the mirror above the sink in the bathroom.  She had dark hair and was a good listener.  Mother rented the bedrooms out and we lived in the downstairs part.  I know we had 'roomers', but I really don't remember anyone ever being there except for my mother's best friend, Joyce.  She lived in the pink bedroom.  There was one roomer that lived upstairs that let us use his TV in the living room, but I don't remember what he even looked like.  Come to think of it, it may have been Joyce's TV.  Renting rooms to single people was pretty common back then.  So, the dining room was converted to the bedroom for my mother, brother, sister and I.  We had a front porch with a brick half wall around it.  There was a small backyard.  On Sunday, my mother would do the laundry down in the basement with a wringer washer and tubs for rinsing.  I was always afraid that I would get my arm stuck in between the rollers of the washer.   She would hang the washing outside in good weather.  She also had lines strung up in the basement in case of bad weather.  The back yard was also our burial ground for our only 2 pets, a parakeet named Mickey and a gold fish.

There was a small house behind us that a little girl and her parents lived in.  Her name was Marcia.  Even though she lived right behind us, I don't remember playing with her that much.  While most of the houses on our side of State Street were single family dwellings, the houses across the street were mostly doubles of frame construction.  Those houses sat really close together and always looked dingy to me.  I don't think I ever went across the street.  Most of the yards in our neighborhood were just dirt.  I remember Mother trying to get grass to grow, but it never would. We had friends that we played with on our side of the street - Butchie who lived with his grandparents (his grandmother was the lady who had the big iron press),  It always seemed dark inside and had that 'old people' house smell.  Do you know what I am talking about?    
There were 4 young girls living in a double down the street with their parents.  The oldest girl was my age and her name was Donna, too - Donna Sue.  One winter after a big snow, her dad made a Daniel Boone snowman with rifle and coon skin hat.  It was really cool!  It seemed like her parents fought a lot - I think he drank too much.  When he built the Daniel Boone snowman, I thought to myself - why couldn't he be that nice all the time.  The Daniel Boone snowman was really cool and everyone was really happy.  Just across the alley from them, there was a boy a few years older that lived there.  They had a big maple tree in the front yard and in order to climb it, you had to throw a rope around the lower big limb and hoist yourself up the trunk.  Once, I got halfway up, the rope broke and I fell on my back.  It hurt and I crawled home.  Actually, I didn't hurt all that bad, I just liked the drama..............After the houses, there were a few businesses on State Street towards Washington Street.  A cleaners that had a sloped parking area in front that was great for roller skating, Next to it was an auto garage that smelled of oil and grease.  The old men would sit outside the overhead garage door.  They were always nice and would say 'hi' when we walked by, but I was a scared of them.  Then at the corner there was the drugstore.   After my grandmother would go downtown on Saturday for her dressmaking shopping, she would take the bus to our house to visit.  The bus stop was at the corner of State and Washington and my brother and I would walk her to the bus stop when she left.  She would give us each a dime to buy something at the drugstore.  You could buy a lot for a dime.  Sometimes we would buy bubble gum or small tablets to draw in and then there were always the wood paddles with the rubber balls.  My brother and I were big suckers for those wooden paddles and balls.  They usually broke within 10 minutes and then Mother would have herself a new paddle.  We had a big heavy white upright piano in our bedroom and when Grandma would call to talk to Mother, Eddie and I would get the paddle and push it under the piano.  There was quite a stash when we moved out of that house.    
Here is a newer picture of our block (1) our house (2) the cleaners (3) auto garage (no longer there) (4) drugstore (no longer there) (5) Marcia's house and (6) was the alley.  Back then, the garbage cans were left at the alley where the garbage trucks would drive through to pick up the garbage.  Garbage was just thrown in the garbage cans - we didn't have plastic bags.  It always smelled bad.  I'm not sure when this aerial was taken or if that house is the same one that we lived in.  It seemed that there were more houses when we lived there in the 1950s.

My brother and I also liked playing on our front porch - it was big.  There was a big glider to swing on and a milk box by the front door for the milkman to leave milk in.  We could even ride our tricycles on the front porch.

We had the freedom to play and our imaginations knew no boundaries.  The house was our toy box.  Here is another aerial picture of our house.   The apartments across Ohio St were the apartments that we stood next to for our pictures with our sister.

This is one of the pictures with Joyce, my mother's best friend, taken with my brother, sister and I.  Joyce was very pretty.  She was a sweet and fun lady and had a bubbly personality.  

The State Street house holds lots of memories.  This is where we lived when Eddie and I had our picture taken on the pony.  My sister was born here and this is where we lived when Eddie and I started school.  That first year of school for me was rough.  Eddie was still at home and was able to play with all the toys by himself.  It was really bad if we got a new 'toy' and I had to go to school.  I remember one time, someone gave us these big photograph books.  There weren't any photographs in them;  just blank thick paper.  We were going to draw in them.  I just knew Eddie was going to draw on all the paper while I was at school.  There were many mornings that I had to be physically pushed out the door.  Quickly the door would shut and I had no where to go but to school.  It just wasn't fair!  

A Special Mother

My brother, Eddie, was 6 years old and I was 7.  Our sister, Ann Elizabeth, had been born in February, 1955 so she was about 8 months old and my beautiful and loving mother, Joan (Rebecca Joan) Smith Beheler

A Special Mother

My mother is no longer with us but will live in my heart forever.  She passed away September 9, 2008 at the age of 87.  She had suffered from dementia with lewy bodies.  Her happiness was her home, being surrounded by her "pretties" and her privacy.  This disease took that away from her.

My mother's greatest gift was her unconditional love for my brother, sister and I.  She raised us kids on her own, working in a factory until she retired.  Growing up as young children in the early '50s, it's amazing what she accomplished through hard work and perseverance.  Although, she had to work outside the home, the rest of her time was devoted to us kids.  She loved us and talked to us about everything.  She would buy records (45s) and play them on our record player.  We'd sing and dance in the living room.  She would read to us from the Bible, especially stories about how Jesus loved little children.

She was also very creative.  She made up her own stories and we loved listening to them when we were little.  We could play with our toys in the living room - I don't think she ever told us not to mess anything up.  We were poor, but we didn't know it because of her unconditional love for us.  Did she ever get mad at us?  Well, the only time she would get mad was if my brother and I would fight.  She did not like fighting at all.  Oh, and maybe the time I cut my sister's hair that had never been cut before ..... we'll just leave that for another story.

My mother enjoyed collecting things and going to auctions and never, ever threw anything away.  She had always saved newspapers even when we were little kids.  She'd like to cut out recipes and fashion advertisements - well, just about anything that caught her attention.  When grocery stores started selling dinnerware in the '50s and '60s, she started buying dinnerware - she liked every pattern!  When she retired, she started going to auctions and really started collecting.  In her eyes, anything old, especially glass, was beautiful and special.  I don't think any auctioneer had to put back a box due to no bidders if she was in the audience.  Most items were still in the boxes that she brought home from the auctions, still carefully wrapped in the same newspapers.  She also loved to read and belonged to about every book club there was.  And, I would almost bet that her Avon rep received sales awards having my mother as her customer.  She saved all of our clothes, our toys and school papers as we were growing up.

It took us about 3 1/2 years to go through all her things.  She had always said we would have fun going through her pretties.  Although none of us were convinced at the time, she was right.  My brother, sister and I found a new closeness that we had not shared in a long time.  Not only did we find our childhood memories, but we also found things including her written personal thoughts that have brought an awareness about how unique and wonderful our mother was.

At times there are tears, but then there is laughter, so, yes Mother, we are having fun going through your treasures.  You see, these "things" are our wonderful memories, too.

We are still going through pictures and letters and trying to put together the puzzle pieces of our family history.  We are in the process of trying to identify as many people in the many pictures that we have inherited.  Along with the old letters, research and memories, we are hoping to put together the living story of our family history for our children and grandchildren.