One good thing about Jackson Homes was that everybody had kids! There were: Murle and Mary B. Jones and Don and Lucile Newman with five girls each, George and Helen Ballard with four girls, and Bill and Betty Hurst with two girls. It had me a bit worried that we could only have girls at Jackson Homes. There were a few boys and lots of girls so the kids always had someone to play with in the neighborhood. Every time you looked out in the playground, which was inside the circle of houses, there always was a bunch of kids playing on the monkey bars, skating around the wadding pool, riding bicycles, and running to chase each other. With all the kids, sometimes we had a problem trying to get our kids home when we wanted them to come. My Mother had given me an old hand bell that she had for a long time, so we started ringing the bell and our kids knew that we wanted them home which was at supper time most days. It was during this time that Pam, Glenn and Michael learned to get along with other children so well.
One day in the spring, I heard a little girl screaming her heart out while I was working in the yard. I thought that she had been hit by a car or something else major had happen to her. I ran over to her to see what had happened. I soon discovered that she had been stung by a honey bee! I gently took out my pocket knife, scraped off the stinger, kissed it, and all was well. Unto this day Cindy Jones credits me with saving her life that day. Later, Murle and the five Jones girls sang at my fiftieth birthday party. Listen to me tell this story.Jackson Homes ended up being the best place that we ever could have lived to bring up our children; they had so many great kids to play with. Since all were so well behaved, it was easy to have fifteen to twenty at a party. There were a whole lot of birthday parties since there were so many kids.
I think every kid could ride a bicycle. A child did not have to own one because at almost any time there were about eight or ten lying around the playground and anyone could ride them if they were not in use. I taught Glenn to ride a bicycle in the field so if he fell it would not hurt like being on concrete. I would run along pushing him then let go and he would be able to keep going. Later, he would go to a little dip in the playground and start himself until he learned to start riding from a standstill. With all of the children I do not remember ever seeing any of them fighting and I never heard any of the adults fighting as you often hear about today. I will always have fond memories of the wonderful times at Jackson Homes with all of the kids.
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