Saturdays at the Officers Club

Saturdays were special at my house. Dad was home usually after a week on the road and the day was filled with chores with him. Usually my mom worked on Saturday from seven until three so we had the day to ourselves. It usually started at seven o’clock in the morning I would get up and watch Cartoons. Dad usually would sleep until nine because he would usually arrive home from the California run around 2:30 or three in the morning.

Because mom worked all day dad was in charge of supper. When dad got up we would drive down to the Jack and Jill store and buy the ingredients’ we needed. Those ingredients’ included a pigs foot, pinto beans, a five pound bag of red potatoes, a dozen ears of corn on the cob, a box of cornbread, raw onions, a box of saltine crackers, a gallon of whole milk, and a watermelon. We would go home put on a pot of boiling water throw the pig’s feet, beans, and what seemed like half a bottle of salt with it. We would make the cornbread in the oven, and we would slice the potatoes for some of my dads delicious fried potatoes.

Usually between two and three in the afternoon we would go down to the cigar store that my dad’s friend ran. His friend was from Protivin, an area that had a large Czech settlement and so usually half the guys in there spoke Bohemian. I learned part of that language, how to shoot pool, how to smoke cigars and chew tobacco in there. Dad never drank beer in there; usually he had a bottle of Dr. Pepper. Dad usually bought a box of El product Cigars and a case of Mail Pouch Tobacco. He was the product of the tobacco fields of West Virginia. He also rolled his own cigarettes, smoked a pipe, and every once in a while would dip snuff.

About three we would go home and watch a rerun of Roy Rogers or All Star wrestling. The match we waited for was usually Bulldog Bob Brown vs. Irish Pat O’Conner. More than one time we would go down and watch them at McElroy auditorium in Waterloo with my Aunt Nettie. The broadcast man was local newsman Ron Steele.

Finally we would sit down about five and eat supper. I never appreciated how wonderful all of that tasted until now. Mom would hurry and get the dishes done so she and dad could sit down and watch Lawerence Welk at six.

That was the Saturday of my youth, wow how things have changed.