"I Remember"

"I REMEMBER"

Bonny Oaks anecdotes or a book on your memories
of your Bonny Oaks days,
we want them all!

		"I Remember...."
Jerry Harris Bonny Oaks 1955-1966		I remember one day we little boys were heading to the big boys building for supper. I saw Bobby Yarbrough riding a scooter down the sidewalk and he pushed it over in the grass cause he was heading to the dining room too. After I came out from supper, I saw his scooter and went over to get a better look. After a closer look, I realized it was just two pieces of board and a pair of skates, nothing fancy, no handlebars on it, just two pieces of wood and a pair of skates that had been separated to act as wheels on each end! I thought it was the neatest thing and I wanted one too. I knew I could make one just like it and a few years later, when I got bigger and could hammer a nail, I did just that! And all the other boys saw it and wanted one too. After I made mine, I helped them make theirs. I helped Billy Fry and Tommy Edwards but can’t remember who the other boy was. We had a blast! I got to thinking about the fun we had on those old scooters we used to make back when we were about 11 or 12 years old at Bonny Oaks. So when Christine and I went to an antique store in Monongahela Pennsylvania last March 2013, and I saw a pair of the old skates, I bought them. I thought, "when I get home I am going to make a scooter like we used to have so much fun on", and I did! Today my homemade tribute to those Scooters hangs in Christine’s office in our home. Here’s some pictures of it and I hope it brings back some good memories if you played with them at Bonny Oaks too! Jerry and his homemade Scooter like the old days. Christine's office with Scooter on the left wall over her desk. Skates that Jerry bought in PA at antique store, used other one on Scooter Underside view of Scooter showing skates (skates weren't painted back then)
Daisy Hawk Bonny Oaks 1962-1968		I remember it was late one night and a few of us girls were making plans to run away from Bonny Oaks. As it became very dark outside, we made it down through the tall field of grass so no one would see us. In the distance from the tall fields was railroad tracks. We waited for the train to come, and as we there none of us had a clue where we were going to go. Our thoughts were, if we got caught Mr. Adamson would send us to "The Bad School" which was called "TPS". We made the right decision to go back to the dormitory. Suppose we kept this a secret amongst us for all these years.
Paul Hugh Watts Bonny Oaks 1955-1956		I remember going to the Circus. I remember getting a dollar to buy a Christmas gift for one of the boys. I don’t remember his name but we both liked the present we bought so much we kept them for ourselves. I also learned to whistle there.
Brenda Breedlove Bonny Oaks -1958-		I remember the little girls brushing Mrs. Costello's hair and I remember going to Camp Joy. The church me and my two brothers went to took us to camp meetings for two weeks in West Virginia. Mrs. Costello took us little girls to Lake Winnepesaukah and I remember our row of beds with a small dresser. Mine was way in the corner on the end of room. I went to school on campus. I was ten years old. My mother went to chapel on visiting day and I remember her signing me out. I was very happy I went to the swimming pool every day before school season. My oldest brother brought me a piece of his 12th birthday cake. Going up to the little girls building was against the rules but he told someone there he wasn't leaving till his sister got the cake. And I use to swing on the swing there.
David Yell Bonny Oaks 1953-1963		I remember one evening back in 1957 somewhere around 8-9PM, I heard Mr. Adamson in a very clear but loud voice yell out the word "Sputnik". Most all of us that were living at Hagan Hall ran outside to find Mr. Adamson pointing up into the night sky and directing us to a blinking light in the sky. We were seeing the just launched Russian satellite Sputnik for the very first time. We were just young and so excited that we talked about the satellite for several hours after lights out. The next morning we made our trip to the big boys building for breakfast, naturally the conversation all around the dining hall was about Sputnik. The satellite could be seen nightly about the same time and all the big boys wanted to see this sight with their very own eyes. That evening most all of the boys big and small gathered to watch for Sputnik. Just as it got dark, a huge meteor came flying across the sky, it was so bright that it made it look like daylight. Most of the older boys started shouting Sputnik but it wasn't Sputnik at all but the brightest shooting star I have ever seen even to this very day. We did get to see Sputnik several other times but it was small potatoes compared to the meteor that we witnessed that beautiful night.
Christine Haven Bonny Oaks 1959-1966		Today is Sunday and “I Remember” Sundays at Bonny Oaks. I remember Patsey Tankersley was the oldest “big girl” and her room was the last one down the hallway, next to the Roof Garden and it faced the road. First thing on Sunday mornings, Patsey would put her knee-high wooden radio (antique now) out in the hall and we could hear the Old Time Gospel Hour. That radio had the best speakers and on Sunday mornings the hallway would be full of those gospel songs as we girls got ready for church. If someone spotted one of the church rides coming up the hill, they would holler which one and we’d run down to meet it, mine was Brainerd Baptist. I remember I always felt sorry for Betty Chambers on Sundays, she had the misfortune of being the only girl who was assigned to go to Mr. Adamson’s church. Every Sunday she had to be perfectly dressed and she didn’t dare miss (skip as we called it) attending her assigned church. When it was time to head up to Mr. Adamson’s house and ride with him and his family, she would trudge down that road, she couldn’t be a minute late. Poor Betty, she would long to go to her sister Mary’s church and visit the other girls’ churches off and on like we could. I remember we would hate it when our church bus got stopped by a train at the Bonny Oaks railroad tracks cause we could see our girls building between each train car and we knew on the other side of those tracks was Mrs. Dodson’s fried chicken waiting for us in the dining room. I remember going to our mandatory Chapel services on campus every Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM. Mr. Adamson seemed to love preaching up in that pulpit, almost like it was his favorite part of the week. I remember once when I was 9 years old it was so hot in the Chapel that I made a paper fan and my housemother, Mrs. Costello, promptly took it from me to fan herself. I giggled in disbelief. We (or I) liked going to Chapel cause it was when all of us kids could mingle with each other, see our siblings, and talk. Some may remember Visiting Sundays, the first Sunday of each month. I remember Easter Morning Sunrise Service every year. I remember Easter egg hunts in the "Circle" in front of the Chapel.