After reading some of the comments on my other posts I decided to write about small town life and lessons learned. I'm sure there will be other posts about the many small towns that I grew up in- but this one is about where I feel I learned the most.
I write this sitting in a cold, lonely building waiting for someone to request an ambulance while the snow blows around outside. I never thought that I would have my start in this small town or that I would refer to it as my home. When I am here I feel at home, thinking back to all the memories and friends that this place has shown me.
I started working in this town after a chance encounter one night. I was driving around after visiting my grandparents in the local hospital and noticed the ambulances outside of the building. Being a newly minted EMT I thought I could conquer the world, and decided to stop by. After meeting with the director he invited me to do a ride along with his service. That weekend was the start of what is now a nine year journey.
Small town life is what I have grown up with. I graduated high school with one of the larger classes there- seven kids! Prior to moving to Geyser we lived in Lima- another booming Montana metropolis and before that was Melstone. Each town offered something new and exciting to my young mind. Everyone knew one another and you never feel unsafe. The only downside to living in small town Montana was that there weren't alot of peers to hang out with. Shopping meant commuting to the "big city" where the day would be spent going from one store to another looking for the best deal.
Small, rural schools have the advantage of having a one to one relationships between teachers and students. There is a feeling of family within the small classes, almost like the tv show Cheers, where everyone knows your name. You couldn't get away with much in school, but we still had fun. Classes were limited- no fancy shops to do woodworking, or home economics to learn to cook but the classes we did have taught us well and prepared us for college.
I write this sitting in a cold, lonely building waiting for someone to request an ambulance while the snow blows around outside. I never thought that I would have my start in this small town or that I would refer to it as my home. When I am here I feel at home, thinking back to all the memories and friends that this place has shown me.
I started working in this town after a chance encounter one night. I was driving around after visiting my grandparents in the local hospital and noticed the ambulances outside of the building. Being a newly minted EMT I thought I could conquer the world, and decided to stop by. After meeting with the director he invited me to do a ride along with his service. That weekend was the start of what is now a nine year journey.
Small town life is what I have grown up with. I graduated high school with one of the larger classes there- seven kids! Prior to moving to Geyser we lived in Lima- another booming Montana metropolis and before that was Melstone. Each town offered something new and exciting to my young mind. Everyone knew one another and you never feel unsafe. The only downside to living in small town Montana was that there weren't alot of peers to hang out with. Shopping meant commuting to the "big city" where the day would be spent going from one store to another looking for the best deal.
Small, rural schools have the advantage of having a one to one relationships between teachers and students. There is a feeling of family within the small classes, almost like the tv show Cheers, where everyone knows your name. You couldn't get away with much in school, but we still had fun. Classes were limited- no fancy shops to do woodworking, or home economics to learn to cook but the classes we did have taught us well and prepared us for college.
I like small towns...always have. Out of college, I worked for newspapers in Beach and Baker. Then it was on to Glendive where I married Belinda. However, my favorite small town was Roundup. Considering my background, is it any wonder that I would choose to live in Mandan with all of Belinda's relatives rather than the larger city across the river? It would be hard to imagine me living in a city like New York or Los Angeles. Like the cliche says, "They are nice to visit, but wouldn't want to live there." I often think it would have been nice to live in Roundup as an adult with my parents and brothers and sisters living there also, but alas, we all moved on to find jobs.
ReplyDeleteI am a small town guy as well. Kinda. More like a medium town guy. Where else besides Roundup can you walk down the middle of main street, to one of the two grocery stores five times a day, and not bother any one?
ReplyDeleteDVD- Who could forget the memorable roadtrips, the Dollar 25 store, and of course- Stewarts! Good times!
ReplyDeleteIt took alot of farmers sons to make Geyser High School such a quality place.The boys grew up,went to college and came back to live at home.Maybe they met at college but I'm thinking some of the Lady teachers came to Geyser for their first jobs,met their husbands and never left.Some very easily could have gone on to bigger schools but for some reason they liked what they saw and stayed.The teacher that sticks out in my mind was the band teacher.She could make more music with a few students and a couple basketball players than alot of big schools.That band was good enough that the old folks would bring there instruments to the school for a home game and play along.You won't find that in a bigger school,for sure.
ReplyDeleteArVee's comment reminds me of the fall of 1980 when the high school in Golva (12 miles south of Beach, ND) was still open. I went down to cover a girl's basketball game and discovered the Golva "pep band" was completely composed of parents. They told me it was because the entire high school band was playing basketball. Needless to say, there were no cheerleaders. One other thing about Golva, because they had no diner the lunchroom at the high school was often filled with adults of every age. They had to eat out somewhere and the high school cafeteria didn't discriminate due to age. Unfortunately, the high school closed and the town lost a lot of its personality. The gymnasium was a sight also. It had only two rows of wooden bleachers on both sides of the playing floor. There was a bar in Golva called "Norb's Bar." Norb was a collector, part-time custom combiner and bar owner. This man had an eclectic collection of antiques that he amassed while traveling from Texas to Canada every year combining. He had the only working Victrola I've ever seen. For you young 'uns, that was a handcranked record player with round cylindar records. There is one of them in the basement of the haunted house in the movie "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken." Anyway, in the fall of 1980, Norb hired me to take pictures of all of his "collectibles." I suppose he wanted to send the photos to his insurance company or something. I have no clue whatever happened to Norb or his collection.
ReplyDeleteI've got to tell you about sports in the small town school pictured above.Notice the picture,1/3 class rooms and 2/3s basketball court.We would be greeted at the door by the two cheerleaders who wisked Pat from our arms and parade him up and down the out of bounds lines on said court.To introduce the team the lights would go dim inside and the spot-light would fix its self on the starting players one at a time,while a booming voice dragged out their names as if pro boxes were being introduced.There may have been 2 lights as I recall it seemed like a red light was involved to give the affect of fire do to the blazzing speed of each player.Big G. would know.From there it was all down hill.The jump ball was the beginning of the end.I would think "all of that,for this"they were good kids and their time in the spot light will live in their minds forever.I forgot the name Geyser Gophers,maybe or Rockets.
ReplyDeleteArVee- The illustrious mascot for Geyser was the feared Wrangler. One of the cheerleaders would dress up in western wear- shirt, blue jeans, chaps, and of course a cowboy hat and parade around the gym. The light show was modeled after the Chicago Bulls opening. Unfortunatly Geyser was lacking the Bulls winning record, but at least had the opening act!
ReplyDeleteYa,I don't remember that bunch ever winning.That will tell you how much pro basketball I watch.GO Blackhawks!!
ReplyDelete