Jean Engstrom's Column:
MAKES MY HEART SMILE
I couldn't put it down until I had read or browsed from the first to the last page of this delightful book! I love a good story. Especially when it's about people I've known, places I've known, as well as events and happenings I've experienced. It's about growing up in Lima. Would you believe that growing up in Lima during the Great Depression could be adventurous and fun?
Well, it was, and Duke Murray (aka Dr. Emmett Murray) has written "Come Reminisce With Me" recalling the trials, tribulations and joys of growing up in Lima in the 1930s. Dr. Murray has given us a good healthy dose of humor in his memoirs - the same verbal doctoring his patients received when he had his family practice out at 2875 W. Elm St. Now retired, the Murrays live in Florida.
"Come Reminisce With Me" is about the simple innocence and inquisitiveness of childhood. It's about the education in human relations that cannot be found in textbooks. As Robb Murray describes his dad's book, "it depicts the universal struggles of a young person learning to fill his shoes in America."
Like the time when he was 8 years old, in downtown Buffalo, N.Y., with his parents, and got lost - his mother was "going to shake the socks off me when she got me back," but when she saw him in a patrol car in front of the department store, "she overflowed with tears and almost hugged me to pieces" ... like "going to the kitchen" at Horace Mann School where Miss Amy Van Cleve kept her paddle and meted out discipline ... like the job which offered a two-and-a-half year tour of Europe, all expenses paid, and $50 a month ... like my very favorite "Saturday Night in Lima" which brings forth a hearty chuckle every time I even THINK of it!
Mark your calendar - 2:30 p.m. Aug. 10 - when the Allen County Historical Society will sponsor an afternoon with Dr. Murray reading excerpts from his forthcoming book and discussing growing up in Lima during the Depression era. A handout of book excerpts will be available and complimentary. A social hour will follow the program with a reception for Duke, Polly and Robb Murray.