Welcome to Our American Stories, where we proudly share the incredible tales of everyday Americans, celebrating the enduring spirit of this good and great country. We believe in finding light in a world often filled with darkness, offering a positive respite with each story. Today, we travel back to a classic American childhood, as listener Joyneil Kidney opens the door to her family’s lively Iowa farmhouse, painting a vivid picture of growing up amidst shared laughter, challenges, and unforgettable moments.
From huddled blankets on the porch watching Sputnik sail overhead to the pure joy of roller skating inside on linoleum floors, Joyneil’s memories capture a bygone era of rural American life. You’ll hear about ingenious makeshift closets, the wonder of a first black and white TV, and even a baby pig kept warm by an old stove. This heartwarming story isn’t just about an old house; it’s about the resilience, deep love, and spirit of family that filled its rooms, reminding us how ordinary lives create extraordinary American history.
📖 Read the Episode Transcript
This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories. And we tell stories about everything here on this show, and now on our show, America is the Star. It’s not a perfect country, but it’s a good and great one, filled with good and great people and beautiful people too. And by the way, that’s the purpose of this show: is to rally people around with something positive to listen (00:34):
to every day in our world, filled with anger, vitriol, and in the end, ugliness. This is a beautiful respite in your day of content and programming and listening. And by the way, if you want to help support our cause, we are a nonprofit. And though the show is free for you to listen to, it is not free to make. Feel free to make a donation or a contribution to (00:57):
Our American Stories by going to OurAmericanStories.com. That’s OurAmericanStories.com. And up next, a listener’s story. And we love doing this. And this is a story from one of our regular contributors, Joyneil Kidney. Joy listens to our show in Iowa on WHO News Radio 1040 AM, a great iHeartStation. Her contribution today (01:22):
is called “Roller Skating in the House.” Take it away, Joy.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I grew up in an old, white American Foursquare farmhouse four miles of gravel south of Dexter, Iowa. Though none of the rural roads were labeled then, and there no longer was a creamery, when we said we lived on Old Creamery Road, everyone knew which one it was. I love this house, but my mother did not. One (01:55):
of my favorite parts of the house was the front porch toward the road. My sister and I played cowgirls there, played with whatever pet we had at the time (even Rusty the squirrel), and washed rainstorms from there. All four of us even bundled up in blankets on the porch the fall of 1957 to watch for Sputnik (02:18):
go sailing over the farm. The front door led to the kitchen with a round pedestal table and white Youngstown cupboards. Mom decorated the room in pink and green. She even had pink and green square Melmac dishes, which were large (02:40):
enough so that Uncle Bill didn’t have to pile food on top of food when he worked with Dad and ate with us. The crank telephone was on the wall near the table. Our number was 5211. Our ring was four shorts. North of the kitchen was the living room, with a smaller room off of it (03:02):
to the west, where Mom’s treadle swing machine was. An oil stove heated the larger room. I remember pulling a tooth, sitting with my back against that cozy stove. The upright piano was in that room, our very first television (black and white), and a maroon, plushy sofa, where Dad (03:24):
sat with an ashtray on a stand, its handle shaped like a leaping ground. When the stove was taken down each spring, that room seemed so much larger. Upstairs wasn’t heated. Gloria and I shared the north bedroom. Off that room (03:46):
were two smaller ones, one empty and the other used for storage: Mom’s trunk with high school souvenirs and Dad’s from the Air Corps. The south bedroom upstairs was Mom and Dad. It had no closets. Dad installed some rods, and Mom shirrred blue sheets on poles to conceal their clothes. (04:09):
She’d done the same thing when they were living in a church in Texas during the war. Behind the kitchen downstairs is what we called the mudroom until Mom changed our terminology to the utility room. Men washed up for noon dinner at that sink because it was right inside the back door, the one we usually used from the garage. (04:32):
The old cop burning stove was in there. It was handy when the electricity went out. Once, Mom sewed up a baby pig after its mother had stepped on it and kept it warm behind that old stove. I decided then and there I’d never marry a farmer. When Dad (04:55):
removed that old stove, Mom let us roller skate in there. All the floors in the house were covered with linoleum, and the floor in the mudroom even slanted. How I love this old house! The other special places were behind the pedestal table and under the stairway. We called them (05:16):
cubbyholes. Dad’s was the smaller one above, where he kept his watch and billfold and Camel’s cigarettes. The one underneath was large enough for two young girls to sit on the floor with our treasures: birds’ nests, pretty rocks, and whatever else we’d found as we explored the farm. (05:38):
What I remember most about those cubbyholes, though, was the strong smell of mice. Mom had to set mousetraps in most of the rooms, especially the kitchen, hating to find mouse pellets among her dish towels, the mice, the leaning floors, lack of closets, trying to heat the place. (06:02):
My mother longed for a new house. She’d even drawn up plans for it. Then one day, when Grandpa and Grandma Neil were leaving after a visit, Grandma’s foot broke through a board on the front porch. That triggered some earnest planning, and they eventually tore down my childhood mansion. (06:23):
But my mother finally got her small, green, mouseproof house.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
And great job, as always, by Monty, and a special thanks to Joyneil Kidney and the story of her childhood home. And you can see the large pink and green plates to accommodate Uncle Bill’s, let’s just say, hearty appetite, and that oil stove heating the large room in the home—no heat upstairs—and then it would get taken apart every spring, which, of course, the kids loved because they (06:58):
could roller skate in the house. And there were days when people lived like this: first black and white TV, three channels. By the way, I’m old enough to remember three channels and a black and white TV, and how happy we were to just have three. And my goodness, just a great and beautiful voice from our affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa: WHO News Radio 1040, Joyneil (07:21):
Kidney on her childhood house, roller skating in the living room here on Our American Stories. Folks, if you love the stories we tell about this great country, and especially the stories of America’s rich past, know that all of our stories about American history—from war to innovation, culture, and faith— (07:42):
are brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College, a place where students study all the things that are beautiful in life and all the things that are good in life. And if you can’t get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their free and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale.edu to learn more.
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