Poem written for me by my sister, capturing my memories of growing up in Gary. Buddy French--class of 62

With childhood memories of long ago, I return from whence I came..... I feel the misty mornings, and cool mountain rain. I return to where my peace began, with no threat of drear' or worry. Back when coalfields were alive, the days of all its glory. With houses on the hillsides, and gardens growing green in fertile mountain soil, where life was strong and lean.

I remember stopping by the company store, on my way home from school; sitting on the steps, in the shade where it was cool. Eating penny candy, sipping on a coke. Watching all the busyness in the lives of local folk. Seeing the miners coming home, with tired and blackened faces, and toting silver lunch pails, which held their water and their staples.And returning home to families, the day would seem worthwhile, when greeted by their loved ones, with acceptance and a smile. Things seemed so much simpler back then, when people held together. And friendship was more than a word, not a choice of 'drethers.

I still hear the whistle of the train, if only in my mind. I still walk along the trestle and smell the fragrant pine. The coalfields are abandoned now, many houses stand in ruin. The tracks that I walked upon, are signs of life's undoin'. To take away so true and pure, and turn it into dust; To see the tipples falling, with life's corrosive rust. But to me, it all still is, in all its glory and fame, when I reminisce to boyhood, and return from whence I came.

Cheryl Ann French Copyright 1996