Some of the Greats

Growing Up with Harriet

Within ten days Lyle Waggner, Kenny Rogers, and Fred Neal, better known as Curly from the beloved Harlem Globetrotters, all three died. Though they are not the most important people to the world as a whole, they are a piece of my childhood. It seems more and more famous people, who were a big part of my growing up, have passed in the last few years. 

One might think I am a little cheesy, but I am one of “those people” who enjoy TV series reunions. When Katherine MacGregor, Harriet Oleson on Little House on the Prairie, died in 2018, I googled her and found myself thinking, What I missed that reunion! I didn’t even know they made one! Oh how I love asking Siri to show me current pictures of celebrities from my childhood. Of course, then I am hooked and have to read entire articles about their lives. It is not uncommon for me to send Donna and my sisters a current picture of someone we watched as a child to create a “guess who this is” game.  

Disliking Unfamiliar Faces

This is not new for me. Not at all. If I could find my senior yearbook and looked up my adbors, I would find, “doesn’t like an unfamiliar face”, and not being able to recall from where I knew them. Mostly, that applied to celebrities that I could not remember what show or movie they played in. My sister Gail still teases me about the lady that we refer to as “Janice’s mother”, a character from Days of our Lives back in the 1970’s. In fact, the other day, I was watching some old TV show, and I thought, There’s Janice’s mother! I walked over and took a picture. I sent it to Gail, and she replied, “Wow, I think you are right!” Well, I just had to know or sure. So, I started googling, and yep, after about 30 minutes of research, I realized it was really her. Honestly, how can I remember what a character from the 1970’s looks like when I can’t find my car keys or cell phone on a regular basis! 

As I began reminiscing about Lyle Wagner, Kenny Rogers, and Curly, who are attached to wonderful childhood memories, I began thinking of others that have died in the last few years. And so, I invite you into my memories…

Lyle Waggoner

Now, really I was too young to watch him in one of my all time favorite shows, Carol Burnette, but I have so enjoyed the reruns of his scenes on the show. Then there was Wonder Woman! I so loved Lynda Carter and him. I must have done a million twirls in my childhood trying to get a hold of my golden truth lasso and my headband boomerang! 

Kenny Rogers

My memories that relate to him are about as long as his list of hits! I will contain myself to the early 70’s as not to share them all–expect the memory of 1982. 

Lucille

I must have sung that song thousands of times in the back of Granddaddy’s blue ‘74 truck. My cousins and sisters would ride in the bed of the truck singing to the top of our lungs while we took turns sitting on the tire-bump-seat. This drive always took us to the Lakewood Grocery to pick up a few necessities but also included a treat from Grandaddy. He gave allowed u to pick out our favorite ice cream or candy bar. I selected a Mayfield’s chocolate ice cream cup complete with a wooden spoon or a 100 Grand candy bar.

   The Gambler

Again, the memory pulls me back to Nana and Granddaddy’s with seven adults and eight grandkids sitting around my Uncle Max, who had his guitar in hand and harmonica in mouth. Two cousins would sing The Gambler among so many other songs. We sang and laughed and listened to story after story of the olden days while people took turns churning the homemade peach ice cream. 

 Islands in the Stream

    : My sister Gail and I worked at the Burger Hof, a small fast-food restaurant in Blue Ridge, Georgia. Man, we had such fun times that summer. We were 18 and 15. There was a jukebox, and people were always putting in quarters to play their favorites. Once a man–like a full-grown thirty-something kind of man–put in his change and played Islands in the Stream. Then he walked up to Gail and told her that he was playing it for them! I think we both almost died! He was a regular, and he regularly played the song “for them” when he was in there. Oh, the laughs we have had over that memory! 

Curly

I watched Curly, Medowlark Lemon, and the other Harlem Globetrotters out jump, steal, and out smart their opponents for years. I wanted to spin my basketball on my index finger and make trick shots just like they did. If they were on TV, my sisters and I were in the living room watching them sail their way down the court or dump a bucket of red, white, and blue confetti on someone in the audience. They totally entertained and amazed me! 

Tim Conway

Mom took us to see The Apple Dumpling Gang when I was about nine. Tim Conway, Harry Morgan (MASH), Bill Bixby (The Incredible Hulk) starred in the movie. I think maybe that’s where my love for simple TV westerns came. The High Chaparral, The Rifleman, or The Big Valley were always playing at my house on Saturday afternoons.. Mom and I had so many laughs watching Tim Conway as Mr. Tudball or “the old man”. I would be laughing at Tim Conway while Mom was laughing at me rolling at his antics. 

Penny Marshall

Tuesday’s nights were Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. “Aaaaaa!” Need I say more?

Roy Clark

HEEEE-HAWWW! Saturday nights at Nana and Granddaddy’s  were the only “acceptable” times that my little sister Julie and I could spit on each other! “You met another and pfft you were gone!”

Charlotte Rae

One evening when Julie and I were spending the night with Nana and Granddaddy, we asked if we could watch the Facts of Life. I thought my sweet Nana was going to have a coronary with just the mention of the title. Nope, we missed that episode. 

Gloria Vanderbilt

Oh! How I wanted a pair of her jeans. I lived for a little swan to be sewn on my pocket. In the early 2000’s when I was wearing a pair of pants that I purchased a couple of months before, I was talking with a co-worker. As we discussed the designer clothes we wanted as a kid, I noticed the swan on my pocket. It was then that I knew I had finally arrived! 

Though there are many more, I will end with . . .

Glenn Campbell

I believe every time I rode in our station wagon with the side panels made of wood, Rhinestone Cowboy was playing. “The way back” was not carpeted in ours and no seat belts were worn, so on purpose Julie and I would sling ourselves as hard and fast as we could from one side to the other singing “Riding out on a horse in the star-spangled rodeo” to the top of our lungs, until we heard the words, “Girls, settle down.”

Yep, “the oldies but goodies” keep slipping away one by one. But my precious childhood memories…they are as alive as ever!