Reading and listening to the news concerning so many robberies and other criminal activity the past months led me to hark back to my childhood growing up on a farm, two and a half miles from town.

Even if it was the middle of the night or day, I felt safe- and for the 15 years I grew up on that farm, my parents never had a key – the door was never locked – whether we were home or away.

Our “protectors” were two dogs, a Collie who could bite and a Pomeranian who could bark. The only time I had fear was riding my bike down that road after dark and passing a dilapidated, long vacant log cabin – for some reason I feared a “ghost” or some other apparition.

My parents were not rigid in their teachings but were firm in teaching the consequences of bad or wrong behavior. For instance, my father told me that if he heard from the town marshal that I turned a corner in town in such a way the tires screeched he would take away my driver’s license. Believe me, I kept an eye on the steering wheel and the town marshal.

Then the responsibilities shifted when I became a parent – It was our responsibility to teach our sons the same things my husband and I had been taught but of course, some standards had shifted, and in many ways a new culture was waving across the country, making our teachings a bit more difficult but we did not waiver.

We lived in town and had a key to the house but used it only when we were to be away for any length of time. We were never robbed. Sadly, I can’t think or act that way anymore.

I like to think about the days that my sons and their many friends in the neighborhood (sometimes as many as 25) were playing in our back yard, which was a corner lot.

It meant a lot to me that their parents trusted their kids to play in our yard. I miss those days – I knew where my sons were and I knew they were safe.

I know they took their teachings with them, too. But alas, they, their families, and I are confronted today with a world unlike that we experienced during those past years.

Luckily, Morrow County and our villages have been led by excellent law enforcement personnel. We are protected. But I still look wistfully back to the days when I grew up, almost carefree on Goose Heaven Road and when we raised our sons here in town.

I pray my grandkids can know such contentment and safety.

Do you remember these Morrow County businesses in the 1940’s? Turner Supply, Miller’s Blacksmith, Long’s Garage, Koon’s Grocery, George Sherman and Son Hardware; Al’s Grill, V & S Market, Miller Hardware, HPM, Click Motor Sales, John Wilhelm Hardware, Burggraf’s Service Station, Dewey’s Three R’s, Tony’s, Weaver’s Super Market, Cardington Lumber Company, Mills Feed and Seed, Spencer’s, The Union Store, Riverside Dairy and People’s Food Shoppe. Not a one of them is in business today.

July of 1926

Roy Miller, county auditor, compiled a livestock statistical report that indicated there were 6,565 horses, 13,351 head of cattle, 295 mules, 49,404 head of sheep, 12,695 head of hogs and 160,866 head of poultry in Morrow County.

Popular song in July, 1926: “Sleepy Time Gal.”

July of 1986

A thoroughbred race horse, rescued from an overgrown pasture in the Marengo area, after medical treatment and care and feeding, became an English Riding Horse for Temple Knickel, 16, a Cardington-Lincoln Sophomore and a member of the Southern Rebels 4-H Saddle Club. The horse was a subject of a story in the August issue of “Horse and Horseman.”

Maureen Shepard of Cardington, had retired as an English teacher at River Valley. Robert McCarty of Marengo, was elected Department (Ohio) Commander of the 142,000 member Ohio American Legion.

Mills Poorman was named athletic director at Cardington-Lincoln High School

Popular song in July, 1986 was “Say You, Say Me,” by Lionel Richie

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By Evelyn Long

The Sentinel

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