After the wedding, Sara
continued her schooling at Northeastern Oklahoma State College in
Pittsburg, and Chuck finished his time with the Navy. In 1957, Jim and
Polly Hinman left for Alaska, and Chuck and Sara moved into their house
in Seneca. There were stints in California and in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Eventually the two moved into a trailer in Neosho, where Gretchen was
born in 1964. Sara's brother Mike lived with them off and on during
those years. A lot of friends and family have good memories of Chuck
and Sara from this time.
Lillian Hukill, who was
married to Chuck's brother Denzil, remembers
Sara's sophomore piano recital at Pittsburg. "Denzil always tried to
call on her to play for him. He always wanted her to play "Butterfly,"
she remembers.
Lillian and Denzil Hukill
They got
married the same year Susan was born. That's the reason I can
always remember. Susan turned 50 this year, so I knew that they were
celebrating their 50th.
Sara came to
the house when Susan was born, and that's when I first met
her. Now that's to the best of my knowledge. I was pretty busy about
that time and I cannot place how it went in sequence.
After they
were married they lived in a mobile home down off the
boulevard. I remember Sara had been teaching out at Midway High School.
And Charles was teaching... I don't remember what school he was at. He
wasn't at Grove. There was a little school out at Cherry Corners, a
country school, and I think he was out there at the time. After
Gretchen was born, Kathi and Susan took piano lessons for a while. But
my memory is getting not quite as good as it should be!
One of the
things I remember before Gretchen was born was when your
mother graduated from Pittsburg College, I know we all went over to her
piano recital. I remember that. That was real nice. Denzil always tried
to call on her to play for him. He always wanted her to play
'Butterfly.'" That was his favorite. You can ask her about it.
Mike and Anita Hinman
credit Chuck and Sara (or else blame them,
depending on how things are going!) with getting them together.
MIKE HINMAN
In the
eighth grade I spent part of the year with them. I had the front
bedroom, which was Sis's old bedroom, and then they were in the folks'
bedroom, and then the middle bedroom was just empty and full of things.
That's the
year Sis and I went to Alaska and the plane went off and
left us on Christmas Day in Anchorage in the hotel. I stayed in Alaska
until halfway through my junior year, and by that time they'd moved
into the trailer in Neosho.
I got in on
Saturday and it had iced over, it had rained and had slick
streets. That was when the church in Neosho was over the hill and down
the hill in the valley. Well, rather than going the relatively flat
way, your dad decided he'd fly down the big hill. So we went, slipping
everywhere.
He let me
borrow his car to take Anita out. I think it was a beat-up
Plymouth that he was driving back and forth. It was a standard shift
and it had a hole in the floorboard. I remember that. They convinced me
that I should ask her to go to the Brothers Four concert in Joplin. It
was mostly Sis, but your dad was giving suggestions of how gals would
like to have these things suggested. I had to get the tickets in
advance, save my money, all these things, and after all, you could eat
at McDonald's and it took for both of us we could have a couple of
hamburgers and a shake and a order of fires for a buck.
At least
once a week they'd go over and play cards with Wilma and Bill
Howsmon. I can't remember what they'd play. But it was once or twice a
week. If you really got really wild, you went and got Fritos and bean
dip. There wasn't potato chip dip in those days. But they'd sit and
play cards and talk and do the things young couples do.
The trailer
park was on the south side of the boulevard on the south
end of town. There's an old, it was called Dairy Den, the Everhards who
owned it also owned the trailer park, Mark and Lila were their names.
They sold it, but it just so happened today I was eating onion rings,
and I asked for mustard, because Dairy Den was the first place I had
onion
rings and
they served 'em with mustard.
ANITA STAUFFER HINMAN
When I first
met Mike, he was living with Sara and Chuck in Neosho, and
your sister Gretchen was just a little tiny thing. Mike called her Fuzz
Face. And Sara and Chuck kinda foisted him off on me and me off on him.
Chuck just kept encouraging Mike to take me out, loaned him his car,
whatever. And I think they used Gretchen.
So we've had
this running joke all these years that if things were
going well, then we thanked Sara and Chuck, and if things weren't, then
it was all their fault!
Kathi Hukill
Pellegrin,
Denzil and Lillian's first daughter, was just
one when Chuck and Sara were married. She has plenty of memories,
especially of the time Chuck let her "try" his cigar. "I can still hear
Aunt Sara going outside yelling, 'Chuck, what in the world did you do
to this child? What were you thinking!!' "
Kathi Hukill Pellegrin
Your folks
lived in Seneca - I think it was Aunt Sara's parents' house
just south of the railroad tracks. From time to time during the
summertime, Susan and I would spend the day with Aunt Sara. Mike was
living with them and Susan and I would always raid his bottom
dresser drawer - he kept his comic books in there. There was a swing on
the front porch. We would get in it and
swing as high as we could. Aunt Sara also
took us swimming at Reddings Mill - it was the biggest pool ever!
Your folks
lived in Neosho in the trailer across the way from the best
place to get a hamburger. I can't remember the name of it but an older
couple owned it - the Everhards. Susan and I took piano lessons with
your mom - I didn't do too well. I started wearing glasses that year
and I didn't like them.
Susan and I,
on one occasion anyway, went to school with Aunt Sara. I
can't remember where but I do remember there were several grades in one
class and she taught it all. Recess and lunch were the best.
I could not
have been very old but I recall your mom's piano recital -
just bits. Later, she wore a very pretty cocktail-type dress standing
in the dining room of their house in Seneca. There must have been a
reception after the recital, or maybe I'm just confusing two different
events.
THE CIGAR
It was a
Sunday evening in the summertime at Grandma and Grandpa
Hukill's in Seneca. I was about 5 or 6 years old. Aunt Oma &
Uncle Ray, your folks, my folks and Susan & I were there as I
recall. Supper had been served and all the women were inside cleaning
up. All the guys were sitting in those old-type yard chairs in the
driveway out under the big tree smoking cigars. Susan and I were
running around and I was bugging Uncle Charles to let me try his
cigar. I was in his lap when he took a puff of his cigar and blew
the smoke right into my mouth and nose. Well, that was none too
pleasant! Choking and coughing, I ran crying into the house. Aunt Sara
and Mom sat me up on the counter giving me water and washing off my
face. Your mom and Grandma were furious! I can still hear Aunt Sara
going outside yelling - "Chuck, what in the world did you do to this
child? What were you thinking!!" (I can't begin to register the tone!)
If I remember correctly not one of those guys got up out of their chair
to check on me, but your mom gave 'em hell.
THE SCIENCE LESSON
It was
probably September or October. Uncle Charles was at our house on
Oak Ridge. He and Dad were sitting out on the back porch. I was out
there too. It was getting dark and the moon was beginning to rise. It
was a big orange harvest moon - huge. I asked why it looked so big when
it first came up and got smaller as it got higher in the sky. Uncle
Charles told me that it looked so big because the particles in the
atmosphere acted as a magnifier, i.e., the science lesson. He probably
told me more at that time but I don't remember exactly.
Susan Hukill Shoen,
Denzil and Lillian's second daughter, had a special
relationship with Chuck and Sara. "I always thought I was their
favorite because I was the baby when they got married," she writes.
"I'm sure they'll agree."
Susan has more to say...
Lillian and Susan Hukill
Your mom
took me to school with her once when she and your dad were
teaching out at the little country school called Midway. That's
"midway" between Newtonia and Stark City, MO - about 10 miles east of
Neosho. I don't remember how old I was, but I don't think I was in
school yet, so maybe 4 or 5 years old. Anyway, during class I
walked around with a ruler and rapped on the desks of the kids that I
didn't think were working very hard. Then at recess one of the boys gave me a
piggy-back ride and I thought I was so cool getting to
go to school with really big kids. I think they might have been
6th or 7th graders!
Another
story was when I was in 2nd grade, I think. Central
School, anyway. Your mom was a substitute teacher in my class for a day
or two and of course I thought I should have special privileges. So I
thought it was real cute when I got some of the other kids to call her
"Aunt Sara" instead of "Mrs. Hukill." I think she gently corrected us,
but I still called her "Aunt Sara".
It sure
doesn't seem like they've been married 50 years. Of course they
got married the year I was born, and I really don't feel 50 years old,
either. I always thought I was their favorite because I was the baby
when they got married. I'm sure they'll agree.
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