Souvenirs I Still Cherish --- Helen Stanberry’s Story: Chapter 3

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Rating: 4.8 (3721 reviews)

06/25/22 • 16 min

Souvenirs I Still Cherish

Helen Stanberry’s Story
as read by Lindsey Beth Hummel
Chapter 3: Ralph
Ralph Norris, my cousin, and the driver for the trip, was to my mind a rather handsome young man. He often seemed like Erroll Flynn, jumping into the car without opening the door, climbing up trees to get me a bird’s nest that I had fancied, and swimming out into a lake to retrieve my hat that had blown off.

Regrettably, he was one of those handsome young men who believed that he was a handsome young man. Often as he was driving, he would reach across the seat and touch me. Not in a friendly cousin-to-cousin way. There was no doubt that his hands were prowling into forbidden territory.

Sometimes (maybe more like often), his prowling hands did not bother me. In fact, his touch was rather pleasurable, and much more interesting than the scenery on some parts of the trip. All I had to do to stop it was to do a quick shiver, and the hand would be withdrawn.

The chaperone, Mr. Eggers was in the narrow seat in the back and the Cord’s front seats were luxuriously high. It would be difficult for him to see the prowling hand. Besides, once he had lit one of his cigars, he was in his own smokie world, oblivious to everything else.

It was in the small Maid-of-the-Mist boat at Niagara Falls that I allowed Ralph’s romantic advances to proceed beyond casual prowling. Mr. Eggers said he utterly hated boats and refused to join us on the excursion, so he was not along. Before you board, they make you put on these rubber rain coats and boots. For some reason, my rubber coat stuck to my blouse and did not go all the way down. Ralph, gentlemanly pulled it over my haunches. That touch stirred the deepest romantic urges in me. I turned around, put my arms around his neck and then kissed him.

He was surprised but was not one to waste an opportunity. For the boat trip, we held hands, and snuggled so close that our raincoats rustled in unison. I do not remember how many more times we kissed, but I believe it was somewhere between ten million and infinity.

We exited the excursion still holding hands. However, social reality re-emerged when we saw Mr. Eggers sitting on the dock. We both pretended that nothing had happened.

Souvenirs I Still Cherish

We exited the excursion still holding hands. However, social reality re-emerged when we saw Mr. Eggers sitting on the dock. We both pretended that nothing had happened.

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Souvenirs I Still Cherish --- Helen Stanberry’s Story: Chapter 2

Souvenirs I Still Cherish

Helen Stanberry’s Story
as read by Lindsey Beth Hummel
Chapter 2: Travelling

I had carefully planned the trip. We would begin in Abingdon, Virginia where my father’s mechanic was making certain that everything on the blue Cord automobile was in perfect running condition. It gleamed in the sun and purred like a kitten. The original car had been a hard-top coupe, but my father had the mechanics convert it into a retractable top convertible.

The only mechanical trouble that we had on the trip was once when the new convertible top got stuck, but Ralph was able to rectify the situation by removing one bolt and replacing it with another. After his fix, it worked perfectly.

We began in Abingdon and drove up the Shenandoah Valley to Charlottesville where we toured the historic University of Virginia and Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello.

Our next stop was George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon. Then on to Washington D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and the West Point Military Academy.

Here is the full itinerary for the 1938 trip.

1. University of Virginia and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello

2. George Washington’s Mount Vernon

3. Washington, D.C.

4. Baltimore

5. Philadelphia

6. West Point Military Academy

7. Niagara Falls

8. Ontario Canada

9. Detroit

10. Chicago

11. St Louis

12. Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo

13. Salt Lake City

14. Yellowstone National Park

15. Glacier National Park

16. Rexburg, Idaho (where the national education conference was held)

17. Seattle

18. Portland

19. San Francisco

20. Monterey

21. Yosemite

22. Hollywood

23. Catalina Island

24. San Diego

25. Grand Canyon

26. Navajo Indian Country

27. Taos, New Mexico

28. Carlsberg Caverns

29. Juarez, Mexico

30. Dallas

31. Houston

32. New Orleans

33. St Augustine, Florida

34. Savanah Georgia

35. Augusta National Golf Course

36. Outer Banks, North Carolina
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Includes music by Texas Jim Robertson

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Souvenirs I Still Cherish --- Helen Stanberry’s Story: Chapter 5

Souvenirs I Still Cherish

Helen Stanberry’s Story
as read by Lindsey Beth Hummel
Chapter 5
Breathing Smoke
They say that there is a forest fire burning just east of Deep Gap. The wind is blowing the smoke over here to Todd.

We should not be having forest fires; the mountains always get plenty of rain, especially in the spring. But this year has been different. Almost no rain in March, April, or May. And temperatures have been really hot, above 90 every day last week.

I’m noticing the fire because my lungs are so bad. I can smell the smoke whenever I walk outside. It just cuts into my lungs. I am keeping the windows closed, but it still seeps in through the cracks.

If I have any regrets about the life I have lived, it is my addiction to cigarettes. Now my lungs are so bad, and the fires over in Deep Gap just make things even worse.

I have smoked cigarettes since I was sixteen, well before it was considered proper for Southern women to smoke. Some of the men I dated smoked, so I did. There was no reason why. Neither of my parents smoked, but they never prohibited me from doing so. I was a rich girl who never followed the usual social rules. I did what I wanted when I wanted to. Once I started smoking, once the addiction licked in, I never stopped.

When I was teaching, I never smoked on school grounds. Still, I only lived three blocks from the school. I had a cigarette in the morning, none during the school day, but several in the evening. On non-school days, I smoked all day.
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Music performed by the California School for the Blind Jazz Ensemble