Our Message Board
updated May 5, 2001
Posted by Bob Marge Sleeth (68.164.3.218) on April 22, 2003 at 21:49:31:
We just want to take a minute to thank you for hosting this site. Our friend, and childhood neighbor sent us the information to look you up.
I was born and raised in Broad Ripple and my wife lived there from the age of 5. I attended School 80 and we both graduated from BRHS. I am class of 56 and she is class of 59. For a few years after we were married we lived on Baur Dr, just a stones throw off of the corner of Keystone and Kessler Blvd. Our oldest son began his formal education at the new grade school there.
It brings back many wonderful memories to travel through the pages of your website and the related sites provided by your links. Mention of such familiar names as "Lobraico's", "G.C. Murphy's", and others causes a wonderful warm glow to spread over me. I think the years spent growing up in Broad Ripple were the best possible times. After all this time I still have more wonderful memories of those years than any other time in my life.
Not to bore you with details, but some of the names and places that come to mind from that era also include,
The Teepee Drive-In; Danner's Five & Dime; Haag's Drug Store (great cherry Coke!); and Wally's Grill (from my grade school days) on Broad Ripple Ave.
We plan to spread the news of this site to everyone we can think of from the old neighborhood. We hope you can continue to develop more input from others. Hopefully you can develop contacts with those parents of our generation as they could provide a lot of information for the "2nd 25 year period". We are planning on attending our 50th reunion in 2006 and will send this information to our 'committee' to spread around also.
I grew up on Primrose Ave, 1 1/2 blocks south of the entrance to Broad Ripple Park. Used to deliver the "News" and later the "Star" around Rosslyn, Ralston, Kingsley and other streets. I still remember cutting the grass with a manual push mower each week to earn a quarter so we could go to the movies at the Vogue Theater on Saturday. The matinee always included a cartoon, and a 'serial' western starring either Roy Rogers, Gene Autry or one of the other heroes of the day. I remember buying saving stamps at school that you saved up in a booklet until you had enough to get a War Bond to help during WWII. I can still remember riding the 'street car' from Broad Ripple Park down College Ave to visit my Grandmother and Grandfather who lived in the 5600 block of College.
One of my first real jobs (after the newspaper routes) was at Alsop's Froz-N-Foods at the corner of Kessler Blvd and College Ave. They were the home of the frosted mug root beer that sold for a nickle, and hand dipped ice cream, and real fountain ice cream sodas. What a great place to work in the summer. Not only did you have access to some of the best ice cream and root beer, but you got to go into the walk-in storage freezers where you cooled down fast.
I don't mean to bore you with a lot of mental rambling, but once you get me started on this subject it is hard to stop me. Just wanted to let you know I am instituting a family search with my Mother and brother (BRHS class of 54) to uncover any old photos that might be of interest. If we come up with anything we will send it on to you for your consideration. Thank you again for this wonderful idea. Please keep it going.
We wish you much success
Bob & Marge Sleeth
Rockwood Farm
Breeders of Registered Miniature Horses
Cordele, GA 31010
www.sunrae.com/rockwoodfarm/