Childhood Memories of Emmitsburg
with My Father
John Allen Miller
While living in Emmitsburg with my
wife Alicia and my son Marshall, I
remembered the times I spent with my
dad while he lived in Emmitsburg.
Watching Marshall grow for five years,
doing things with him that my dad once
did with me. I know that the term
father like son is true. As I take my
son to McDonalds I remembered the
times gone by that I spent with my
dad. Every time we stop off at the
Post Office, I remember the C&P
Telephone building where my dad used
to work. I would tell Marshall
stories about when his granddad worked
there. I remember most of the places
in Emmitsburg that my dad took me to,
although not much has changed from
1986. Except that Silo Hill is now a
development where McDonalds and Exxon
is located.
My father Allen moved from Thurmont to
Emmitsburg in 1986, where they lived
in the little but quiet trailer park
along Flat Run creek. The back of the
grocery store was visible since it sat
up on the hill on the other side of
the creek. My whole family was
familiar with Emmitsburg and its
layout. Mainly because my dad had 15
years with Bell Atlantic and he worked
in the building located next to the
Post Office. I would spend the
weekends with my dad and soon to be
stepmother.
Once the caravel came to town, you bet
I was there. Seeing all the rides and
all of the lights it was a spectacle
for a little boy to see. We would walk
around and enjoying the music and the
rides. My dad wasn’t big on going to
these activities, but he always
managed to take my sisters and me.
We would walk around eating
our dinner and drink soda. This was
the only time we had soda for dinner.
My dad was old fashion about dinner
and we would always have to drink
water.
Once summer came, I spent it with my
dad. During the weekdays when his
schedule permitted, my dad would allow
me to come to work there at Bell
Atlantic to meet everyone and
basically for me to see what it was he
exactly did. I still see these faces
today but I can't remember who they
are. Now when my dad comes to
Emmitsburg to visit once and in while
he will see a co-worker, and they will
talk about work and people. I can
remember the heavy stench of wire and
electricity that filled the small
building as you walked in. There you
seen row after row of circuit boards
and wires connecting them to the
outside. This controlled every phone
in Emmitsburg and surrounding area of
Tom’s Creek where it connected with
Thurmont's telephone company. There
were pouches that had scarp wire and
little transformers of some type that
were to be discarded. These little
transformers were only about two to
three inches long and had a single
prong attached to it at the top where
it would be placed into the circuits.
I thought these were the neatest
things I have ever seen as a boy of
eight years old.
There were circuit boards that were
also to be discarded; now I enjoyed
them. They reminded me of something
from the Star Wars movies. They were
about eight inches long and four
inches wide and they were really thin.
The color of them was a bright brown
with a whitish gray color on the end.
They were covered in little gadgets
that were round, squared, and flat.
Dad would pull off the computer chip
that was attached by wire and soldered
on the other side. Once he pulled the
chip off, he would take his knife as
slowly pull the rubber coating off the
chip. The rubber side revealed had
the most beautiful dark green-blue
color I had ever seen. It amazed me
that this chip controlled these
circuit boards.
When he would get calls in the evening
depending on what time it was, I would
tag along to the office long enough to
watch him work on whatever the problem
was.
Sometimes he would get called to the
Emmitsburg or Thurmont office at two
or three in the morning. I don't know
how he did it, but he always fixed the
problems and came home as soon as he
was done.
During my stay in Emmitsburg, I
remember Radio Shack used to be one of
the main stores about three or four
building up from the Bar and Grill
across the street. When I spent the
weekends with my dad, we would go into
Radio Shack mainly because of the cool
toys they had. Then we would go for
pizza at Pizza Hut if I was good
during the week, and if I was really
good we go to Gettysburg to McDonald’s
so I could get ice cream. This was
before Silo Hill was developed with
Exxon and a McDonald’s, and Rutters
was still a Highs Store on the other
end of town. My dad would rather go to
McDonald’s before paying the Highs’
price of ice cream. I may have been
young, but I knew what Highs meant.
In the hot summer months, I would play
in the Flat Run Creek to cool off a
bit and catch crawl dads in a cup. I
would skip rocks across the creek and
count how many times they skipped
before they landed on the other side.
Then I would ride my bike up the stone
road and back without ever worrying
about getting hit by a car. He lived
in the last trailer, which had extra
ground to play on. It was flat and
always green. During the rainy days,
we would have to worry about the creek
over flowing which at that time it
always did but never enough to worry
about getting your stuff and leaving.
My dad would take my sisters Dixie and
Jenny and myself to the park to play
by the Elementary school. There we
would all run around and play acting
goofy and just being who we were, a
bunch of 9 year olds. Even then it
didn't take much to amuse us. Then we
would go and get something to eat.
I remember that dad always dressed the
same way Blue jeans, western shirt,
cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. I
would try to dress like him, except
that I carried a cap gun with a
holster. He would take me to
Gettysburg Battlefield where I acted
just like a soldier. Pulling out my
pistol and shooting the bad guys, this
would come in handy in the future as I
began re-enacting the Civil War. I
started an interest in history while
living in Emmitsburg. This was due to
the fact that Gettysburg was minutes
away. As I would climb onto the cannon
or shoot my way through battlefield, I
would then stop and read one of the
signs. I couldn't always pronounce the
words on these tablets.
So my dad would always read them to
me. I was then full of questions like
who was Robert E. Lee, what was a
civil war anyway?
Can we take the cannon home?
My wife says that some things
never change.
My dad use to
take me to the Barbara shop at the
square to get my hair cut. Once I was
finish, the Barbara would say, "Boy
there’s enough hair on the floor, that
we could make mop." My dad always
wanted to make
me look my best.
He knew the barber by first name
and both of them were hunters. I even
take my son to the same barbershop
that my dad once took me. Even though
it's under new management, it still
brings back those memories. I can see
my son through the same of eyes that
my dads once look upon me.
One weekend out of the summer, we left
Emmitsburg to visit my grand parents
in Mineral County, West Virginia. The
mountains around Emmitsburg looked
like little hills by time we returned.
I remember how happy I was to return
to Emmitsburg when we came back. The
first thing I do was go to the little
creek and play. Now today, I can't
wait until those weekends I have
available to go to West Virginia to
see my grandparents.
Once school got under way I returned
to Keymar, to my mother’s house. I
would still go up to Emmitsburg on the
weekends in the fall and winter
months. Once Thanksgiving came, I knew
what that meant; hunting season was
only two days away. My dad would
always take me up to the mountain
where we go hunting. As we sat waiting
for the deer to appear, I mumbled and
grumbled because I couldn’t feel my
legs or my feet were to cold. But I
learned everything from him about gun
safety and hunting tips that were
cruel and unknown to a child. That
meant you go into the woods and don’t
move. I learned that in order for you
to see a deer you have to be quiet. I
can remember tramping through the
mountainside, stomping on every stick,
branch, and pile of leaves I could
find. But in the end it taught me
things I can and cannot do when I get
older and go hunting on my own.
When Christmas came to town that meant
Christmas lights would decorate the
houses in the community. We would
drive around at night looking at the
lights. There was always somebody that
went all out and you could see his or
her house light up the whole entire
night sky. All you had to do was
follow in the direction that the
brightness in which it came from. Then
once you got there, they would have
those big bulbs placed all around
their house with decorations in the
yard. I’m not sure, but I think it is
the same house we see today around
Christmas time. Emmitsburg usually had
snow on the ground by Christmas. We
would sled riding dashing through the
snow on the hills around Emmitsburg.
I never came back to Emmitsburg after
that Christmas. My dad was transferred
to the Bell Atlantic Offices in the
Oakland, Maryland and West Virginia
area. From then on the only time I
came to Emmitsburg was when my mom
took me to the carnival or when we
wanted to go to Pizza Hut.
After marrying my wife Alicia, we
moved to the charming town of
Emmitsburg in April of 1997 where our
son, Marshall was born. Now I can
relive my memories with my dad through
my son. The saying is true, like
father like son and I have it no other
way.
Read other articles by John Miller
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