HAUBSTADT MEMORIES [R, 12-10-20]

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter

HAUBSTADT MEMORIES [R, 12-10-20]

I realized that the pandemic had gotten real when I saw in the Princeton, Indiana paper that the Haubstadt Christmas Golf Cart parade was canceled. Basically, I refuse to let the limits and upsets of this pandemic time get to me, but that makes me very sad.

Princeton is the seat of Gibson County, where the town of Haubstadt, with its 1600 residents, is situated, ten miles away.

You would think that if you have seen your wife’s face as she watched a man eating a brain sandwich in a restaurant in Haubstadt, that would be the highlight of your Haubstadt memories, but no, the pinnacle of my Haubstadt memories is the time in Bloomington, IL that I took my mother on an emergency trip to the bus station.

But first, the sandwich. We were spending a couple of nights with Hovey and Sally Hedges at the occasion of one of the every-five-years reunions of my high school class, maybe the 45th. Hovey decided we should go down to Haubstadt for supper, since they had a neat, old-fashioned restaurant there. As we looked over the menu, Hovey asked Helen if it would bother her if he ordered a brain sandwich.

He didn’t bother to ask me. We had grown up together in Oakland City; he knew what delicacies I grew up eating. My classmates, though, were always in awe of Helen. She was a big city girl, Gary, and was the valedictorian of a high school class three times the size of ours, so Hovey figured she was a fragile and sensitive soul. She enjoyed her popularity and unique role at our reunions so much that she often said, “If anyone asked me where I went to high school, I’d probably say, Oakland City, Indiana, Class of ’55.”

Helen liked Hovey, but generally felt that he probably could use more brains, and, besides, you don’t get that sort of request every day, so what could she say? It looked like any other sandwich, but she knew what was inside. Hovey was a polite eater, but when you know what is in the sandwich, you can hear the sandwich screaming. Helen decided it was not an experience she wanted to repeat.

My only experiences with Haubstadt previously had been playing basketball there. We looked down on them, because their town was so much smaller than Oakland City, with its 3500 residents. Also, because their teams were the Elites, pronounced E-lights, emphasis on the E.

We once had a team meal in the back room of a restaurant there before a game. You really have no right to look down on other teams if you are known as the Acorns, but we did. We had no idea what an E-light was, but it sounded like a mythical creature from a fairy tale. Or were they just proud of having electric lights, hence the E-light business? We didn’t know, but it was fun to speculate.

But, the story of Mother and the man at the bus station: My little sister, Margey, had been down for a visit. When she left, she forgot her coat. Mother wanted to get it to her as quickly as possible, which meant on the next bus. We were moving my parents around with us during those years, never living in the same house, but in the same town. Mother called me to come take her to the bus station. I hurried over to do so. She had the coat all packaged and ready to go. All we had to do was get it to the bus station in the next five minutes, before the next bus left. I pulled up in front of the station with a minute to spare. Mother jumped out and dashed through the door. She was back out in 30 seconds. “It’s the most interesting thing,” she said. “The man who works in there, his mother is from Haubstadt.”

Thirty seconds! She not only had done a business transaction with the man, but found out where his mother was reared! That was Mother. And that’s why it makes me sad, that they had to cancel the Christmas Golf Cart Parade in Haubstadt.

John Robert McFarland

The picture is of an actual past Haubstadt golf cart parade.