Index by: Story Name: The Green Line Fireworks in Covington Ice Skating on the Lagoon Main Street Methodist Church My Dad's Sledding Accident Some of My Best Memories Summer at Goebel Park Dinser Decoration Day Memories Main Character: Bryant, Betty (Schneider) Bender-Rigney, Kelly Dinser, Harold (Family) Main Street Methodist Church Green, Michael L. Haas, Ealie and Bertha Osborne, Carol (Griffith) Schneider, Walter

 

My life in Covington as a child was always full of love, laughs and lots to do. My parents, Harold and Ginny Dinser didn't have a lot of money but who cared, we had each other and time. Decoration Day, or Memorial Day, as it is known today, was time for remembering first and celebrating second.

Knowing that it was the day of the annual parade was enough for me, but then there was the gun salute to Veterans followed by our family picnic. And boy could my family put on a picnic!!

We lived at 15th and Banklick Sts and the parade came across 15th Street so we had a birdseye view from the neighbor's corner rock wall to watch it every year. Holmes High School Band playing and the Navy Reserves all dressed in snow white uniforms. Drill teams, police squads, boy and girls scouts, all on parade, it was wonderful.

On they would march to the Linden Grove Cemetery where everyone would gather from surrounding neighborhoods. Everyone knew why we were there, our Fathers had taught us well. We knew we were honoring the memories of those who had given their lives and their all, for our Freedoms, and of this we were truly grateful. The cannon would sound with the smoke spouting out the end and wafting in the breeze as taps was played, many with tears in their eyes as they remembered the Fallen. It was always a warm beautiful day. This helped because after the ceremony we remembered that....we are going on a picnic!!

It is time to celebrate Decoration Day!! Remember those who are gone, decorate their graves then make your way to Devou Park to celebrate the freedoms that they made possible.

Back we would go to 1432 Banklick St., load up the Scotch cooler with drinks, the picnic basket with good eats and our folding canvas chairs, which we were known to fight over when it came time to rest. Devou Park was the ultimate place to have a good summer outing and everyone knew it. Finding a picnic table was difficult on holidays so getting there as quickly as possible was the answer. Of course we had to picnic close to the swings, monkey bars and slides. And then there were the bathrooms which were far between, but we managed. We knew where all the little short cuts were to get to the ones that were not close by.

Needless to say, we would wear ourselves and our parents out. Sometimes we would go home and just fall into bed, exhaused and a little dirty, but we had fun. We were kids, that was the most important thing to our parents. And they let us be kids for as long as possible.

Life was so much simpler then.