Ronda Kirch gave me the initial information to add some houses and families that lived on East Hillcrest Drive. She remembers a time when a series of houses was occupied by the Maehr, Erxleben, Heinicke, Langevin, Kirch, Adam, Fenster and Bye families. On this website's right margin you now should see those families and some East Hillcrest houses. Thanks Ronda!
Ronda sent me these initial memories:
My oldest sister Sandra was already attending CTC by 1960 and married in 62. My second oldest sister Marcia was attending Seward High and married in 61. My sister Carla was killed in a car accident in 63 before her junior year at CHS. My sister Tonya was, I believe, a year ahead of you. I was in Steve's class.
Hillcrest kids (this usually involved Kirches, Langevins, Heinickes, and Jenny Mueller) rarely left our own yards without permission. With permission we could play pretty freely in the Heinicke or Kirch yards -- sometimes Langevins. It was easy to get permission to roam onto campus or go play in the school yard.
Going to Plum Creek wasn't too difficult -- often my mother would lead expeditions that led to fishing, "bridge and fort building" that we often could go back to and continue on our own.
It was more difficult for us little kids to get permission to head north of Hillcrest when that was still fields (before all the houses were built) though the teens and almost teens went there in the late 50s and early 60s. In summer there was an almost daily run to the Seward swimming pool.
I do recall finding a dead dog in the bushes that ran along the side of your house (a little hilltop that dropped to a parking lot???) and I'm pretty sure that was when you lived there.
(Mike:) I don't remember a dead dog being in the bushes along the side of our house! I do, however, have a memory about a dog that followed me around and then disappeared. I was thinking about writing an article about that dog. Hmm ...
