Location(s) Pennsylvania Military MuseumMain Street, Boalsburg, PA, 16827See map: Google MapsThe Pennsylvania Military Museum Route 322, Main Street Boalsburg, PA

My memories of Mrs. Little cannot be separated from my memories of Mr. Little and go back to the August of 1969. I got to know Pat from playing high school football on the JV squad together. We were lucky not only to have two-a-day practices, but because we were on special teams, we had a third practice, an hour or so, at 1:00 under the blazing mid day sun. It did not make much sense to go all the way, back and forth, to Boalsburg so I hung around with Pat and Kenny Grove at the Welsh Pool and Pat's house which both were near the school. After morning practice you could always count on Mrs. Little having a hot lunch ready for Mr. Little, who was one of the best butchers in town. Mr. DeLong, Mr. Little's right hand man at work, refused to allow me to bestow the title of Best Butcher in Town on Mr. Little although my Mom still swears he was. He would always have best cuts ready for her, the same time, the same day, every week for as long as I can remember. Anyway back to those hot lunches, whoever Pat drug home at lunch was expected to pull up a chair and share in that home cooking that garnered Mrs. Little my “Best Cook in Town Award”.

Sunday was a beautiful fall day on the Gette Farm. The fall is my favorite of our four distinct seasons. The crisp air felt great as I worked gathering up firewood that had been cut and split the previous week. After spending the bulk of my time stacking the wood in two outdoor sheds I decided to clean out an old indoor shed to keep my smaller kindling wood dry for the upcoming winter season. 

 On what is usually one of the best weekends of the year in Happy Valley turned tragic in the blink of an eye.  Halloween weekend at Penn State holds many memories for me. We all would dress up in costumes, load up in an old Ford van I had and drive around until we see a large crowd gathered on a porch in costumes. We would pull over, park and crash the party. We would have a few beers until the host finally figured out we did belong there. Then we were off in search of  another gathering and so on and so on and so on. That was then, never a thought of DUI, hurting ourselves or worse yet an innocent person. How times have changed. Now I have a 21.5 year old who is a senior at Penn State and my worst fear is him having a few beers and getting into his car and hurting himself or some innocent person or persons.