Fox Tales: What
Did You Do on
Your Summer Vacation?
By Susie Lynn Fox, 2007-2008 LSC President
When I was younger, I looked forward to summer vacation. My little sister and I got up late, fought over who was going to get the prize in the cereal box, rode bicycles, took walks, and played outside with our neighborhood friends.
Each Saturday, we followed Mother to the corner bus stop where we took a ride to downtown Fort Worth. We enjoyed our breakfast of toast and grape jelly at a favorite diner in the shadows of the silvery skyscrapers. Next, we visited the old Fort Worth Library to return our books and check out more for the coming week.
Our weekly downtown trip always ended with a stop at Woolworth’s department store where we spent 10 cents each on a cute, ceramic what-not to add to our collection. Before we knew it, it was time to catch the bus home.
After Mother learned to drive, she loaded us in the car for excursions farther away. With sketch pads and pencils in hand, we made regular trips to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden and enjoyed drawing trees, flowers, and water fountains. Another favorite oasis was the Fort Worth Children’s Museum (now the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History). At the museum’s Noble Planetarium, we might see something as exotic as the stars of the Southern Hemisphere.
Another frequent stop was the Amon Carter Museum where life on the Western frontier came alive in Frederic S. Remington’s and Charles M. Russell’s paintings. Dorothea Lange’s stark black and white photography illustrated the depth of the Great Depression. Down the road at the magical Casa Mañana’s theater-in-the-round, we occasionally attended a children’s play.
Mother was a volunteer Girl Scout leader so we always went to day camp for two weeks each June at West Farm located north of I-820 and Beach Street in Fort Worth. When we were older, we helped the younger scouts during the day and spent the nights in our own unit. We cooled watermelons in the creek, pitched tents, made our own latrine, worked on badges, caught tiny frogs and minnows in the creek, and laughed and dreamed with our friends.
Every summer we attended Vacation Bible School at Birdville Baptist Church, which sits atop the highest hill in Haltom City and is across the street from the old Haltom High School building. As teenagers, we volunteered to help with the little kids and also helped create special fun themes like the western, circus, and Disney themes.
Each August when Daddy could no longer stand the boiling Texas heat, he’d pile us in the car, attach a tent-trailer or a little house trailer, drive 100 mph through as many states as possible, and camp out at Kampgrounds of America (KOA) camps and national parks.
Daddy loved and lived for travel and adventure, telling Texas-size whoppers about the Lone Star State to unsuspecting folks, and living life big out in America’s vast lands of mountains, prairies, and seashores.
Each summer, our family also made a yearly pilgrimage to visit grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in Galveston and Houston. We went to the beach, feasted on shrimp, ate watermelon, gathered eggs at my grandparents’ farm on the mainland, and played with our cousins.
By the time Labor Day arrived, we had mixed feelings about going back to school. We hated to let go of summer, but were excited when Mother and Daddy took us to Sears, Roebuck and Co. to get us new school clothes. At Mott’s Five and Dime we bought notebook paper, a three-ring binder, and other school supplies. By the first day of school, we were ready to learn.
Of course, what we didn’t figure out as kids is that Mother was teaching us all summer long and that we were learning whether we knew it or not. And Daddy’s trips from coast to coast and from Mexico to Canada were opening up the country and the world to us.
Visits to our relatives opened up other generations’ stories about the Oklahoma Land Rush in Grant County in 1893, living through the Great Depression in Galveston, and surviving the hurricanes on the Gulf Coast. When school started in the fall, we were well prepared to continue our classroom education after a summer of fun, relaxation, and unexpected learning opportunities.
As in summers of long ago, this summer your STC Lone Star Community (LSC) council has blended fun, learning, and volunteerism, too. Some LSC members got a head start by attending the STC 54 th Annual Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May.
On May 24, the LSC councilreviewed the 2006-2007 program year, discussed lessons learned, and rejoiced at the successes, such as the Region 5 Conference. At the June council meeting, we welcomed new faces to the LSC Council, including Heather Steele, Rob Carr Harris, and Alan Oak.
On July 28, at the annual summer planning retreat, we fine-tuned the welcome packet, nailed down the budget, constructed one-year strategies, built three-year strategies, and contemplated work on the upcoming Community Achievement Award (CAA) goals. These efforts immediately fed into the August Community Report, a community health report that is sent to the STC office three times a year.
At the August council meeting, we approved the budget, discussed the committee activities, and planned for this fall’s kickoff. On August 23, we held our September council meeting early so we could continue refining plans for the upcoming program year.
As your summer vacation draws to a close, I hope you’ve had some fun, learned some things, and helped others. But now it’s time to get ready, return to school, and see what LSC has for you.
On September 6, Neil Perlin kicks off the program year with a presentation on “Structured Authoring without Frame or DITA” at the Crowne Plaza Hotel North Dallas-Addison. On September 7, Neil will present two workshop sessions. Workshop topics are “Adobe Captivate 2: Tricks with Advanced Features” and “Comparison of RoboHelp and Flare.”
If you’d like to learn more and help others, too, consider volunteering this year. Volunteering can make a difference in your LSC experience and in your career development. Contact Mel Haughton, LSC’s immediate past president and volunteer wrangler, for more information about large, medium, and small volunteer activities. She will get you prepared for a volunteer activity that fits your abilities and needs perfectly!
Welcome back to school!