Newspaper Page Text
What’s your
earliest memory?
S CIENCE SAYS there is
such a thing as childhood
amnesia, meaning that
most adults are unable to remember
their earliest years, even up to age
5. However, it
seems themost
common age
most people
can remember
back to is 3,
sometimes 2.
I have frag
mented mem
ories — more
like mental
images — of
my great-
grandparents’ home.
I can remember playing Bible
stories in their sandy front yard at
the foot of the front porch steps; I
know they were Bible stories, but I
can’t tell you which ones.
I can “see” the long, narrow kitch
en, and a sitting room that I think
had light blue walls and an upright
piano. I can “see” the button jar we
all liked to play with - a mason jar
filled with buttons of all sizes and
colors. Seems like there was one
with a little dog on it.
My mother and I used to take
MaMa and PaPa Gillespie grocer
ies, and I can remember the hilly
road leading to their house. I was
surprised in later years to learn that
it was the Waterworks Road near
Commerce and I drove down it,
seeking that memory and trying to
place where their house once stood.
I was probably 2 or 3 for some of
those fragmented memories from
when we spent time there. They
passed away when I was 7, so I am
sure the Bible story memories are
from when I was older.
I have vague sensations about a
recurring nightmare with one small
white flower in all this pulsating
darkness, and I can remember being
afraid of the noise the heater in my
room made, like a giant approach
ing. I remember looking out the
window of my little bedroom as my
father drove away, taking my sister
to school. There were morning glo
ries in the garden.
It is interesting that the first
five years of life are deemed criti
cal learning years, yet we cannot
remember much about them, except
in such bits and pieces.
I found “The World’s Biggest
Memory Bank” online at
TheBigMemoryShare.com. It’s a
collection of earliest memories from
people all around the world, as well
as their first “flashbulb” memory
(a memory of a “famous” happen
ing - Elvis’ death, the space shuttle
explosion and so forth). You can
complete the survey and enter your
own earliest memory or flashbulb
memory — they must be certain
memories not family stories or half-
remembered happenings — or you
can simply read some of the memo
ries catalogued there.
It is interesting reading. Many
seem to center around the birth of a
sibling, family members and being
at home as a small child. Others are
a little more involved or unusual.
Some examples:
My Mother Returning From
Hospital With My Baby Sister
I remember that morning sitting
in our kitchen with my grandmother
looking after me. I was three weeks
away from being 3 when my sister
was bom. I remember having rice
crispies for my breakfast and a red
plastic toy falling out of the box into
my cereal bowl. I remember see
ing an ambulance draw up outside
as I looked through our kitchen
window. It was a grey October day.
I remember my mother walking
down the drive in her dressing gown
and holding my baby sister. I don’t
remember the colour of her dress
ing gown or the baby’s shawl or
anything else that happened during
that day or the days ahead but those
pictures are very vivid in my mind.
- Female, 39, English
I Thought I Saw A Lion
I was about 3 years old, in bed. In
the middle of the night I opened my
eyes and saw a lion prowling at the
end of my bed. The memory I have
is of real fear - wanting to get out
of the bed and to the safety of my
parent’s bedroom but unable to do
so because of what I thought might
happen to me if I dared to move.
- Female, 54, English
Chewing My Crayons
I recall this as conscious act of
defiance - perhaps my first con-
continued on page 2C
jana. a.
mitcham
Inside: Heritage Tree Council offers calendar — page 3C
October 5,
2011
0 The Jackson Herald
friends
Jana Adams Mitcham,
Features Editor 706-367-8760
jana@mainstreetnews.com
Section C
— National 4-H Week is Oct. 2-7 —
Dalton Comer and Grant Lyons, both students at West Jackson Middle School, are members of the
BB Gun Team for Jackson County 4-H Club. Photos by Jana Mitcham
4-H is...
Jackson County 4-H Club
•706-367-6344
jacksn4h@uga.edu
Contacts:
Wanda McLocklin
Penni Tench
Horse Club: Next meeting, 1-4
p.m. Oct. 23,7098 Holly Springs Rd„
Pendergrass, ages 9-19
Love of Llamas: New member
orientation, 6 p.m. Nov. 3, ages 9-19,
must RSVP
Archery Team: new member ori
entation 7-8 p.m. Oct. 25 at 4-H Office
(recurve and compound divisions),
ages 9-19.
Cotton Boll/Consumer Judging
Team: practices are 4-5 p.m. every
Monday in October and into mid-
November. Learn how to make
good consumer decisions and learn
facts about cotton. Ages 5th-12th
grades. continued on page 2C
“We have to remember that our kids
will find something to belong to, and
belonging to 4-H is as good as it gets. ”
— Harold Jarrett, 4-H parent 4-H member 1964-1972
What 4-H Club
means to me...
Wanda McLocklin
WANDA MCLOCKLIN who has been a county extension agent
working with 4-H Club since 1993, says she grew up in Oconee County
4-H. She was involved as a 4-H’er from 1976 to 1985, and first learned
about 4-H in a fifth grade club meeting at school.
Through the years, Wanda competed in land judging, participated in
“lots of community service activities,” and com
peted at District Project Achievement in the fashion
review (2 years), Housing and Equipment, Clothing
and Textiles and Dairy Foods (3 years). She was a
State Congress delegate in Dairy Foods.
For Wanda, the highlights were assisting the
4-H/Family Consumer Science Agent with foods
demonstrations in the community, being the high
scoring individual at District Land Judging com
petition in middle school, being a camp counselor
at Rock Eagle 4-H Center for two summers in col
lege, visiting Pennsylvania on a 4-H exchange trip,
winning a State 4-H Scholarship and becoming a Master 4-H’er.
The most influential people during those years for Wanda were. “My
parents Jack and Lenora Rogers and Deborah Thomason. 4-H/Home
Economics Agent during my high school
years.”
“When I was in 4-H, I did not know that
one day I would be working as a county
extension agent coordinating a 4-H program
on the county level,” Wanda said. “As a
4-H’er, I admired the agents in Oconee
County and the time and effort they put into
helping me. Their influence is the reason
that I chose a career working with youth in
the 4-H program. I began my career with the
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension
Service as a 4-H/Home Economics Agent
in 1993 and transferred to Jackson County in 1999 as the 4-H agent.
Currently. I serve as the County Extension Coordinator and 4-H Agent
in Jackson County.”
When it comes to encouraging youth to consider the club, Wanda
says, “4-H truly accomplishes its mission of assisting youth in acquiring
knowledge, developing life skills and forming attitudes that will enable
them to become self-directing, productive and contributing citizens. Also,
it is a great avenue for developing lifelong friends and having fun.”
Ella Sims
Ella Sims, a Commerce High School graduate and freshman in col
lege, got involved with 4-H Club in fifth grade, and
has been active in the club for nine years.
“When I was younger, I did everything that
Jackson County 4-H Club had to offer,” Ella said.
“As I got older and on into high school I had less
time and did the things that interested me the most.
My main two areas were DPA and Challenge Bowl.
However, I did many community service projects
and teen leader activities as well throughout the
years.”
Being a Teen Leader for Cloverleaf Camp is the
highlight of Ella’s 4-H experience,
continued on page 2C
Some members of the Jackson County 4-H Horse Club were on-
hand at Art in the Park to provide club information: (L-R) Jessica
Casaday, WJMS, club member for five years; Cherokee Kibler,
Winder, one-year member; and Cheyanne Compton, home-
schooler, member for between two and three years.
Hunter Smith, a student at East Jackson Comprehensive High
School, takes aim at the bullseye. Hunter is a member of the
Archery Team offered by Jackson County 4-H Club.
Love of Llamas is a club offering by Jackson County 4-H and
Kim Kyst of Chelian Farm, Jefferson. Shown with some of the
program’s llamas is 4-H’er Bailey Jones, 10, at the Turbo Turtle
Trek and Family Festival. Photo by Erin Rossiter
“...the activities that 4-H offers are the BOMB!”
— Ella Sims, college freshman, 4-H’er for nine years
McLOCKLIN
Inside:
• Caroline Black
• Shea Corley
• Harold Jarrett
• Greg &
Gena Tyler
SIMS
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