Growing Up in Williamsport, Ohio

 
Epilogue
 
When I was growing up, my Dad watched “Hee-Haw” on TV. I didn’t really like the singing and corny humor. I preferred Sid Caesar and Imogene Cocoa of “Our Show of Shows”, Ed Sullivan and so on.
 
Years later, when I went to language school in Brazil to learn Portuguese, the teachers said I had an accent. They said that I sounded like someone from southern United States. I put diphthongs in words where they didn’t belong. Instead of “bolo” (cake), I said, “boulo”. I attributed that to my growing up in small town Ohio. Ohioans do have an accent you know. After that, I tried very hard to lose my small-town accent. It wasn’t helping me with my new language. My accent got better but I never really got rid of it.
 
A few years ago, I stayed overnight with my sister Kathleen. We watched some of her favorite videos. Her favorite film was always, “The Last of the Mohicans”. Everyone who knows me knows that I love western and Indian movies and books. Then she introduced me to Ray Stevens videos. And today, I think “Hee-Haw” is really funny.
 
I guess “you can take the girl out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the girl”.
 
As I write this, I am thinking about how we all grieve for our lost parents. In some ways, the places where we have lived are also like our lost parents and we grieve over the loss of them as well. I am proud of where I came from and if you are from Williamsport, you should be proud too. 
 
You know what people said about Jesus coming from a small town, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Well yes, He did!
 
©Marilyn Francis Ferguson 2021
Photography/graphics by Michele Ferguson Schuck