Growing Up in Williamsport, Ohio

The Wing Family
 
When I was in grade school, I had a crush on Johnny Wing. Our families had lived near one another when we lived in the south end of town. My sisters and the Wings were good friends. I think Mildred was the oldest. Alma Lou and Kathleen were friends all of their lives, even unto death. My sister Jean, Judy and Phyllis Wing were about the same ages and Don Wing was probably my brother’s age, more or less.
 
The youngest, Johnny Wing was the smartest boy in my class. I have always been attracted to smart people. Louise Clark was the smartest female. I was not even in their league, intellectually speaking.
 
As I have already written, I spied on my sister Kathleen when she dated. However, there are always ways that sisters can get back at you. In high school, the business/typing class was responsible for putting out the school newspaper.  I was chagrinned because my sisters and the Wing girls always put something in it about me liking their brother Johnny. When the school paper came out, all I could do was grin and bear it. They wrote things like, “The Sunday school teacher asked Marilyn Francis what her favorite hymn was. She replied, ‘Johnny Wing’”. Another time, they wrote that the teacher asked me if I was chewing gum and I replied, “No, I’m just soaking a prune for recess”. I never forgot those embarrassments.
 
When I was in the fifth grade, my mother made sea foam candy for Valentine’s Day. She put some in a wax paper pouch and tied it with a ribbon. I took it to school and set it on Johnny’s desk. I don’t think it had a tag stating who it was from.
 
I don’t know when the Wing family moved to Columbus but I suspect it was after our fifth grade.
 
©Marilyn Francis Ferguson 2020
Photography/graphics by Michele Ferguson Schuck