SIL Sept/Oct 2019

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People of Southern Indiana Friends Forever Marengo pair has shared decades of good times The two little girls had spent a delightful evening catching fireflies and putting them in a Mason jar. But then things went a bit downhill. Jackie Jones Bullington and Della Stewart White liked playing together and enjoyed overnight visits. However, after they went to bed this sleepover went awry. Jackie decided to turn the fireflies loose in the house. “I didn’t like bugs,” said Della, “so I just got up and went home.” However, the incident didn’t damage the friendship. The two 87-year-old lifelong Marengo residents are not sure whether they 44 • Sept/Oct 2019 • Southern Indiana Living first met at school or church, but they believe it was in 1938 when they started first grade at the former Marengo Elementary School. That was not an easy time for either. “Sometimes it became unbearable,” Jackie said. That is when the tiny 6-year-old grabbed her little black lunch bucket and headed home. It wasn’t a successful runaway. Word of the escape always reached her sister, Opal, a high school senior, who promptly retrieved the young pupil and marched her back to class. “Let’s just not talk about that year,” Della said with a slight shake of her head, Story by Sara Combs Photo by Tom McDonald as the two recalled early days while relaxing in Della’s apartment in the Lincoln Hills Development Corporation housing complex in Marengo. However, the two little girls soon adjusted to life as students – and something good came out of that long-ago trying year. They formed a friendship that has spanned more than eight decades. It is a connection that flowed on as they married, reared children (Della has seven; Jackie had two). It continued through deaths, divorce and illnesses, as well as many good times, and a lot of fun and laughter.
And it seems that those early school problems quickly smoothed out. “The second grade was great,” Della said. “Melvin Tower was our teacher and we learned a lot and had a lot of fun.” Jackie agreed, recalling that the teacher often joined the class on the playground for games such as tug-of-war. The two went through all 12 grades together, graduating high school in 1950. “Our class stayed close, especially the girls,” said Jackie, who lives north of Marengo in the home that she and her husband, Russell, built in the early 1960s. “We girls met for breakfast and other gettogethers. We even went to Indianapolis for overnight visits with fellow students Vivian Clifton Gregory and Oneida Green Cook. While many of our classmates are gone, we still send birthday cards and stay in touch with those who are left,” Jackie said. Although Della’s heath issues have curtailed some of their activities — like weekly shopping trips to Corydon — the two women still know how to have a good time. And the pair agree that one of their favorite activities is talking about the old days. School years were filled with movies at the old Rialto Theater, basketball games, picnics at Marengo Cave and parties at classmates’ homes. “No one had vehicles, so we walked everywhere,” Jackie said. End-of-school celebrations usually meant wiener roasts on the Ed Ross property just east of town. “In those days, we made do with what we had,” Jackie said. She recalls getting hat boxes from Ella Murphy, a milliner and women’s apparel shop owner during that time. “We covered them with crepe paper for valentines. When we thought the town needed more Christmas decorations, we dipped light bulbs in paint. Frank Sprinkle (a local resident who worked for Public Service — now Duke Electric) hung them for us and Gordon Green (then a local funeral home director) helped with financing.” Most of their activities revolved around the church. Both are members of Marengo Christian Church, where they hold unique records. Jackie recently received an award for 79 years of perfect Sunday School attendance; Della has a 77-year record. “My hospital and nursing home stay caused me to miss out this year,” she said. “You are allowed two sick days a year,” Della said. She had to take advantage of this a few times as her children were inclined to be born on Sunday. Besides services, there were church picnics, Christmas caroling and camps. “We had picnics at Santa Claus Land (now Holiday World) when it was just a statue of Santa and a train,” said Jackie. “Sometimes it is the little things you remember,” Della added. She recalled Jackie’s mother (the late Lula Jones) sending chicken and dumplings in a Thermos. “They were still nice and hot when we ate.” Church camp was fun, and they learned a lot there, Jackie said. However, they remember one camping trip that did not start out so well. “The older group had already had its camp week and we were the only two our age from our church,” she said. “We got there before any other campers or staff and we just sat on our suitcases and asked ourselves, ‘Why did we come here?’ But when everyone else arrived, we had a good week and forgot our earlier distress.” Life wasn’t all fun and games. Jackie recalls picking strawberries at Stumler’s in Borden. “A bus picked up local kids and took us to the berry patch. I used my money for some lavender-dotted Swiss and my mom made me a dress.” Della worked at Towers’ General Store (a former business in Marengo) after school and on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. “I was paid $3.50 a week,” she said. During the busy years of rearing children, the two remained good friends. “Our families often got together for meals, games and good times,” Jackie said. “For a long time, we were part of a neighborhood club, but then most everybody went to work and that was that.” And they have been there for each other through some rough times. Those include the deaths of Jackie’s husband, Russell, and son, Kevin, and White’s divorce and the care of her daughter, Julie, who has Down syndrome. “Although she is high-functioning and remembers everybody’s names and birth dates, she required a great deal of care,” Della said. The two women have supported each other during various illnesses. Jackie remembers once talking to Della on the phone. “I was very sick, and she could tell it. I barely got the phone hung up when she got to my house to stay with me until my husband got home.” And during Della’s recent health problems, neighbors mistook Jackie for the home health nurse, because she was there so often to check on her friend. And anyone who thinks slumber parties are just for teenage girls does not know these two. Della has hosted several recently, partly to help her adjust to Julie’s move to an assisted living apartment in New Salisbury. “I had her with me for 45 years,” she said. “Although she comes However, the two little girls soon adjusted to life as students – and something good came out of that long-ago trying year. They formed a friendship that has spanned more than eight decades. It is a connection that flowed on as they married, reared children.It continued through deaths, divorce and illnesses, as well as many good times, and a lot of fun and laughter. home for weekends, it has taken some getting used to.” Having friends over helps with that transition. And those gatherings are much the same as any slumber party. “We talk, laugh, eat, listen to music and laugh some more.” Although they resemble the earlier overnight visits, they don’t include catching fireflies for Jackie to release at bedtime. “I know better now,” she said. • Southern Indiana Living • Sept/Oct 2019 • 45
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