TG&Y was the bomb...OR...how I spent part of my childhood flying to Denham Springs in a Bonneville

I've noticed lately that I have a blog reader or two in Denham Springs, Louisiana. The funny thing is, a 1980's version of Denham Springs is a place that I am quite familiar with. I've never lived in Denham, but I have lived in Bayou Barbary, about 25 minutes away. My mom would sometimes decide that we needed to go to town after school, and off to Denham we'd go. Drive through the Hardees right there on the main drag by Popeye's Chicken and then to modeling, TG&Y, whatevs. We were rolling with the flow in the back seat of the ol' Bonnie. That Pontiac Bonneville was smoooooth. White with a navy blue vinyl top and navy velvety seats!! When my mom got behind the wheel and gave it some juice, man oh man, ol' Bonnie sure could fly.

Furthermore, my dad, the *ever-so-handsome-and-he-knows-it* Dean Felder, is from Denham Springs: he played basketball, was a 4-H officer and was voted most courteous for the class of 1952, which also happens to be one of the classes that had to finish out the year in temporary tents after the old high school burned. *He's not a jerk about it but he does spend way longer than most men fixing that hair.

Proof is in the pictures: My daddy (2nd from the right) with his fellow 4-H officers, 1951 or so

Memories of Denham Springs for me surround trips to Aunt Nell's house, with her little dog Penny yipping around. Uncle John had all of his WWII medals in display cases and we loved to stare at them. If I remember correctly, I think he also had a case of some rattlesnake rattlers. We also went to Denham weekly to take modeling lessons at the American Legion with Ann and Lisa Carpenter. You could do your modeling thing, up there practicing your strut and turns as 'Cool it Now' blasted out of the jam box and then just trot right on over to the snack bar to buy a small bag of an off brand of chips from a veteran! How cool was that? Sometimes after pageants, we would go to the McDonald's near Kmart and the interstate. I also can't forget to wax nostalgic about just how much I loved a trip to the now defunct chain store, TG&Y. Why, TG&Y is where I got my thoroughbred horse stationary in or around 1985, for Christ's sake. Not to mention the day my mom found a cookie jar that looked like a stack of pancakes for Sis (Allyson), who loved pancakes, natch!

Sometimes you were in Denham Springs for a wake or funeral. The funeral home was on that main drag past KMart, and they had those little bitty paper cups with the two-loop handle for coffee. I haven't been in there since before 1986, but if I went in right now, I know I could go to the left and down the hall to find the coffee, except I don't drink coffee. By the way, people in other parts of the country don't call it a 'wake'.

I have lived in Tennessee for over 20 years now, but I still remember. Let me know who you are if you're reading my blog, peoples. I want to know who's stalking me!

Denham Springs 4th grade class, '46-'47
(Daddy is in the 2nd row, all the way to the right)