|
Hundreds
of long-time Tempe residents, a few
dabbing at tears as they reminisced,
stood patriotically at attention and
sang along with God Bless America
to celebrate a tradition now in its 96th
year.
The hymn was performed by Jesse McGuire,
the trumpeter who gained national
acclaim from his 2001 performance of the
Star Spangled Banner at game
seven of the World Series in Phoenix,
with his signature poignancy.
It was just one small but moving moment
from the 2005 meeting of the Tempe Old
Settlers Association.
Approximately 250 of the group met at
Arizona Community Church to share old
memories and make new ones, as they have
done almost annually for more than a
century.
The meeting had a built-in segment for
“old-story time,” when longtime
residents could come to the microphone
and retell their favorite memories of
decades past. They reminisced over
Tempe’s small-town days, when hundreds
of children’s bikes would be parked in
the heart of town, unchained, but still
unmolested. When the roads still didn’t
cross the river. (That’s why the names
change, they reminded visitors, when you
drive into Scottsdale.)
Clare Schrieks moved to Tempe in 1952.
She remembers when the city limit was
the railroad tracks between Apache
Boulevard and Broadway Road--“and they
said it’d never grow south.”
“My kids picked onions at Guadalupe and
Rural, in the onion fields,” added Mary
Parker, a 48-year resident sitting with
Schrieks. “On the southeast corner. All
this was farmland, as far as the eye
could see.”
But some old stories came through even
without words. In the back of the room
sat an old scrapbook; a collection of
newspaper clippings, member directories,
event programs and other memories that
have accumulated over the years, all
telling the nonverbal stories of Tempe’s
rich heritage.
A 1920 phonebook was an inclusive list
of Tempe’s residents. It was just two
and a half pages long.
A 1938 historical document told the
association’s history. Born in 1902 when
“Mr. and Mrs. Petersen had a picnic at
their house in honor of the dear old
pioneers,” the Old Settlers Association
has lived on to this day, meeting on the
second Saturday of October every year
since its inception, with the exception
of only a few years during World Wars I
and II.
Today, the Old Settlers Association is
open to 30-plus year Tempe residents,
and its meetings are attended by
notables such as Mayor Hugh Hallman,
state Representative Meg Burton Cahill
and former Councilman Dennis Cahill.
When nobody stepped forward to be the
organization’s vice president for the
next term, Hallman volunteered.
The association’s members have watched
their hometown transform from a tiny
community surrounded by farms into a
large, thriving suburban hub. That
transformation has been both a blessing
and a curse, a few attendees said.
“(The growth) is a positive thing in a
lot of ways, but in other ways it’s kind
of negative, with the crime and stuff
that’s come because it’s gotten so big,”
Parker said. “It’s had its ups and
downs.”
“It just grew too big,” said Schrieks.
“It was a nice little town to raise a
family in. It’s grown so much that
hardly anyone knows anyone anymore.”
That community atmosphere and small town
feel is what the Old Settlers said they
missed most. Parker and Schreiks
recalled the old Tempe Hardware store on
Mill Avenue, owned by the Curry
brothers.
“You could go in there, you could get
anything you wanted in a line of
hardware.”
Former City Councilman and longtime
south Tempe resident Joe Spracale, past
president and key organizer for the Old
Settlers, took a few moments to explain
a plan in the works to build a memorial
for Tempe’s veterans.
If sufficient funds are
raised—approximately $900,000—the
memorial will stand at the intersection
of Veterans Way and College Avenue, a
key hub in the light right system now
under construction.
“I have a vision of a light,” he said,
“that will shine forever here in Tempe.” |
