Paging Dan Parrish

My eleven year old daughter, Katie, is officially out of school. She is with us down at the clinic. Katie asked me this morning if I would make the time to run by the library so she could pick up J.R.R. Tolkien's THE TWO TOWERS. After locating the copy, she asked to go see if there was a DVD she could check out in the children's section. I told her she could. I wandered over to the genealogy section, it looks a lot bigger. I'm going to find time sometime to dig up some old bones. While nosing around, I saw shelves of Etowah County City Directories. Bingo! I immediately spotted the 1969 city directory and started hunting for P for Parrish.

I've mentioned somewhere in a past post about a childhood friend Dan Parrish. He lived on up Scenic Hwy - on Hilltop Circle. I never could recall his parents names. To a ten year old all grown ups were called Mr. or Mrs. or Sir or Ma'am. Dan and I were very close and we spent much of our free time riding bikes, playing army, playing with G.I. Joes, or knocking balls at the golf course. Tuckahoe Golf Course was directly across the street from his house. How cool was that?

There came a day when I would go to visit Dan, that we would have to play outside. His dad had cancer and things were very quite and somber around the house. Then one day back in 1969, I walked to Dan's house and a moving van was parked out front. He was playing with his G.I. Joes and we sat there played and talked while the movers finished up. Dan told me that he was moving away because his Dad had died. There finally came a time when he had to go and so I walked back home in a daze. As soon as I returned home, family members were in the kitchen talking. I learned that the very day that I lost my playmate - I lost my grandmother as well. Strange hard day.

I saw Dan one other time after that. I was sitting in Mrs. Graves 6th grade class (R.A. Mitchell Elementary School) when Dan entered the room. When I looked up, he was looking straight wearing an ear to ear grin. Apparently his mother had to come back to town to take care of some left over business. Dan sat in the desk behind me. We smiled and made eye contact but couldn't talk. I had to turn around and keep my attention on the teacher. I was hoping that Dan would be able to play during recess which was coming up the next bell. That didn't happen. His mother appeared in the doorway and motioned for him to come. Dan left and I never saw him again.

I just don't have much of a memory for the details. I just knew where Dan lived, his street address and that his mother moved somewhere to North or South Carolina. I also remembered that his mother worked somewhere at the Court House. Today while at the library, I quickly and easily thumbed to the names behind the Sir and Ma'am. Dan's father was David L. Parrish (spelled Parris in the 1968 CD) and his mother's name was Kay (or Kaye). I remember his last name being spelt Parrish, not Parris. David was listed as being a Manufacturing Engineer at General Times (a clock manufacturer at the foot of the mountain). Dan's mother Kay was an office secretary at the Etowah County Probate office. The Parrish Family lived on 2725 Hilltop Circle until 1969.

This gives me something to look for. I don't know where Mrs. Kay Parrish and Dan moved to. For some reason Greenville, SC comes to mind. My memory is uncertain. I am publishing this post not necessarily for my friends that read my blog but for an old friend that I would like to one day touch base with. I have been rewarded in the past doing genealogy quests, finding distant cousins online. Perchance by posting the above information, Dan might stumble across it. Whether or not, Dan if you're out there, I pray you are doing well and having a good life.

I remember Dan having one of these.
The G.I. Sentry post wasn't made by Hasbro but made as an accessory for Joes.