Crossett, Arkansas (my hometown from 1958 - 1963)

"I was raised in a small town..." 

I was born in Chicago and I've lived in Michigan for over 50 years, so I am a bona fide midwesterner.  But when I was a little girl between the ages of 4 and 13, I lived in Louisiana and Arkansas.  I considered myself a Southerner and I never wanted to leave. 

The Crossett years

We moved from my birthplace to Crossett when I was just 4 years old.  

Nicknamed the "forestry capital of the south with two pine trees in the logo of its name to prove it, Crossett is a company town. It is home to a paper mill and lumber industry that supports a town of 5,500 people. More accurately, it used to support that population. When Koch Industries bought out Georgia Pacific, they cut the workforce by half.  

About 10 years ago, the plywood factory burned down. The Koch brothers,

The ruined plywood factory

David and Charles, decided not to rebuild. This leaves Crossett residents facing the same grim economic circumstances that face hundreds of small company towns. Too many people and not enough jobs.

But it was a rosier picture when my dad was recruited for a management job at the paper mill. Back then it was called the Simplex Paper Company and my dad was the plant manager. His star was on the rise.

Cricket time in Crossett

My dad was a manager, but his true gift was production management. He understood extrusion coating and how to move materials through the assembly line. If you needed a milk carton coated with a plastic based film, he was your guy. He wrotte silly ditties about the trials of crickets mucking up the line:

When it's cricket time in Crossett

And the bugs are all around

The bugs are in the paper 

And the bugs are in the ground...

My mom supported my father's career moves, even though it meant leaving her big Italian family in Chicago where she had been born and raised. 

Best schools in the state

She was overjoyed when she learned that Crossett had the best schools in the state - education would attract top talent to the paper mill. It proved to be true. When we moved to Michigan in 1963 both my brother and I got bumped up a grade because we were advanced in our studies. 

1007 Beech Street

I wasn't sure what to expect when we went back to visit our old family home. Time is not always kind to neighborhoods and our house had been modest from the start. When we arrived, the owner Bruce Goyne was out working in the front yard. The house looked welcoming and bright. He put down his rake and gave us a wide smile. "Would you like to go inside?"

My childhood home still looks great and has shake cedar shingles, befitting a house in the forestry capital of the south.

52 years and one owner

His wife Becky introduced herself and explained how her parents had purchased the home in 1970--just seven years after we moved out.  When her folks died, Becky inherited the place and she and Bruce have lived there ever since. 

They have poured their energies into the mid-century ranch and it stands proud and sturdy on the street. Here are some photos of the kitchen:

We often ate dinner together in the breakfast nook

My mom cooked and served many meals in this space

My brother would chase me through the far door into the dining room

These are the original cabinets

The rest of the house looked different, but the bones were the same.  The girls bedroom had become the master suite. The hallway where my mom stored the freezer was just the same as were the screened in porch and other bedrooms. No major additions or changes. Just careful maintenance and redecorating over the years.

Now it's the master suite, but back in the early 60s, all three of us girls shared this lavender bedroom

Owners Becky and Bruce Goyne

The side porch where we had sleepovers

Goodbye Crossett. Thanks for the childhood memories.