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    THE SECRET REVEALED by Lynn Koenigs

    THE SECRET REVEALED by Lynn KoenigsThe Secret Revealed
    By Lynn E. Koenigs

    Interviewing the elderly has proved to be informative and interesting. Many clues to life in days gone by become clearer and give us a better understanding for the wars being fought, the Great Depression, and general home life.

    So, I was surprised when Doris (Uecke) Dickson said she had a story but under no circumstances would she share it. No amount of cajoling or coaxing on my part could get her to reveal her tale. She had never told anyone what had happened to her in her youth and at ninety years of age she did not want to get into trouble over it now. She was afraid that she would have to pay a fine or perhaps even go to jail. I tried to convince her that none of that was going to happen. After all, it was over 75 years ago. My curiosity was running rampant and I just had to know. I even promised her that I wouldn’t print the story if it was too revealing. No, she would not relent. Her secret had never been shared with another, not even her parents.

    You can imagine my surprise when a few days later I received a letter from her telling of that fateful Seymour day. She was going to tell all no matter the cost and I was given permission to publically print it.

    This is her story:

    "It was 1934 and school vacation was in full force. I had finished my freshman year and my friend, Lila Muehl, and I were at our farm on Highway 54. We lived only one block west of Main Street in Seymour. What could two bored teenagers do on such a nice summer day? We decided to ride our bikes into town and see if anything was happening that would take away some of our boredom.

    As we entered town, Lila had a brainstorm. We would climb the newly built Seymour water tower. Now, that was an exciting idea. No one was around and it was a pleasant day for our adventure. We parked our bikes and up the ladder we went. We walked around the platform and admired the scenery. We were even brave enough to take another ladder attached to the side of the tower and climb to the very top of the structure. Yes, we touched the gold ball that was the highest point on the tower. What a story we could tell to all of our friends. I wondered if they would even believe us. This was truly a daring feat, and we were girls attempting it.

    When we tired of this, we began to contemplate our descent. Suddenly, our once brilliant idea didn’t seem so clever. My hands became sweaty and my knees felt rubbery. It is then that we noticed that there was no protective cage on the ladder. What if we fell? There was no one that could help us with the silly decision that we once thought of as so brilliant. There was no choice…we had to get down the ladder on our own.

    I was scared to death. What foolish thing had we done? What was I to do? I did the only thing that I could think of… I uttered a prayer. I promised God that if He would get us down safely, I would never do that again. Even so that first step from such a height was a real “doozie!”

    I don’t know about Lila, but until now I have never told anyone of our adventure. And for your information, I never did anything like that again.
    I finally have this secret off my chest and I can laugh about it now. What ideas teenagers get…it is wonder we survive youth."

    (Doris (Uecke) Dickson has passed away and can now rest in peace. The secret is out!)

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