09/23/2025
“Oh, the Memories of ‘Yester Year!”
We went to school in the summertime because the winters were so bad the bus going into the north country couldn’t get through the snow. Our school days started in March and were over after Thanksgiving. The teachers were responsible for building a fire in the stove to warm our school rooms, when it was cold, before the buses arrived with the children. School time was from 9 to 4 o’clock.
Node was a very close community and the dances on Saturday night were so much fun for the whole community. I remember how Mother and I fixed our hair with a heated “waffle like” curling iron or straight curling iron that was heated by putting them down into the glass chimney of our kerosene lamp.
Ed and Esther Thompson and Pete Germann played for all of the dances. What great music. Each and every kid was on the dance floor too. I remember how much fun it was to have square dances called by Charlie Humphrey. The biggest hit was “Hug-‘em up tight and swing’em like thunder.” In a circle of 8 the men joined hands and swung the girls off their feet. Harry Baars was the fun of the dance. He could “snap” his shoes on the floor with that big grin on his face. You could have so much fun with him.
I can truly say that those were the days. I wouldn’t trade those days of my childhood with the kids of today.
Excerpt from “Oh, the Memories of ‘Yester Year!” by Wyoma Paisley Siemsen in “Node, the First 100 Years.”
Hear other memories of the tiny community of Node, October 5, 2025, 2 p.m. at the Node School 8 miles east of Lusk.
Submitted by Explore Niobrara, Wyoming 250 Committee
