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WYSO, the Dayton Metro Library and local social service agency, Rebuilding Together Dayton, have come together for a very special project. We’ve gathered the memories and wise words of Dayton’s elders for Senior Voices, a new series that is airing throughout 2018. We present them to you in honor of the life experiences and wisdom of Dayton elders.

Senior Voices: Norma Adams

In this Senior Voices web extra, Norma Adams shares memories of Roosevelt High School, and NCR’s Old River Park. She spoke with Dayton Metro Library interviewer, Kara Power.

Transcript: 

Kara Power (KP): So, do you remember where you went to elementary school and high school?

Norma Adams (NA): Edison in Dayton, and high school was Roosevelt. And they’ve torn the whole building down now, it’s gone. Yeah, and it was a fabulous building, it had two huge pools.

KP: You don’t get that very often…

NA: I doubt that they build schools around here with that kind of facilities anymore, so when they tore it down I thought it was just a disaster, but they had tried to make it a I think a neighborhood building, and one day my daughter called and said that my grandson was playing in an orchestra and they were going to play for the reopening of the Roosevelt Center and did I want to go and I said I have really mixed feelings about that ‘cause I was in that building for six years, ‘cause I went to junior high school and high school there. So, I did go, and it wasn’t anything like I remembered it. You know, really, I thought the library was huge when I was there, the library was a little dinky, probably about as big as this apartment, but when you’re a teenager, you don’t remember that stuff, it doesn’t matter.

KP: Do you have any proud moments in your life?

NA: Lots of those, too, probably. I think children’s accomplishments over time, grandchildren’s accomplishments. My grandson was in the band at Old River, and since Old River is gone now, that kinda gives me chill down my back. You had to, if you know about Old River, it belonged to NCR and you had to have a pass to go in, and I had a friend at school whose father had a pass, he didn’t work there but her had a pass, so we could go. And then when my grandson was playing there, and I had been there for so many summers before, and to watch them, they marched from a parking lot up on one end and the seats were all around…been there, uh huh, as they came marching in they would play the Washington and Lee Swing or something to march fast and bring them in, and I was just so proud of him. It was beautiful.

This interview was edited by Community Voices producer Javis Heberling. Senior Voices is a collaboration between the Dayton Metro Library, Rebuilding Together Dayton, and WYSO. This series is made possible through the generous support of the Del Mar Healthcare Fund of the Dayton Foundation.