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Growing Up On Jefferson Street

Preface and Story Menu

These 24 stories are about growing up in a working class neighborhood in Eugene, Oregon from in the late 1930s to the early 1950s. They began as a series of email exchanges in early 2004 and after considerable editing and re-writing we sent them to selected friends and family. The work seemed to pass the critics, as biased as they were and we turned to other interests. A year later following some discussion and further reminiscing we decided to publish Growing Up On Jefferson Street on www.ThinkPint2.com,, a website you have probably visited. If not, you might enjoy doing so and exploring other Loughary and Ripley stories.

Our main reason for going to cyberspace is to preserve the stories in an convenient accessible mode for family and friends who might be interested. Our respective families have produced their own generation of offsprings and one would expect in the course of events some of them may produce the third generation conceived initially by Margaret Genevieve Bagan and William Ernest Loughary.

This branch of the Loughary family originated in Stanfield and Echo Oregon and relocated to Eugene, Oregon from Omak, Washington, in 1936, living primarily near 14 th and Patterson street until the summer of 1939 when Margaret and Bill purchased the Jefferson street home. Marilyn and Jack both attended St. Mary’s Elementary School (Jack grades 1 and 2, Marilyn grades 1 through 6), Jack attended Francis Willard Elementary School grades 3 through 4, and both completed Woodrow Wilson Junior High School and Eugene High School.

Bill and Margaret Loughary built (literally) a home in Springfield on Wayside Lane and they vacated 1832 Jefferson Street and moved to Springfield on Friday December 10, 1954, according to an entry in his time book. The house at 1832 Jefferson Street has had its ups and downs since then, being operated for a spell as a low income subsidized home. It eventually returned to the open market where it now remains, priced at many times more than what Bill and Margaret initially paid for it. The neighborhood, at least those several blocks, appears now to be more than half owner occupied. Given the price of new construction, there is a reasonable chance that it will attract more owners who see the advantages in living in older neighborhoods.

We will be pleased if readers enjoy these memories. “Growing up small town” can be rewarding.

Jack Loughary
Marilyn Loughary Kok
March, 2005

Story Menu

Set 1: “St Christopher And Me” and “My Dad Can Whip Your Dad”

Set 2: “Fasting For Credit” and “Making The Most Of Mass”

Set 3: “Learning To Chew My Nails“ and “Stuttering Your Way To Heaven”

Set 4: “Opposite Sides Of The Street” and “Upper Lower Or Lower Middle”

Set 5: “Kicking The Can” and “Sex In The Junior High”

Set 6: “Hired Help” and “The Ghost Of Jefferson Street”

Set 7: “How I Learned To Dread Farm Work” and “Floor Please”

Set 8: “Chipin’ Boilers & Drivin’ Truck” and “The Joy of Unpaid Labor”

Set 9: “Skirt Casually Unzipped With A Glass of Booze In Her Hand” and “Taking Care of Business”

Set 10: “A Day InTthe City” and “Dime Vacations”

Set 11: “The Loughary Family In Search Of The Elusive Razor Clam” and “Radio Daze”

Set 12: “Won’t You Play A Simple Melody” and “The Slide Trombone”

End Note:

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