Some old memories came back to a former Henryettan this summer when he spent a whirlwind one day visit.
pounderGlen T. Pounder grew up here and graduated in 1944 from the same school his father attended during the early days of Henryetta's existence.
Now a resident of Little Rock, Ark., Pounder, 89, brought his daughter Leah, and grandson, Taylor back home to let them know their family's roots.
Pounder's family has been a part of the area dating back to his father's garage where he would work on some of the first automobiles that drove down the then-new brick streets. That garage was located between Ninth and Tenth streets on Main. "It burned down in 1936," he said.
Proudly pointing out he is one of the early Hens, Pounder said his father graduated in 1928, his mother was a 1923 graduate and his sister received her diploma in 1942.
One of the seniors in his father's graduating class was Jack Gibson and, by a twist of fate, later to become Glen's boss at the Eagle Pitcher smelter.
Pounder worked for Gibson in the personnel department at the smelter for a number of years. "They call it human resources now but I don't like that term," he says with a smile. After leaving Henryetta in 1957, he stayed in HR for his entire life, working in Tulsa as well as several adjoining states before shelling in the Little Rock area. Pounder was elected to serve as present of the Central Arkansas Human resources Association in 1971.
Before he took the job at Eagle Pitcher, he recalls working behind the soda fountain at the Owl Drug. "I make $5 a week," he says with a smile. The Owl Drug was well known at that time for the compact Austin automobile that was used to deliver medicine around town.
During his visit, the family made the obligatory stop at the cemetery then started looking at the neighborhood where the Pounder children played.
"The house on Eighth that I grew up in burned down. There's only a lot with a fence around it." By contrast, the house that belonged to his wife's family, the Taylor's, on Moore still stands. Her parents operated a dry goods store on Main Street.
During the neighborhood search, Pounder's daughter, leah, called the First Christian Church and the secretary, Marilyn Garbart, was easily able to help. Seems he spent several years living, "just around the corner," from her family. "We have movies of them at Easter," he recalled.
Along with that memory were recollections of other classmates and childhood friends including the VanMeters and Rodriquez families. "I used to come back for some of the reunions, but I haven't been in years," he says quietly.
"The town has not changed that much, it has aged and needs some cosmetic work," he said. "It does bring back a lot of memories. Some of the things I remembered don't look the same now."