It was the spring of 1944, in the midst of the Second World War, and we had been married only a month or two. I was in need of a new pair of shoes, so I walked downtown and came home with a pair of high heels. White, toe-less, with a perky little bow and just a strap around the back. I used my shoe stamp that was to last me ’til the new stamp, which I think was for six months.
I was 17, just a kid, and they were my first high heels. When my husband, a practical farm boy, came home and saw me wobbling around in them, he was anything but happy with my choice.
It’s been almost 50 years, but I can still see those shoes as if it were yesterday.
Elsie R. Hinote
Kansas City, Kansas
Back in 1955 a call went out from the editors of the then Capper’s Weekly asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from Capper’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available to our growing online community.
