LETTERS: Story stirs memories
To the Editor:
In the April 10 issue of the Marion County Record I was interested in the article by Rowena Plett which highlighted the life of the first YMCA building built in Kansas located at 5th and Main in Marion.
The article indicated the building burned in 1954. I don't remember ever setting foot in that building in all my 14 years of living in Marion. However, if this is the right building, and the right fire I remember as a kid, I had a front row seat to that fire.
I was at a youth meeting in the old EUB church just a block north of Main, kind of trapped from going anywhere, while firefighters struggled to contain the raging inferno.
All of us know how fires intrigue kids. I was no different. My dad, Fred Hayen, didn't have such an interest. He would never chase over town to see a fire. His word was, "there is enough confusion without all the sightseers." In short, we were never among the sightseers to see any of the "really good" fires which occasionally struck Marion in those days of the '40s and '50s.
To be stuck in that little church, right there, a block from that great fire was a pretty exciting happening. The fire hoses where running all across the streets. The flames at the height of the fire were blasting up through the roof of the building. Firemen were on the roofs of other buildings nearby trying to keep the fire from spreading. We were stuck there for at least an hour, watching it all happen from the steps of the church.
It is a powerful memory for me. Interestingly, I had no clue what historic meaning the old building had for Marion and community. I knew there was a bowling alley in the building, that is all I remember.
Thanks to Ms. Plett for a good article which gave me a better picture of a familiar building and aroused some other memories for me.
Jan Hayen
Parsons
