Born in the USA!

Downtown Jasper Courthouse - Strassenfest - Jasper Parade

My Childhood Home

In the early 80's my family moved from Louisville, Kentucky to Jasper, Indiana. My mom started a corporate job with Kimball International Furniture Company. When I think back on those days, the first thing that comes to mind were the annual company picnics. I'm almost positive that Kimball was the biggest employer in Jasper at that time and for all the major holidays the company would have company dinner or luncheon. There was usually an annual Christmas dinner, 4th of July Picnic, and back-to-school fall cookout where the majority of the town would attend. These get togethers would give us kids a welcomed opportunity to catch up with summer adventures of our friends before getting back to the routine school days. The atmosphere was always fun and the company spared no expense to show employee appreciation. There was horseback riding, carnival rides, go-carts, gift giveways and a whole lot of stuff I can't remember. One year I believe my mom won a new TV which was exciting to me and to my brother because Now we could play nintendo on the big screen. Unfortunately HD TV had not hit the market yet, but still these were the good o'l days... No instant messaging, no texting or sexting hahaha, no email, no facebook etc... It's kinda of disappointing that the INTERNET is the greatest innovation of my lifetime overall changing the world for the better, while slightly changing it a little for the worst. But, I remember Growing up riding horses with the Reese boys, summer AAU football and basketball tournaments. As a kid, there was always something to do. There was always a birthday party for one of my class mates, a weekend sleepover with the fellas, a friday night high school game, or a new Tom Hank's movie at the theatre. In those days nintendo and sega genesis had just come out with my favorite games being Tecmo bowl and Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. And no sleep-over was complete without Krispey Kremes and orange juice for breakfast! From my perspective the best event in small town america was getting to sleep over at one of my friends houses after a friday night high school football game. We lived and breathed to root for our hometown sports heros. Growing up as an 80's kids the biggest things were all about sports. We played sports all year around Competing against the surrounding southern Indiana schools Tell City, Huntingbird, Vincennes, French Lick etc, the same kids all the way from Junior high to high school. Jasper is a town with german ancestry and I still really don't know what that means besides Germans drink alot, but who doesn't...?!?! I tried to google major things to do or see in Jasper and I couldn't find anything besides shopping at Walmart... :) but really the best thing about Jasper is that it's a small friendly town. Honestly, The people are good and just want to raise respectful kids and keep strong family ties. Reminds me of home!

Born in the USA!

My Childhood Home

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