“Why would anyone want to
visit Protem, Missouri?” How the town got its name would be a good reason
to go. Founded in 1870, the residents at that time could not decide on a
name. They turned to Latin and called the town “Pro Tempore”.
Temporary became permanent; hence: Protem.
But I want to visit Protem
is because it is the birthplace of Sharon, whose maiden name is Brown. I met Sharon when the Army sent me and
thirteen other Helicopter School graduates to Fort Lewis in the state of
Washington.
Being stationed at Fort
Lewis meant living in a constricted world. There were no children.
There were no females, unless you counted the fort librarian or the
ticket taker at the fort’s main movie theater or the WAC’s, who were
sequestered in a distant part of the fort. There were hardly any
civilians unless you counted the bus drivers or the people working at the dry
cleaners.
One of my buddies from
Helicopter School was allowed to live off-post because he was married. Sharon
was his wife. They had an apartment in
Steilacoom, Washington, a town built around a ferry dock on Puget Sound.
This apartment was a short
distance from Fort Lewis and became our refuge.
It was a chance to get away from the Army barracks. Sharon took on
the role of mother hen to her husband’s Helicopter School buddies. She
was gracious and welcoming. For us, she was the female presence that we
lacked at Fort Lewis.
And we appreciated
her. We would sing Mrs. Brown You
Have A Lovely Daughter to make her smile.
Although sometimes we would arrive at the apartment when she was
lounging on the Murphy bed and we would fold her up into the wall, which would
make her mad.
One weekend, four Army guys and Sharon drove 45 miles up to Seattle to see the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. At a restaurant before the movie, the waitress looked at our table, pointed to Sharon sitting amidst four soldiers, and called her “a rose among thorns”. I expanded on the waitress's comment, and said that Sharon would even be "a rose among roses”.
Her husband was shipped to
Vietnam. After he came back, the Army stationed them in Oklahoma.
When her husband left the Army, he did helicopter repair as a civilian
and they moved to Bolivia. He worked on helicopters all over South
America, including Patagonia, where inquisitive penguins would watch over his
shoulder while he did his repair work.
After Bolivia, came
Oregon. Their last move was to Los Angeles, where Sharon’s husband repairs
helicopters that take crews out to offshore oil rigs.
Sharon told me that when
she was growing up in the 1950's, Protem consisted of two buildings: a post
office and the Brown family's house.
Sometimes I wonder if
little Sharon Brown gazed at the Post Office, which was the town's connection
to the outside world. I wonder if she dreamed that she would get to see a
lot of that outside world: the plains of Oklahoma, the deep forests of Oregon,
the exoticness of Bolivia, the busyness of Los Angeles, and the calmness of a
ferry town on Puget Sound where the quiet was broken only by a bunch of
soldiers who would fold her up into the wall.
This month I am going to
visit Protem, Missouri, as a tribute to Sharon, the rose among roses. Wikipedia tells me that Protem is no longer
just two buildings. I can look forward to seeing a post office, a fire
station, and a few houses.
- . - . - . -
YouTube video of Herman's Hermits singing Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter (3 minutes):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv8k0VI9tBc
- . - .- . - . - .
NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath. Price = $11. You can purchase a copy at http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com
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