I wonder if Lake Tiak-O'khata still has a jukebox on its front porch. Summer days spent there fifty years ago are as fresh in my memory as if they were just yesterday. Beach sand on the porch ground beneath dozens of bare feet, nickel ice cream cones, scents of the shower rooms filtering out through screen doors, screams from the big slide and the high dive out on the water – and the jukebox playing songs by the Beach Boy, Dion, Del Shannon, The Righteous Brothers or The Beatles.

From Memorial Day until after Labor Day when we had to return to school, the kids of Winston County flocked to the lake. It was our social media back in the day.

I learned to swim there when I was in junior high. My older cousin, Dianne Bennett, was a lifeguard and swimming instructor in those days. I can remember the thrill of being able to go beyond the ropes, out to the little dive and ultimately the high dive. I had arrived! No more hanging on to the edge of the pier while fish nibbled at my legs watching the other kids swim off and leaving me behind. I had become one of them.

As I grew older the pier to the west of the slide was the place to watch or hang out. Teenage girls would roll out their beach towels, slather on baby oil or suntan lotion and bask in the sun. Often they were as thick as turtles on a log baking in the sun. It was those years I became aware that the girls I had played red rover with were morphing into something more beautiful.

There was an unwritten law that that pier was for girls only. A few older guys would venture out through the water and splash water up in their direction to get them change positions for a different view. But younger guys like me weren’t quite so bold. We hung out on the slide and the trampoline waiting for one to walk by on their way to the concession stand.

Weekend nights found cars parked along the lakeside. Kids would sit on the hoods of their cars listening to WLS out of Chicago. In later years eight-track tape players belted out the latest tunes. For older kids with a more romantic twist, there was the sandpit back in the woods on the north side of the road opposite the lake.

It’s said that young men dream dreams and old men have visions. That’s probably true. But I must add one thing to that. Old men, if they’re lucky, have memories. Good memories.

I count the times spent at the lake when I was growing up among some of my favorite. I know the place has changed a lot in the last fifty years. The trampoline is gone. There are kayaks for rent nowadays. Some of the porch has been taken in by the restaurant. And the big slide is gone… replaced by something much better. Huge catfish hang around the piers now, and you must watch where you step on the piers. Geese have invaded and left their mark there.

The last time I was there I failed to take note if a jukebox was still near the shower rooms. If one is there, I hope it’s loaded with a few of the old songs. Unchanged Melody by the Righteous Brothers would be nice. Whenever I hear that song it takes me back to my youth, hanging out near the slide or trampoline, watching kids out at the high-dive and on the pier. - Longing to be just a little bit older. Wanting to go beyond the ropes or be bold enough to splash the girls laying out in the sun.

Labor Day is approaching, and I imagine the swimming area at the lake will soon close. Summer has passed too fast. And fifty years have passed by even faster than I had imagined possible.

There must be a jukebox on that porch. I just know one has to be there.

P.S. As we make plans for the 50th reunion of the LHS class of 1970 we are in need of a little help locating five people we went to school with. Glen Richardson and Taylor Thornton are the guys. Taylor moved before we graduated. The girls (maiden names) we need to locate are; Linda Louise Mize, Sandra Moorehead and Christen Westrum. Christen moved away in the 8th grade, and the spelling of her last name may be off. Out of 149 classmates we have information on 126 that are living. We have lost 18. Any help with contact information or locating the last five would be appreciated.

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Rick Algood
August 21, 2019