Douglas Hamilton was born in 1948 in Willmar, the first of two sons, to Douglas and Gertrude (Pierce) Hamilton. The Hamiltons lived in Grove City, but his dad ran a car lot in nearby Atwater.

The Hamiltons were Seventh Day Adventists, which made them unique in Grove City.

“Grove City was predominantly Protestant with one 7th Day Adventist and one Mormon family. My folks and their folks were friends and would hang out and try to convert each other. (Doug chuckled) It didn’t work too well.”

Doug recalled 2nd grade at Grove City Public School as significant.

“My first job was washing blackboards after school. I got 50 cents a day. I had to carry two dictionaries to put on chairs so I could reach the top of the blackboard. I did that through 7th grade. At the end of the week I’d get $2.50 and go to this little general store; pay 50 cents; and get two big bags of candy. I was everybody’s good friend on Friday afternoons.”

The other event was consequential in a different way.

“I got kicked out of school two days in a row. My mother sent me to school with blue jeans and a T-shirt. They said, ‘Tell your mom you can’t wear these.’ I told my mom and she kept sending me. They kicked me out. She sent me back the next day. They kicked me out again. She went to the principal and lit into him. (Doug chuckled) Suddenly they changed their dress code.”

Doug shared some of his favorite times in Grove City.

“I did a lot of ice skating. We could go on a pond or they flooded by the back playground in wintertime. We had half an hour or so for lunch. Sometimes we’d go downtown. You’d get a hot hamburger at our friend’s restaurant across the railroad tracks.”

Train service occasionally came between the kids and their destination.

“That train sometimes went so slow that guys would jump in the open boxcars and come out the other side. They wanted to get across because the train might have been too long for them to wait.”

Life changed after Doug completed 7th grade.

“That summer we moved to Atwater. My dad had a wrecking yard, a paint shop, a mechanics shop, and sold used cars. I kept busy.”

Doug’s parents had another change for him a year later.

“After my 8th grade year, they sent me to a denominational school in Hutchinson, Maplewood Academy. It’s still there.”

Doug explained his parents’ decision and his reaction.

“My mother wanted me to be a missionary doctor. There was no discussion. We took medical training in high school to prepare for that. I bucked the whole thing. I was having a great time in public school and all of the sudden you had to leave.”

Doug described Maplewood’s old main building.

“The 4th floor had been condemned. The Chapel was dead-center in the building. First floor was classes. Second and third floor was dormitory rooms. My roommate, Ralph, and I lived on the north side. With a north wind, the curtains would be like this. (Doug waved his hands, chuckling) The building was really old.”

Working was a big part of Maplewood Academy life.

“They had a farm; a book bindery; a craft shop; a laundry; and a maintenance/janitorial service. Kids did all that for 85 cents an hour. The first year I milked cows and got a dollar an hour. They’d take it off my tuition each month.”

Milking was a hardship in the winter.

“When you got up in the morning you put on your warm clothes and walked two blocks to the barn. (Doug chuckled) There was no heat in the changing room. Our milking clothes would be frozen on the wall, so we’d take off our warm clothes and put on those frozen work clothes. (Doug laughed) That was a bummer.”

Maplewood Academy enforced strict rules of behavior.

“If you got caught doing stuff like trying to sneak an extra breakfast, you had to go pitch a load of manure at the barn. We couldn’t watch TVs and weren’t supposed to have radios, (Doug chuckled) but most of us had hidden radios.”

The radio prohibition did not apply in the milking parlor.

“Our farm boss always put on WCCO while milking. Usually he wasn’t there for morning milking, so we put on WDGY or KDWB. (Doug laughed) Every so often he’d walk in and the radio would disappear for a few days.”

The school was co-ed, but strict discipline extended to student relations.

“You could have a so-called girlfriend, but you couldn’t hold hands. If you got caught kissing her — oooh. On Saturday nights they might have a Lyceum or co-ed basketball. If you had a special merit card and she had a special merit card, you could sit with her.”

Maplewood Academy did not suit Doug.

“I didn’t like it — all four years. (Doug laughed) I let my parents know that I was unhappy with the whole deal. I knew kids in Atwater who saved their money. All the money I made went toward tuition to pay for high school.”

Doug graduated with the Maplewood Academy class of 1966. But his mom’s dream for Doug being a missionary doctor still hung over his head.

“After I graduated my mother wanted me to go to college in Lincoln, Nebraska, at another denominational school.”

The Lyon County Museum’s next Veterans Coffee is Tuesday, Jan. 9 at 1:30 p.m. for veterans of any armed service. Please join us for coffee, conversation, and camaraderie.