My Life Story - I'll Never Forget the Day....

It was like a scene straight out of Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon.

"Harvard Milk Day" in Harvard, Illinois, had arrived, with it's parade and festivities to promote dairy products. The year was 1970 and it was a hot June day. I was one of the contestants in the "Milk Day Queen" contest. We had all been photographed by the local papers many times while drinking glasses of milk.

I sat on the back of a red mustang convertible in last Spring's prom dress and rode in the parade as our high school's representative.

I graduated from "Big Foot High School," of Walworth, Wisconsin. It was named after a native American chief who had lived near Geneva Lake, Wisconsin. I was our school's representative.

The Harvard Milk Day parade went down the main street of town and various festive floats made a long line. We milkmaids sat on the backs of the convertibles and waived at the spectators.

There were also floats pulled by tractors, hay wagons with local kids, and local school bands marching.

As the representative from the above named school my car's banner read "Miss Big Foot." The other milkmaids had names like "Miss Lake Geneva" or "Miss Williams Bay." Of course the banner on my car drew some attention.

I've always enjoyed humour so I just rolled with it, smiling and waiving. Occasionally some kids would yell something like, "Hey Miss Big Foot, what size shoe do you wear?" We all shared some good laughter and it was a day I'll never forget.