On January 16, 1948, my brother Don and 3 other buddies left Seward, NE at 4:00am in my '41 Chevy and headed for Quantico, VA. One of the buddies, Don Armstrong was to pick up a Plymouth Coup being given to him by his brother stationed at Quantico. We did some sightseeing along the way as we traveled through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and finally into Virginia with a stop in Richmond. We were most impressed with all the Monuments of Hero's and Horses on Monument Avenue. We had a Great time at General Armstrong's in Quantico, had a tour of Washington, D.C, saw our first professional basketball game, and headed for home in two cars. On a Sunday afternoon later that spring, Brother Don and I put the bridle on old Betsy, got her up on a pile of corn cobs and tried to imitate some of the poses that we had seen on Monument Avenue in Richmond. She was a very gentle old "plow horse" but Dad never did understand how we were able to get her to climb up the 5-6 feet on cobs to get on top of the pile. The picture has been one of our favorites over the years as an example of a couple farm boys having fun on Sunday. Now "fast forward 65 years".
While visiting over Christmas with our oldest son, who lives in Richmond, VA, he brought up his memory of this picture. He lives near Monument Avenue and had visited the Museum there recently. He suggested I write up my story of the picture and send him a good copy so he could make it available to the Curator. I trust he knows the Curator well enough to avoid any adverse reactions since it could be considered a "spoof" on something quite "sacred".
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