The Burrows lived in a split-level suburban-style home in a quiet neighborhood in the southeast part of Mt. Pleasant. The three-bedroom house was large by the standards of its day, but it has been greatly expanded since the Burrow family moved away. The corner lot had a large lot with a terraced flower garden in front and a vegetable garden in back. Amusingly, the phone number that the Burrows had when he was growing up (319-385-4844) now belongs to a company that provides home health care and psychiatric services.
The house was full of stairs, which was a problem for Mr. Burrow's arthritic mother. The bedrooms were over a garage, which the Burrows divided to create a family room. On the main floor was a large living room that was separated from the entryway by a bookshelf and couch. There was a formal dining area that the family rarely used. Instead they ate in a corner of the kitchen that later doubled as a laundry room. There was also a large and mostly unfinished basement that frequently flooded and served as a pantry and storage area. There was additional storage in an attic that could only be accessed through a hatch in the ceiling by the upstairs bathroom.
Every room in the house bore Betty Burrow's decorative touch, and the decor was very much of its era. Most of the rooms featured fall colors and an early American motif with lots of natural wood and exposed brick. The appliances were coppertone or avocado (they even had an avocado phone at one point) Assorted knick-knacks from the family's travels and Betty's many penpals filled every corner of the home. Intentional or not, the decorations in Mr. Burrow's home as an adult look a lot like those in the home where he grew up.
In stark contrast to the rest of the house was the family room, which Betty had whimsically decorated in a Halloween-like orange and black color scheme with dark wood accents and weapons hanging on the walls. Far from being "homey", David Burrow always found the family room cold and unfriendly--unlike the rest of the house which enormous picture windows made bright and welcoming.
Mr. Burrow was quite inept socially and very much a loner all through school. He was smart, he was bad at sports, and he never dated much--three automatic strikes in the world of a schoolboy in the '70s. The self-proclaimed "studs" of the school picked on him mercilessly, particularly in junior high. While he loved learning and was always a bright student, he hated going to school because of the constant verbal abuse.
Things came to a head his sophomore year in high school, when a bullying classmate challenged him to a fight. He didn't back down, and in fact Mr. Burrow surprised both himself and the onlookers by drawing blood and knocking the other boy down. While it may not have been the most morally correct thing to do, fighting and winning worked wonders. Things got better after that, and by the time he was a senior school was actually something he enjoyed. (Click here for high school yearbook photos.)
LEFT: David Burrow and his brothers with a bike in Olivet, Michigan
RIGHT: Steve and David Burrow with a Fred Flintstone punching bag
on their front porch in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa
The town square in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa
features a steam engine from the
Midwest Old Settlers and Threshers Reunion.
David Burrow on his brother Paul's shoulders
Links to other sites on the Web
NEXT (School Days)
Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce
Iowa Wesleyan College (Mt. Pleasant, IA)
Channel 6 (KWQC, formerly WOC-TV)
A Presidential Classroom for Young Americans
Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America
HOME
© 2010 davidmburrow@yahoo.com
The background music on this page is the Linda Ronstadt hit "Different Drum", which seems appropriate for the theme of this page.
Get your own Free Home Page