I’m making my way to the Shepherd Historic District. The house I grew up in so long ago came on the market for sale, and there was an open house the first weekend. I had to see it! As I’m driving, memories start returning. It’s been 40 years since I returned to my childhood home and 65 years since our family moved in. 2217 NW 26th Street. The thought of seeing it again after all these years is exciting. I’m on Memory Lane. Then I realize that, at some point, they renamed it. It’s now the Lake Hefner Parkway!

The Lake Hefner Parkway and I-44 didn’t exist back then. I would have had to go down May Ave.

But as I exit on NW 23rd Street, a lot looks familiar. Adairs Tropical Cafeteria has become an Antique Store. Taft Junior High, of which I’m a proud graduate, looked old to me when I went there. Still looks old!

I get to Villa. On the northeast corner sits Shepherd Mall. They still call it a mall, but it’s offices now. Back in my day, it was called Shepherd’s Lake, although when I lived there, it was pretty well dried up but made a great place to go through the hole made in the chain link fence by our house, and all the neighborhood kids played there. Lot’s of WWII commando games there! In my senior year of high school, they built Shepherd Mall. It was Oklahoma’s first indoor mall.

At Penn and 23rd Street, I look where Sears Robuck was built on the northwest corner in 1954. Oklahoma City’s first shopping away from downtown. It’s not there anymore. Replaced by a Mcdonald’s and a strip mall. I remember what a big deal it was back then. A sprawling parking lot, and people weren’t used to it. I remember the guy they had on the roof of Sears that had a bullhorn and shouted to folks pulling in where they could find a parking spot!

I’ll never forget the time we trick-or-treated the Shepherd sisters at their old homestead home! It was set far back in the trees and very creepy to kids. Somehow we survived! That house has since been moved to the Harn Homestead.

26th Street looks pretty much the same. Just bigger trees! Our neighborhood sandlot football field at the SE corner of 26th and Youngs had a house built on it in 2018. What will the neighborhood guys do now? Kids don’t get out and play now like they once did. Football, baseball, commando, king of the hill, and dirt clod fights. Come home when the street lights come on. Where do kids gain an imagination nowadays?

Memory Lane: The House That Built Me

Once upon a time, a young boy began his journey through life in a house at 2217 NW 26th Street. The year was 1958. The family just moved in, and little did I know, this house would be the setting for some of the most cherished memories of my childhood.

My parents had chosen this location specifically so that I could attend Northwest Classen High School, a decision that would shape my formative years. At the time, I was a sixth-grader at Gatewood Elementary School, blissfully unaware of the adventures that awaited me.

I made my way to the front door of the open house. It all looked familiar. Where was all my blood spilled on the front porch when I nearly cut off a finger working on my car in the driveway?

Entering the front door and stepping in, it all came back. Kind of like I never left. Except, as they say, everything looks smaller now than I remembered. Everything is pretty much the same except for fresh paint. The wood floors have been uncovered. No more wall-to-wall carpet, as was the trend back then.

The kitchen has been remodeled, although it’s the same configuration as it was before. The add-on family room is still there but tiled now. The hole in the wall for the A/C is gone; the floor furnace is now a return air vent for the central heat and air. I remember having the mumps as a kid and staying home from school. I sat on the couch in that room and watched John Glenn become the first American to orbit the Earth.

Surprisingly, the bathrooms are there as they’ve always been. Black and white tile in the one and pink tile in the hall bath. The telephone stand with a slot for a phone book in the hall has been replaced with a small sit-down desk. I remember sitting in that hallway to use the phone to call girls for a date. No privacy, how embarrassing!

And now, the creme-de-la-creme. My room. The house has an add-on room upstairs that became my personal domain. The room is quite large. I’m guessing 15’x30′, not counting the dormers. It’s had sheetrock added. It used to be some kind of bulletin board material you could put thumbtacks in as its walls back then. It’s where I hung my Beatles poster, among others. The bathroom has been enlarged and remodeled. It’s where I first began to shave!

That room was so large, I had my bed up there but also moved an old antique bar that had been in the family room up there, and we still had room for the guys to come over, and we did band practice up there!

While up there, another couple at the open house came in, and I told them it used to be my room. It was nice and cool up there with the A/C. They asked if it was the same back then. I had to tell them no; there was no air conditioning up there then. Just open all five windows and hope for a breeze. Hot and cold didn’t bother me at that age. It sure does now! My dad had anchored a rope in one of the windows for me to use as a fire escape. That was gone.

In the backyard, attached to the garage, is a garage apartment that we rented out. Over the years, we had several tenants, but the last one stayed for an impressive 20 years. By then, my mother needed help, and we vacated the apartment to fix it up for a caregiver to live in. It was terrible. I don’t think he ever cleaned it. A heavy smoker, the windows were to the point you couldn’t see through them because of all the nicotine adhering to them. When they were cleaned, it was like someone turned on the lights. It was so much brighter! The kitchen had deteriorating Formica in the kitchen, and I found a butcher block-looking material to cover it. By gosh, that countertop is still there!

The backyard was smaller! The rock wall from our back neighbor’s fence is gone and replaced by wrought iron. The tall ham radio antenna to the west is gone, the clothesline is gone, and the chainlink fence on the east, where Dad used to talk to the neighbor as Tim Taylor and Wilson on Home Improvement, has been replaced by a 6′ stockade fence so you can’t see the neighbor now.

My years in the house flew by; soon, it was 1965 – the year of my high school graduation. I left for OU and began my life while my mother continued to live in the house until 1983, preserving the memories we had created together. Now it’s 40 years later that I find myself at the house once more.

My trip back to 2217 NW 26th Street was a journey through time, bringing me from the past and present together. Though much has changed over the years, I still found comfort in recognizing many of my childhood memories preserved within these walls. With every step taken around this house, I am reminded of how far I have come since 1958 and all of the experiences that led me here today. This place will always be special to me as it is where some of my most cherished memories were made—a reminder for us all that home really can be wherever our heart desires.

The home is listed by Gary Caplinger with Verbode Realty for $495,000. I sold it for my mother in 1983 (not a Realtor at that time) for $93,000. If you want to see the home, call Gary or your Realtor. If you’d like to see it and hear the memories as well, give me a call! 405.570.7398