Joe Monroe Currie, Sr. Diary, Book 1, pages 2-5

March 24, 1930: Miss Hood put up my autobiography. We had a rainy day recess. Louise and I played the rest of the hopscotch game. She had six king down and I had two. We played throwing marbles in a box. Louise beat me. I am supposed to give her something for winning both games. I got my current event tomorrow.

March 25, 1930: We had Civics first because of radio program. Had study period in Miss Ila’s room. Miss Hood wants me to tell current events. Had music program after Spelling, about Thomas Jefferson. Stayed up at school and saw a play practiced. Came home tried to work Arith, missed the answer a little bit.

March 26, 1930: Had a manual training test to-day. It took away my study period. Did not know much about it. Got two arith problems at recess. Had a arith test. Ate dinner at school. Came home and did some drawing for Mr. Mankin. Went down to see Louise. Pat and I played until Louise was ready. Then we all see-sawed some. I gave Louise the third degree by bumping her on the see-saw board.

March 27, 1930: Had Manual Training sooner because of music program. It is the last one. Mr. Mankin sent me to the store for a small lock. I did not get all of my arith. As I was coming from the store I worked the problem in my head. We sang a song that we have to sing for graduation. After school Clifford and I went walking. We saw Miss Cash on Speedway. I went to see a fire on *Horn Lake road. Went to Louise’s and got some pie.

March 29, 1930: Went to *Cossitt library. Went to school and watch some boys playing golf. Had cake for dinner. Went to school and played baseball. Went down to Louise’s. Went to store with Mrs. Palmer. Played pitch with Mr. Pall, Mrs Palmer and Louise. Mrs. Palmer and I beat. Got home at nine-thirty. Louise had her hair cut and it sure looked beautiful.

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*Horn Lake Road was about 5 miles from Daddy's house on Gage Avenue.

The red sandstone building was dedicated April 12, 1893. It was located at the corner of Monroe and Front Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Daddy walked from his home at 100 East Gage Avenue, Memphis, TN to the Cossitt Library at 33 South Front Street, Memphis, TN a distance of nearly 5 miles. I have faint memories of that old building. It looked more of a pink color to me.

The current building was added in 1959. I worked downtown for several years and would spend some of my lunch breaks at the library. During the summer breaks from school I would go to work with Daddy. He would sometimes drop me off at various libraries for an hour or two. I felt so grownup. 

Joe Monroe Currie, Sr. Diary, Book 1, pages 1-2

March 21, 1930: To-day I am 12 years, 10 months and 6 days old. I got up little earlier than usual and went on my corner. Played with Walter a little bit.  Same after school. Went back to school and listened to radio with Howard Lutz. Cut a few little trees. I used a root for my new golf club. I went down to *Louise Palmers and ate supper. Played hopscotch.

March 22, 1930: *Leon and I found some more roots for golf sticks. Played a little golf. Got a haircut and played with Walter. I got a new *Open Road book, April number. The postman had taken it to Mrs. Humphrey yesterday. It had expired so I subscribed for three years. *Balm gave me a dollar after dinner. I tried to fix posts for my garden. Went to Mrs. Palmers and made Louise a cross. Stayed all evening. That night I took my Open Roads for Mrs. Palmer to read. Louise and I smoked some grape vines.

March 23, 1930: Went to Sunday school. Francis pl...d my hair. I got venture on Jack. He chased me to Davant. I went down to Louise's. I took a piece of cake. About 2 o'clock we went to church where Louise had to practice. I watched some kite flying. We went walking on the highway. See-sawed a little... we got home. Played hopscotch and... Came home and started to ... my life for Miss Hood. I forgot to wash my teeth.

Louise Palmer, life-long friend. She married Jimmy Garrison.

Leon, Daddy's first cousin, Leon Pike.

Balm, Daddy's nickname for his grandmother, Georgia Etta Lentz Pike



Open Road for Boys magazine was published from November 1919 - 1950. The magazine encouraged outdoor life, contained adventure stories, a cartoon contest, ads and articles featuring Red Ryder air rifles, and in 1927 the magazine started an Open Road Pioneers club for boys.

Joe Monroe Currie, Sr. (1917 - 2006)

My father

My parent's home burned to the ground in January 1960. The only thing that was saved was my mother's washing machine. All of our family treasures burned to ashes, including photos  of my paternal grandparents and their love letters. Daddy's parents, Wayne Huff Currie and Gertrude Irene Pike died within 6 days of each other when Daddy was only two and a half years old and his sister Jacqueline, was about two weeks old. Wayne and Gertrude were two out of the many millions world wide who died from the 1918 influenza pandemic. Daddy was raised by his maternal grandparents, Joesph P. Pike and Georgia Etta Lentz. Jacqueline was adopted by family friends. Daddy's grandfather, Joe Pike, died when Daddy was nine years old. Daddy didn't have much growing up.  Most of the time it was Daddy and his grandmother, Georgia.

So, to have those photos and love letters of my paternal grandparents go up in flames was a real loss.

After Daddy died I slowly went through his papers of which there were many! Most were newspaper clippings, and magazines. But, my patience and slow going proved to be rewarding. Tucked away among all those papers were two composition books. Daddy had used them as diaries. 

The first was dated from March 21, 1930 - May 30, 1931, which covered his life from a couple of months before his 13th birthday through a couple of weeks after his 14th birthday. 

The second composition book was dated from May 31, 1931 - January 30, 1933 covering ages 14 through 4 months before his 16th birthday. This was a treasure indeed. Over the years Daddy had shared stories about the few possessions he had left from his childhood. I never remember hearing any stories about these two diaries.